Impression managers: Nice guys or serious criminals?

High scores on measures of impression management are traditionally thought to signal dissimulation. Some have argued, however, that impression managers (IM) are as agreeable, self-controlled and interpersonally sensitive as they profess to be. We test this claim in a sample of recently incarcerated male offenders (N = 11,370) by relating attitudes and convictions to impression management scores. Data indicate that although offenders with high IM scores are less likely to project antisocial attitudes, they are more likely than those scoring low to be convicted of the most morally reprehensible crimes (homicide, sexual assault, pedophilia, and incest), and are more likely to receive longer sentences. The data suggest that high impression managers want to convey a virtuous persona, but their behavior indicates otherwise.

► Recent research suggests those scoring high on impression management are nice. ► We test this in a sample of male offenders. ► Data indicate that impression managers report less antisocial attitudes but were convicted of more serious crimes.