A limitation of using the wiener and harmon obvious and subtle scales to detect faking on the MMPI

More frequent endorsement of obvious than subtle items on the MMPI has been advocated as a strategy to detect negative response bias. An assumption of this strategy is that faking is correlated differentially with obvious and subtle items, whereas psychopathology is not. In order to evaluate this assumption, MMPI profiles were obtained from the records of 375 psychiatric inpatients. Analysis revealed a strong positive correlation between profile elevation and obvious minus subtle differences. Excluding MMPIs of questionable validity did not weaken this relationship. The high correlation between clinical scale elevation and obvious minus subtle differences in valid profiles complicates the use of this strategy to detect intentional exaggeration of psychopathology.