The social desirability effect, which reveals individuals’ propensity to present a socially favorable image, is a common bias in self-assessments, compromising the validity of measurements. Particularly pronounced for sensitive individuals, it can skew data. Scales have been developed to measure this effect, but they do not guarantee its absence. To mitigate this bias, strategies including ensuring anonymity, creating a trusting environment, and avoiding suggesting expected answers through question wording should be implemented. Beyond questionnaires, projection techniques and physiological measurements are reliable alternatives for circumventing this undesirable effect in data collection.