But What Will People Think?: Getting beyond Social Desirability Bias by Increasing Cognitive Load

Abstract

Social desirability bias reduces data quality when respondents adjust how they answer questions, leading to responses that less accurately reflect reality. Cognitive loading could mitigate this. By setting respondents a task to do alongside answering survey questions, this technique occupies the respondent, which could mean that they will be less concerned with social desirability. Previous research indicates that people who have been cognitively loaded are more honest and less strategic, so theoretically it is possible this would have a notable effect. It would be useful to test this as, if it is effective, it would be beneficial for market and social research, and further to this could have gamification applications, leading to surveys that produce higher quality data alongside being more engaging.