Universal biases in self-perception: better and more human than average.
There is a well-established tendency for people to see themselves as better than average (self-enhancement), although the universality of this phenomenon is contested. Much less well-known is the tendency for people to see themselves as more human than average (self-humanizing). We examined these biases in six diverse nations: Australia, Germany, Israel, Japan, Singapore, and the USA. Both biases were found in all nations. The self-humanizing effect was obtained independent of self-enhancement, and was stronger than self-enhancement in two nations (Germany and Japan). Self-humanizing was not specific to Western or English-speaking cultures and its magnitude was less cross-culturally variable than self-enhancement. Implications of these findings for research on the self and its biases are discussed.
Loughnan
Steve
S
University of Melbourne, Australia. s.loughnan@kent.ac.uk
Leidner
Bernhard
B
Doron
Guy
G
Haslam
Nick
N
Kashima
Yoshihisa
Y
Tong
Jennifer
J
Yeung
Victoria
V
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006808:Humanism; D006801:Humans; D007206:Individuality; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D011287:Prejudice; D012649:Self Concept; D012933:Social Identification; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult