Self-Enhancement and Psychological Adjustment: A Meta-Analytic Review

Sensory compensation beliefs among blind and sighted individuals

The process of neural and behavioral reorganization following sensory loss is known as sensory compensation. Typically, it is believed that sensory loss is followed by increased acuity of the intact modalities. Indeed, many studies compared blind and sighted individuals' sensitivity of the intact sensory modalities. Yet, it remains poorly understood whether sensory compensation is reflected in the lay beliefs of those, whom it concerns. We examined whether blind and sighted individuals believe that their lack of vision is compensated by increased sensitivity of the intact senses. Study 1 (n = 63) aimed to compare the ratings of sensory sensitivity made by blind and sighted people. Participants rated the sensory sensitivity of a blind population in four modalities (i.e., olfaction, audition, gustation, touch) and compared it to the sensory sensitivity of a sighted population. In Study 2 (n = 191) participants rated their own sensory sensitivity in four modalities. Each participant referred to (1) people of the same sensory status and (2) people of the opposite sensory status. The level of global self-esteem was controlled to verify self-enhancing nature of these beliefs. The results of both studies showed that the beliefs about sensory compensation are shared by blind and sighted participants on group and on individual levels. The self-enhancement underpinning of these beliefs was most pronounced in gustatory sensitivity assessment. Psychological and medical consequences of sensory compensation beliefs are discussed.

Differences in psychiatric symptoms between the UK and Greece prior to and during COVID-19: The roles of subclinical narcissism and mental toughness

At the onset of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, countries reported elevated rates of psychiatric symptoms. Previous research indicates that subclinical narcissism may reduce depression and stress through mental toughness. The researchers collected data from the United Kingdom (UK) and Greece (GR) on self-reported depression, anxiety, stress, COVID-19 related worry, subclinical narcissism, and mental toughness. Two samples, one cross-sectional (N = 1846) and one semi-longitudinal (N = 184), were used to compare rates of psychiatric symptoms pre and during COVID-19 across the UK and GR, and to test a path model in which subclinical narcissism reduced psychiatric symptoms through mental toughness. From pre to during COVID-19, UK participants exhibited increased depression, lower anxiety, and no change in stress, whereas GR participants showed a decrease in anxiety and stress and consistently low symptoms of depression. Subclinical narcissism exerted a negative indirect effect on psychiatric symptoms through mental toughness in both samples, but a negative total effect on anxiety and stress only in the UK sample. Findings indicate that exploring links between narcissism and prosocial traits can provide novel insights into differences in the adaptive use of personality traits in relation to mental health.

Do people know how others view them? Two approaches for identifying the accuracy of metaperceptions

Self-knowledge includes not only beliefs about one's own traits and abilities, but beliefs about how others view the self. Are such metaperceptions accurate? This article identifies two distinct standards used to determine meta-accuracy. The correlational approach tests whether metaperceptions correlate with an accuracy criterion (i.e. social perceptions). The mean-level approach instead asks whether metaperceptions tend to err in a systematic direction. This article reviews complementary lessons gleaned from research taking one approach or the other: whether metaperceptions merely reflect self-perceptions, whose metaperceptions are more or less accurate, and what psychological processes impede meta-accuracy, among others. Ultimately, neither approach is endorsed as unconditionally superior. Instead, which approach offers the proper accuracy standard should depend on the decisions those metaperceptions will guide.

