title: Universal biases in self-perception: better and more human than average.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: University of Melbourne, Australia. s.loughnan@kent.ac.uk
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Loughnan
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Leidner
authors.forename: Guy
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Doron
authors.forename: Nick
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Haslam
authors.forename: Yoshihisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kashima
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Yeung
mesh_terms: 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