title: Reconceptualizing individual differences in self-enhancement bias: an interpersonal approach.
abstract: Self-enhancement bias has been studied from 2 perspectives: L. Festinger's (1954) social comparison theory (self-enhancers perceive themselves more positively than they perceive others) and G. W. Allport's (1937) self-insight theory (self-enhancers perceive themselves more positively than they are perceived by others). These 2 perspectives are theoretically and empirically distinct, and the failure to recognize their differences has led to a protracted debate. A new interpersonal approach to self-enhancement decomposes self-perception into 3 components: perceiver effect, target effect, and unique self-perception. Both theoretical derivations and an illustrative study suggest that this resulting measure of self-enhancement is less confounded by unwanted components of interpersonal perception than previous social comparison and self-insight measures. Findings help reconcile conflicting views about whether self-enhancement is adaptive or maladaptive.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544-1010, USA. vkwan@princeton.edu
authors.forename: Virginia S Y
authors.initials: VS
authors.lastname: Kwan
authors.forename: Oliver P
authors.initials: OP
authors.lastname: John
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Kenny
authors.forename: Michael H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Bond
authors.forename: Richard W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Robins
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention; D001364:Awareness; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D015233:Models, Statistical; D012649:Self Concept; D012647:Self-Assessment; D012938:Social Perception; D012963:Sociometric Techniques