Accuracy and Bias in Vulnerability Perceptions of Partners Undergoing Emotion-Focused Therapy for Couples

The primary mechanism of change in emotion-focused couples therapy (EFT-C) is described as one partner accessing and expressing vulnerability, with the other partner responding affiliatively, with compassion, acceptance, validation, and support. These interactions are assumed to restructure the negative, rigid interactional cycle that usually brings couples to therapy and helps build a positive emotional bond. The primary aim of this study was to test whether for this process to occur, partners need to accurately perceive their spouse's experiences of vulnerability during therapy. Specifically, it examined the factors (i.e., tracking accuracy, assumed-similarity bias, and directional bias) shaping partners' perceptions of their spouse's vulnerability and whether accurate perceptions predict positive session outcomes during EFT-C. Data from 36 couples who took part in the York Emotional Injury Project were analyzed. Following each session, clients reported their own experience of vulnerability as well as their perceptions of their partners' vulnerability. Session outcome was defined as the extent to which clients reported resolution. Using a multilevel Truth and Bias model, the results indicated that partners accurately perceived changes in their spouses' expressions of vulnerability (i.e., significant tracking accuracy). Interestingly, partners' perceptions were also tied to their own expressions of vulnerability (i.e., significant assumed-similarity bias) and tended to underestimate the level of their partners' vulnerability expressions (i.e., significant negative mean-level bias). Using a multilevel Response Surface Analysis, we found that accuracy regarding partners' vulnerability was associated with higher levels of resolution.

Physical Activity and Anxiety of Chinese University Students: Mediation of Self-System

The present study examined the role of self-enhancement and self-criticism in the relationship between physical activity and anxiety. A total of 305 students from Chinese universities, ranging in age from 18 to 36, completed a questionnaire package comprising a physical activity questionnaire, a self-enhancement strategies scale, a level of self-criticism scale, and a short form of state and trait anxiety scale. Findings highlighted that physical activity had a significant negative correlation with anxiety (r = −0.31, p < 0.01), a significant positive association with self-enhancement (r = 0.43, p < 0.01), and a significant negative relationship with self-criticism (r = −0.14, p < 0.05). It was also found that anxiety was significantly predicted by self-enhancement (−0.21, p < 0.01) and self-criticism (0.44, p < 0.01). Moreover, the mediation model supports the mediation of self-enhancement and self-criticism between physical activity and anxiety in university students. The findings suggest that interventions aimed at promoting physical activity and enhancing the self-system should be worthy strategies for reducing students’ anxiety.

Are narcissists resilient? Examining grandiose and vulnerable narcissism in the context of a three-dimensional model of resilience

In this paper, we focused on the poorly understood and rarely researched relationship between resilience and narcissism, adopting the adjective-based measures of narcissism. We examine how levels of resilience are related to grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, based on a three-dimensional model of resilience (i.e., ecological resilience, engineering resilience, and adaptive capacity). Using self-report, cross-sectional data from a general Polish sample (N = 657), we found that grandiose narcissism was positively related to all three dimensions of resilience, while vulnerable narcissism was negatively related to them. Grandiose narcissism was most strongly associated with adaptive capacity where vulnerable narcissism was mostly strongly associated with engineering resilience. We discuss our findings in relation to the function of two forms of narcissism may yield different capacities for stress management and recovery after experiencing stressful events. Therefore, this research is focused on self-report and we look forward to expand our research by behavioral indices in the future.

Temporal and social comparative self-assessments of physical health in young, middle-aged, and young-old adults in the MIDUS study

This study examined temporal and social comparisons of physical health status. Participants in two waves of the MIDUS cohort ranging in age from young adult to young-old (N = 2,408) rated current, past, and future physical health, as well as peer health. Past health was generally rated as better than current health (particularly among young adults). Young adults expected better future health; young-old adults expected declining health. All groups recalled their health as better than they reported a decade earlier. Middle-aged and young-old respondents expected more decline than they reported ten years later; young adults' ratings were consistent. The two older groups believed they were healthier than same-age peers, whereas younger respondents believed they were less healthy (though as healthy as the other age groups). The nature and trajectories of temporal and social comparisons of physical health across the lifespan suggest the need to examine their consequences for health behaviors.

Making and maintaining relationships through the prism of the dark triad traits: A longitudinal social network study

OBJECTIVE

We investigated how Dark Triad traits influence the development and maintenance of social relations.

