Entstehungsbedingungen von Antwortverzerrungen durch soziale Erwünschtheit. Ein Vergleich der Prognosen der Rational-Choice Theorie und des Modells der Frame-Selektion

Rational choice theory and its generalization in the model of frame-selection both claim to be exhaustive explanations for social desirability response behavior in surveys, which take into account an interaction of explanatory factors. The determinants predicted from these approaches have been incompletely tested and with partial and inconsistent results. In this article, we analyze some of the main hypotheses of both approaches, focusing on attitudinal responses towards ethnic groups. Firstly, our analysis confirms the predictions from “pure” rational choice theory, according to which social desirability response behavior is only expected when the motivational, cognitive and social preconditions are simultaneously fulfilled. This highly differentiated explanation proved to be incomplete when we added cultural factors, assumed in the model of frame-selection. Under these conditions, a cooperative frame of the interviews resulted in a complete exclusion of instru-mental, rational incentives, through which social desirability is predicated. According to our re-sults, the validity of rational choice theory is restricted to important but specific conditions, which are predicted in the model of frame-selection.