There are wide individual differences that appear to be evident among adults in their readiness forthrightly to admit lack of knowledge of particular subject matter in somewhat ego-involving situations. It was felt that if a technique for measuring such tendencies could be developed, it would not only facilitate the study of this type of behavior, but it might also offer some practical utility as a validity indicator for personality questionnaire responses. Conceivably, the person who demonstrates a marked tendency to exaggerate or overstate his knowledge might also tend to distort his personality test responses in a favorable direction. An experimental technique was developed for measuring the overstatement tendency.