METHOD

Participants completed the Short Dark Triad questionnaire and a measure of social relations at three time points: at the beginning of their first year in high school, 3 months later, and at the end of their first year. We investigated whether the Dark Triad traits are stable over time using Multilevel Modeling (N = 265; 59.6% girls), and how Dark Triad traits predict incoming and outgoing agentic and communal relations using Temporal Exponential Random Graph Models (N = 192; 60.4% girls).

RESULTS

Overall, the Dark Triad traits were stable over a one-year period. Narcissism did not predict an increase in communal and agentic relations in the short-term, but predicted slightly less incoming communal and more agentic relations in the long-term. In the short-term, Machiavellianism predicted a small increase while psychopathy predicted a small decrease in the incoming agentic and communal relations. In the long-term, however, neither Machiavellianism nor psychopathy was a significant predictor of any incoming relations.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results shed new light on the dynamics of making and maintaining social relations through the prism of the Dark Triad traits.

Components of School-Based Interventions Stimulating Students' Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Domains: A Meta-analysis

Many universal school-based interventions aim to stimulate students' intrapersonal (e.g., self-esteem) and interpersonal (e.g., school climate) domains. To improve our understanding of why some of these interventions yield stronger effects than others, we identified intervention components that are related to stronger or weaker intervention effects. We systematically searched four databases (i.e., PsycINFO, PubMed, ERIC, CENTRAL) for controlled evaluations of universal school-based interventions. In total, 104 included studies (529 included effect sizes) reported on 99 unique interventions. Interventions showed small positive effects on the intrapersonal (d = 0.19) and interpersonal (d = 0.15) domains. Focusing on self-awareness and problem solving, using more active learning approaches, and using more extensive interventions predicted stronger intervention effects on aspects of both domains. In contrast, efforts to improve emotion regulation, assertiveness, cognitive coping, and using group discussions predicted weaker intervention effects. Furthermore, commonly implemented components were not necessarily related to stronger intervention effects and components that were related to stronger effects were not necessarily often implemented. Our findings highlight the need to carefully select components for inclusion in interventions.PROSPERO Registration Number: CRD42019137981.

In Search of Narcissus

Narcissism, a trait reflecting egocentric exceptionalism and social selfishness, has captured scholarly interest due to its intricate composition and social implications. The construct is polyhedric, comprising several key forms: grandiose versus vulnerable, agentic versus communal, admirative versus rivalrous, collective versus individual. These forms can be integrated into structural models that add predictive power or process models that add explanatory power. The narcissistic nucleus is argued, and partly shown, to be brittle in the face of self-threat. The nucleus may derive from being overvalued, or inconsistently socialised, by parents. Narcissism entails intrapersonal benefits, as it can confer psychological health, buffer against adversity, and facilitate performance. But it can also be an interpersonal and societal liability, partly remediable with narcissism-reduction interventions.

Self-Enhancement Error Motivates Social Projection

Social projection is the tendency to assume that others are similar to the self, whereas self-enhancement is the tendency to see them as inferior. Although these concepts appear to be in conflict, we suggest that both can stem from the same motive of self-protection. In three studies, we show that respondents overestimate the prevalence of self-enhancement bias in others and predict that most self-enhancement entails an error in judgment. Critically, we find that social projection is strongest among those who learn that they have committed a self-enhancement error. Those who receive feedback saying that their positive self-evaluations are false project this outcome onto others. We also find that self-enhancement errors degrade perceptual accuracy. We discuss how self-protection motives affect both self-evaluation and social projection, and how social judgments that appear inductively rational may stem from arational processes of need satisfaction.

Do religious people self-enhance?

We ask if and when religious individuals self-enhance more than non-believers. First, religious individuals self-enhance on domains central to their self-concept. Specifically, they exhibit the Better-Than-Average Effect: They rate themselves as superior on attributes painting them as good Christians (e.g. traits like 'loving' or 'forgiving,' Biblical commandments) than on control attributes. Likewise, they exhibit the Overclaiming Effect: They assert superior, but false, knowledge on domains highly relevant to religiosity (e.g. international health charities, humanitarian aid organizations) than on control domains. Second, religious individuals self-enhance strongly in religious (than secular) cultures, which elevate religion to a social value. Finally, Christians may self-enhance in general, perhaps due to their conviction that they have a special relationship with God.

