A systematic tendency for respondents or subjects in psychological tests, questionnaires, etc., consistently to respond in a positive manner or to give the same answer to multiple-choice questions, despite their true beliefs.
Origin
1940s.
Definition of response set in US English:
response set
noun
Psychology
A systematic tendency for respondents or subjects in psychological tests, questionnaires, etc., consistently to respond in a positive manner or to give the same answer to multiple-choice questions, despite their true beliefs.