Constructing Fake-Resistant Personality Tests Using Item Response Theory: High-Stakes Personality Testing with Multidimensional Pairwise Preferences

This chapter focuses on the problem of faking in high stakes personality testing and potential psychometric remedies. Following a brief summary of the effects of faking and methods that have been used to detect or correct for faking post hoc, a recent item response theory approach to creating fake-resistant personality tests is described, and the effectiveness of this approach to test construction and scoring is demonstrated via Monte Carlo simulation. Empirical evidence supporting the use of this methodology in field settings is then presented, along with a description of an ongoing natural experiment being conducted in a military applicant screening context.