Screening for Dark Personalities

Abstract. Consensus is emerging that the constellation of dark personalities should include the sadistic personality. To build a four-factor measure, we modified and extended the Short Dark Triad (SD3) measure to include sadism. A series of three studies yielded the Short Dark Tetrad (SD4), a four subscale inventory with 7 items per construct. Study 1 ( N = 868) applied exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to a diverse 48-item pool using data collected on MTurk. A 4-factor solution revealed a separate sadism factor, as well as a shifted Dark Triad. Study 2 ( N = 999 students) applied EFA to a reduced 37-item set. Associations with adjustment and sex drive provided insight into unique personality dynamics of the four constructs. In Study 3 ( N = 660), a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) of the final 28 items showed acceptable fit for a four-factor solution. Moreover, the resulting 7-item subscales each showed coherent links with the Big Five and adjustment. In sum, the four-factor structure replicated across student and community samples. Although they overlap to a moderate degree, the four subscales show distinctive correlates – even with a control for acquiescence. We also uncovered a novel link between sadism and sexuality, but no association with maladjustment.

Autistic People Do Enhance Their Selves

We investigated whether autistic people are less prone to self-enhance (i.e., portray themselves in socially desirable ways). Autistic (N = 130) and non-autistic (N = 130) participants first responded to social desirability items using the standard instruction to endorse each item as true or false about themselves. Then, all participants read an explanation of what social desirability items measure before responding again to the social desirability items. Self-enhancement was operationalized as participants endorsing more social desirability items before learning the explanation than after. All participants endorsed significantly more social desirability items before learning the explanation than after, F _subjects(1,258) = 57.73, p < .001, η² _p = .183; F _items(1,34) = 43.04, p < .001, η² _p = .559). However, autistic and non-autistic participants did not significantly differ in how many items they endorsed, either before or after reading the explanation, indicating that autistic people are as susceptible to social desirability and self-enhancement as non-autistic people are. Our results challenge the claim that autistic people are immune to reputation management.

Self-enhancement and cross-cultural adjustment: overclaiming in a global mobility context

Purpose

This study aimed to test Early and Ang’s (2003) proposition that self-enhancement hinders successful cross-cultural adjustment. The literature on self-enhancement is reviewed, and the overclaiming technique as an unobtrusive measure of self-enhancement is introduced for use in global mobility contexts.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the overclaiming technique, an international-cultural overclaiming test was developed. Expatriates in Singapore stated their familiarity with international-cultural knowledge items, with some of them being foil items, and rated their cross-cultural (general, interaction, work) adjustment. Supervisors rated the expatriates on their work adjustment and performance.

Findings

Overclaiming was not related to self-rated cross-cultural adjustment. However, overclaiming was negatively related to supervisor rated work adjustment and performance. Additionally, the results showed that international-cultural knowledge accuracy was positively related to self-rated general adjustment and to supervisor rated work adjustment and performance.

Research limitations/implications

The small sample size with a majority of expatriate teachers from international schools in the sample makes it necessary for the results to be replicated with larger and more varied expatriate samples.

Practical implications

While further validation is needed, this research indicates that the overclaiming technique could be a valuable tool for assessing self-enhancement in candidates for expatriate positions in order to gauge potential cross-cultural (mal)adjustment, as perceived by others.

Originality/value

This study was (likely) the first study that has applied the overclaiming technique in a global mobility context. An international-cultural knowledge overclaiming test is provided to academic researchers for future use.

Why Do Narcissists Care So Much About Intelligence?

