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In this article, we proposed an experiment which aim is to validate Beauvois’ distinction (1995) between two dimensions of personality traits: social desirability (SD) and social utility (SU). For that, we manipulated the levels of SD and SU associated with targets in order to observe the result of this manipulation on their evaluation on SD and SU trait-scales. We hypothesized that the manipulation of a) financial value associated with targets (manipulation of SU), and b) repeated exposure of targets (manipulation of SD), should affect targets’ evaluations on, respectively, SU and SD trait-scales. Our hypotheses were confirmed. The different conceptualisations of traits’ value to interpret these results are discussed.