I am curious as to how someone who distributes a personality test would be able to decipher who is and who is not telling the truth on the test?
If the test is straightforward such as "are you a liar?" obviously that is not desirable and people could just answer 'no'. How do you tell who tells the truth?
Thanks!
2 answers
If the questions are worded carefully, with several questions addressing the question of who would lie and who might not, it's hard to "fudge" it. It's all in how the "test" is designed. When asked flat-out, "Are you a liar>" almost no one would say "yes". If asked, "What would you do in this situation?" (perhaps several situations), the "test" can find out. Just for example.
An example of testing for the truth would be the validity scales of the MMPI.
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=mmpi+validity+scales&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi70PP18NHTAhXklFQKHV9QClkQgQMIKjAA
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=mmpi+validity+scales&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi70PP18NHTAhXklFQKHV9QClkQgQMIKjAA