Grandiose narcissists typically pursue agentic goals, such as social status, competence, and autonomy. We argue that because high intelligence is a key asset for the attainment of such agentic goals, the concept of intelligence should play a prominent role in grandiose narcissists’ self-regulation and social behavior. We review the relevant literature and report evidence in support of this claim. Grandiose narcissists consider intelligence to be an important resource that leads to benefits across life domains, they tend to maintain and defend illusory positive intellectual self-views, and they are extremely motivated to appear intelligent to other people. Thus, even though grandiose narcissism is essentially unrelated to objectively assessed intelligence, intelligence nevertheless plays an important role in the way grandiose narcissists think, feel, and behave. We discuss potential implications for social relationships and point toward avenues for future research.

Dynamic interplay between PTSD symptoms and posttraumatic growth in older military veterans

BACKGROUND

Posttraumatic growth (PTG) refers to positive psychological changes that may occur after experiencing a traumatic event. While cross-sectional studies have suggested that posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with greater PTG, few longitudinal studies have evaluated interrelationships between PTSD and PTG. Further, little is known about which specific symptom clusters of PTSD and coping mechanisms may drive PTG over time.

METHODS

We evaluated interrelationships between PTSD symptoms and PTG using data from a 4-year, nationally representative, prospective cohort study of 2,006 older trauma-exposed U.S. veterans.

RESULTS

Autoregressive cross-lagged panel regression analyses revealed that greater severity of PTSD symptoms was associated with greater PTG over time. Specifically, greater severity of the avoidance and anxious arousal (e.g., hypervigilance) symptoms at Wave 1 predicted greater PTG at Wave 2; and greater severity of avoidance and lower severity of dysphoric arousal (e.g., sleep disturbance) at Wave 2 predicted greater PTG at Wave 3. Engagement in active coping and religious coping were associated with greater subsequent PTG above and beyond autoregressive associations between PTSD and PTG.

LIMITATIONS

The self-report nature of the assessments, discrete assessment periods assessed, and focus on older military veterans are study limitations.

CONCLUSIONS

Greater severity of PTSD symptoms, particularly avoidance and hyperarousal symptoms, may contribute to and maintain PTG over time in older veterans. Interventions that promote deliberate, constructive attempts to manage chronic PTSD symptoms via active coping and religious coping may help veterans better manage PTSD symptoms and experience greater PTG in late-life.

Initial psychometric testing of the coach-adapted version of the empowering and disempowering motivational climate questionnaire: A Bayesian approach

The present study examined the psychometric properties of the coach-adapted version of the Empowering and Disempowering Motivational Climate Questionnaire (EDMCQ) using Bayesian structural equation modelling (BSEM). The sample included 780 (M_age = 36.4; SD = 10.8; males n = 698; females n = 54; 28 participants did not report sex) youth sport coaches representing five European countries (i.e., England, France, Greece, Norway, and Spain). The results did not support a 34-item five-factor, hierarchical, a two-factor BSEM, or a bifactor BSEM model across the participating countries. However, the results supported a reduced 19-item first-order, two-factor BSEM model that largely showed approximate metric invariance, but not approximate scalar invariance across the five countries. The pool of items constituting empowering and disempowering motivational climates should be refined to further enhance the empirical operationalisation of the coach-adapted version of the EDMCQ. Advancing the quality of translation-back-translation procedures across cultures and conducting multi-national pilot testing seems warranted as well. These recommendations may help to identify the distinctive aspects of each underlying sub-dimension of the EDMCQ, where coaches are the respondents, and pave the way for further examination of the proposed hierarchical multidimensional factor structure and the cross-cultural equivalence of the EDMCQ for this population.

