Research has shown that desirable responding can be detrimental to social relationships, achievement and health. This study used an experimental design to (a) induce an increase in desirable responding through threat to self-image and then (b) compare the effectiveness of self-compassionate and self-affirming writing in attenuating that increase. Control groups included no threat exposure, threat exposure alone and threat exposure plus neutral writing. Desirable responding was measured along two dimensions: self-enhancement and exaggerated virtue. Results show the threat did not result in the predicted increase in desirable responding so the effectiveness of the two strategies with regards to attenuating increases in desirable responding could not be examined and compared. However, results do reveal a difference in the mechanism of these two strategies. Engaging in self-compassionate writing resulted in a significant decrease in exaggerated virtue whereas being self-affirmed resulted in a significant increase, suggesting a possible benefit of a self-compassion strategy.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

When people are asked to compare themselves to others, they frequently engage in self-enhancement. Further, prior work has shown that when engaging in self-enhancement, people tend to downplay how often they engage in negative behaviors to a greater extent than they highlight how often they engage in positive behaviors. Interestingly, the opposite pattern is shown for traits: people highlight their positive traits to a greater extent than they downplay their negative traits. In the current work, we examined direct and indirect social comparisons for sets of health, eating, social, and moral dimensions. Across our first 7 studies, we demonstrated that people downplayed negative aspects of the self to a greater extent than they highlighted positive aspects of the self when the aspect was not self-relevant, while people showed little to no preference for downplaying negative aspects of the self relative to highlighting positive aspects of the self when the aspect was self-relevant. In Study 8, we demonstrated that this pattern is partially mediated by recall of feedback about the average other student, but not by recall of one’s self-standing. Together these findings integrate the different patterns of self-enhancement shown for behaviors and traits by demonstrating that differences in the self-relevance of the dimension may be the best cue as to whether people are most likely to self-enhance by downplaying negatives or emphasizing positives. / 10000-01-01

The present study prospectively examines factors that affect whether self-enhancement exerts favorable or unfavorable effects on both psychological and physical well-being in a context that is less controllable than other contexts in which self-enhancement has been examined (e.g., academic performance), an at risk population of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients. In particular, the present study (a) examines whether self-enhancement differentially predicts psychological and physical well-being when self-enhancement is related or unrelated to the well-being outcomes, and (b) whether self-enhancement interacts with severity of circumstances (i.e., course of MS) to predict psychological and physical well-being, as suggested by O’Mara, McNulty, & Karney (2011). In addition to the baseline assessment, participants completed measures of self-enhancement (outcome-related and outcome-unrelated), and psychological and physical well-being every 30 days for 90 days, for a total of four assessments. The pattern of findings suggests that in less controllable contexts, self-enhancement is a doubled-edged sword. Outcome-related self-enhancement was trending towards a positive, cross-sectionally association with physical well-being, and a measure of prior outcome-unrelated self-enhancement (collectivistic tactical self-enhancement) was positively associated with subsequent physical well-being only for individuals with less severe MS. Further, prior outcome-related self-enhancement was associated with better subsequent psychological well-being but worse subsequent physical well-being, and although prior collectivistic tactical self-enhancement is associated with favorable subsequent physical well-being for individuals with less severe MS, it is also associated unfavorable psychological well-being regardless of MS severity. The discussion addresses the contributions of the present study to the literature, strengths and limitations of the present study, and directions for future research.

“Positive illusions” refer to the tendencies to perceive the self and others positively. The current study proposes that cultural norms regarding positive illusions contribute to cultural differences in well-being. All pairs of participants completed self-reports and informant reports, and served both as perceivers and targets (N = 906 undergraduate students). A novel validated measure of positive illusions and multi-method assessment of well-being were used to examine cultural differences between Asians and Westerners in well-being. Positive illusions were assessed by means of the halo-alpha-beta model of correlations among ratings of participant’s own and an acquaintance’s personality on the Big Five dimensions (Anusic, Schimmack, Pinkus, & Lockwood, 2009). The results suggest that rating biases influence cross-cultural comparisons of well-being and that European and Asian Canadians have similar levels of well-being.

“Positive illusions” refer to the tendencies to perceive the self and others positively. The current study proposes that cultural norms regarding positive illusions contribute to cultural differences in well-being. All pairs of participants completed self-reports and informant reports, and served both as perceivers and targets (N = 906 undergraduate students). A novel validated measure of positive illusions and multi-method assessment of well-being were used to examine cultural differences between Asians and Westerners in well-being. Positive illusions were assessed by means of the halo-alpha-beta model of correlations among ratings of participant’s own and an acquaintance’s personality on the Big Five dimensions (Anusic, Schimmack, Pinkus, & Lockwood, 2009). The results suggest that rating biases influence cross-cultural comparisons of well-being and that European and Asian Canadians have similar levels of well-being.

Due to an increase in diagnosis and prescription of methylphenidate and other ADD/ADHD medications, concerns have been expressed over the rise in Ritalin diversion from prescription to nonmedical use. The objective of this study was to investigate the relationships between the dimensions of self-perception (i.e., Impulse Control, Body Image, Mastery of the External World, Worry Control) self-enhancement, environmental and demographic factors, and non-prescribed Ritalin (methylphenidate) use. This cross sectional study draws on secondary data from the Adolescent Health Risk Behaviors Survey (AHRBS). The secondary data from AHRBS were analyzed using a sample size of n=1992 and a sub-sample size of n=79. Subjects completed questions pertaining to the dimensions of self-perception, self-enhancement, and demographic factors. The results of this study reveal that females who have worse Body Image, and compare their exams to their previous exams are on average more likely to use non-prescribed Ritalin. As a result, researchers in this area may want to focus on self-perception and self-enhancement in order to better understand illicit drug use. Future research should explore the difference between experimentation vs. regular users and how to incorporate this into effective and efficient drug prevention programs.

Impression management (IM) handlar om enmedveten eller omedveten process att styra intrycken av sig själv som ges tillomgivningen i syfte att imponera och söka erkännande. Tidigare forskning har istor utsträckning berört anställningsrekommendation utifrån intervjuer och demest framgångsrika resultaten har visat sig vara självförbättrande IM taktik.Studiens syfte vara att undersöka hur självförbättrande IM taktik i personligtbrev, två kvalitéer av meriter, påverkar ett beslut omanställningsrekommendation, samt undersöka hur en uppsättning personliga egenskaperrelaterar till självförbättrande IM taktik. Deltagarna var studenter, 57kvinnor och 32 män. Studien var experimentell 2 x 2 x 2 mellangruppsdesign. Deviktigaste fynden var att, högre kvalité av meriter innebar högre skattning avanställningsrekommendation samt att högre skattning av egenskaper vidsjälvförbättrande IM taktik skattats. Meriters kvalité visades viktig,egenskaper visade samband med IM dock satte IM trovärdighet på spel.Könsskillnader påträffades även och vidare forskning förslås göras mellankönen.