The need to take into account the moderating effects of defen- ' siveness in understanding how scores on self report assessments of personality are arrived at is suggested on theoretical and empirical grounds alike. To the extent that people have strong images of who they would like to be (e.g., Horney, 1950; Rogers, 1951) and a basic need for self esteem (Epstein, 1976; Rosenberg, 1979; Snyder, Stephan, and Rosenfield, 197S; Rogers, 1951) it is likely that at least their conscious appraisal of self is subject to distortions of a self-enhancing nature.