The "Why" and "How" of Narcissism: A Process Model of Narcissistic Status Pursuit

We propose a self-regulation model of grandiose narcissism. This model illustrates an interconnected set of processes through which narcissists (i.e., individuals with relatively high levels of grandiose narcissism) pursue social status in their moment-by-moment transactions with their environments. The model shows that narcissists select situations that afford status. Narcissists vigilantly attend to cues related to the status they and others have in these situations and, on the basis of these perceived cues, appraise whether they can elevate their status or reduce the status of others. Narcissists engage in self-promotion (admiration pathway) or other-derogation (rivalry pathway) in accordance with these appraisals. Each pathway has unique consequences for how narcissists are perceived by others, thus shaping their social status over time. The model demonstrates how narcissism manifests itself as a stable and consistent cluster of behaviors in pursuit of social status and how it develops and maintains itself over time. More broadly, the model might offer useful insights for future process models of other personality traits.

That's not fair! The effects of teacher justice and academic achievement on Self and Other's resistant agency

BACKGROUND

Notwithstanding the emphasis on the idea that students should be actively and accountably engaged in their educational pathways, little research has investigated learners' agentic behaviours that take the form of student resistance to adult authority.

AIMS

This paper presents an experimental study aimed to assess whether, and to what extent, student Self and Other resistant agency depends on perceptions of teacher justice and student achievement.

METHODS

Participants were asked to read one of four scenarios concerning a generic student asking for the possibility to retake a test she/he had previously failed, with an experimental design including two levels of teacher justice × 2 levels of academic achievement. Then, they answered two items regarding the likelihood of protest on the part of the student depicted in the scenario and enforced by themselves in having to deal with a similar situation.

RESULTS

The multilevel analysis indicated a principal effect of justice and target, with resistant agency rated as more likely in the unjust condition and for the Other. The justice effect was further qualified by an interaction with the achievement level, with resistant agency higher in the unjust and low achievement condition. Finally, a three-way interaction appeared, with Self resistant agency higher in the just and high achievement condition.

CONCLUSIONS

These results are discussed in terms of their implications for teacher practices, as they emphasize the importance just learning environments have in allowing students to express their opinions as well as dissent.

On the Etiology of Self-Enhancement and Its Association With Psychological Well-Being

Self-enhancement, the motive to view oneself in positive light, and its manifestations have received wide attention in behavioral sciences. The self-enhancement manifestations vary on a continuum from a subjective level (agentic narcissism, communal narcissism, narcissistic grandiosity) through an intermediate level (better-than-average judgments) to an objective level (overclaiming one’s knowledge). Prior research has established the heritability of self-enhancement manifestations at the subjective and intermediate levels. The present twin study demonstrated that (1) the objective level of self-enhancement manifestation is also heritable; (2) a common core, which is moderately heritable, underlies the three levels of self-enhancement manifestations; (3) the relation between self-enhancement (manifested at all three levels) and psychological well-being is partly heritable; and (4) environmental influences, either shared by or unique to family members, are evident through (1), (2), and (3). The findings deepen understanding of the etiology of individual differences in self-enhancement and their links to psychological well-being.

Body Image Distortion Following Social Rejection or Acceptance Cues

Introduction: Body image has been shown to be subject to explicit, body-related feedback influences, yet little attention has been paid to subtle feedback about overall social acceptability. The current study tested competing hypotheses regarding women's body image after being primed with cued social rejection or acceptance. Whereas sociometer theory predicts that women will perceive their bodies more negatively following a social rejection prime, self-enhancement theory predicts the opposite.

Method: A total of 105 female undergraduate students underwent a conditioning procedure in which distinctive tones were paired with signs of social rejection or acceptance. After this, body distortion (measured by a participant-adjusted virtual image), self-reported body satisfaction and affect were measured, while one of the tones sounded repeatedly in the background.

Results: Compared with the acceptance condition, rejection condition participants reported greater state negative affect, F(1, 103) = 4.41, p = .04, greater state positive affect, F(1, 103) = 5.52, p = .02, and perceived their bodies as being smaller, F(1, 103) = 6.53, p = .01, consistent with the expectations of self-enhancement theory.

Discussion: Implications of these findings are discussed regarding improved understanding of body image disturbance as well as development of novel clinical treatments.

On the Popularity of Agentic and Communal Narcissists: The Tit-for-Tat Hypothesis

Among well-acquainted people, those high on agentic narcissism are less popular than those low on agentic narcissism. That popularity-difference figures prominently in the narcissism literature. But why are agentic narcissists less popular? We propose a novel answer―the tit-for-tat hypothesis. It states that agentic narcissists like other people less than non-narcissists do and that others reciprocate by liking agentic narcissists less in return. We also examine whether the tit-for-tat hypothesis generalizes to communal narcissism. A large round-robin study ( N = 474) assessed agentic and communal narcissism (Wave 1) and included two round-robin waves (Waves 2-3). The round-robin waves assessed participants’ liking for all round-robin group members (2,488 informant-reports). The tit-for-tat hypothesis applied to agentic narcissists. It also applied to communal narcissists, albeit in a different way. Compared with non-narcissists, communal narcissists liked other people more and―in return―those others liked communal narcissists more. Our results elaborate on and qualify the thriving literature on narcissists’ popularity.

Why Condition-Based Regression Analysis (CRA) is Indeed a Valid Test of Self-Enhancement Effects: A Response to Krueger et al. ()

How can the consequences of self-enhancement (SE) be tested empirically? Traditional two-step approaches for investigating SE effects have been criticized for providing systematically biased results. Recently, we suggested condition-based regression analysis (CRA) as an approach that enables users to test SE effects while overcoming the shortcomings of previous methods. Krueger et al. (2017) reiterated the problems of previous two-step approaches and criticized the extent to which CRA could solve these problems. However, their critique was based on a misrepresentation of our approach: Whereas a key element of CRA is the requirement that the coefficients of a multiple regression model must meet two conditions, Krueger et al.’s argumentation referred to the test of only a single condition. As a consequence, their reasoning does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the validity of our approach. In this paper, we clarify these misunderstandings and explain why CRA is a valid approach for investigating the consequences of SE.

Who Is Most Likely to Wear Rose-Colored Glasses? How Regulatory Mode Moderates Self-Flattery

In general, people prefer to view themselves positively. But some individuals are more prone to self-flattery than others, that is, holding an unjustifiably high opinion of oneself. Applying regulatory mode theory, we identify motivational factors that predict which individuals are and are not prone to self-flattery. In four studies, using both chronic (Studies 1-3) and experimental (Study 4) conditions, we found that those with high locomotion concerns about effecting change (control) are more inclined to flatter themselves, whereas those with high assessment concerns about making the right choices (truth) are less inclined to flatter themselves. The relation between stronger locomotion and greater self-flattery, and stronger assessment and lesser self-flattery, was mediated by locomotors' low self-criticism and assessors' high self-criticism. These results shed light on how locomotion and assessment differ in the motivation to flatter oneself.

Mind-Body Practices and the Self: Yoga and Meditation Do Not Quiet the Ego but Instead Boost Self-Enhancement

Mind-body practices enjoy immense public and scientific interest. Yoga and meditation are highly popular. Purportedly, they foster well-being by curtailing self-enhancement bias. However, this “ego-quieting” effect contradicts an apparent psychological universal, the self-centrality principle. According to this principle, practicing any skill renders that skill self-central, and self-centrality breeds self-enhancement bias. We examined those opposing predictions in the first tests of mind-body practices’ self-enhancement effects. In Experiment 1, we followed 93 yoga students over 15 weeks, assessing self-centrality and self-enhancement bias after yoga practice (yoga condition, n = 246) and without practice (control condition, n = 231). In Experiment 2, we followed 162 meditators over 4 weeks (meditation condition: n = 246; control condition: n = 245). Self-enhancement bias was higher in the yoga (Experiment 1) and meditation (Experiment 2) conditions, and those effects were mediated by greater self-centrality. Additionally, greater self-enhancement bias mediated mind-body practices’ well-being benefits. Evidently, neither yoga nor meditation fully quiet the ego; to the contrary, they boost self-enhancement.