Self-Enhancement

Self-enhancement is that form of self-presentation emphasizing the promotion of one’s positive qualities. Measures of self-enhancement attempt to provide some comparison to a criterion, either explicit or implicit. Research in this area indicates that this form of self-presentation holds up in private, anonymous conditions. In other words, it involves self-deception rather than impression management.

Although the topic has been of central concern to psychologists for some time, the publication of Taylor and Brown (1988) raised its profile substantially. They claimed that self-enhancement is, not only common, but adaptive. For example, Brown (1986) showed that participants who rated themselves as above average on a variety of traits also reported high self-esteem. For the most part, they continue to maintain this position (Taylor et al., 2003).

A number of researchers have disputed these claims – especially the latter proposition. Colvin and Block (1994) questioned the evidential basis for their claims. John and Robins (1994) presented clear evidence that self-enhancers were actually narcissistic in character. Colvin, Block and Funder (1995) showed that self-enhancers were rated highly negatively by expert interviewers and peers. They also behaved aggressively under stress. Later Paulhus (1998) argued that self-enhancement can be a “mixed blessing”. In his longitudinal study, self-enhancers were rated positively after the initial meeting of five strangers but came to be rated negatively after 7 meetings. Robins and Beer (2001) also found mixed benefits of self-enhancement in academic performance.

One way of reconciling the two approaches to self-enhancement is to examine the way self-enhancement is operationalized. Much of the evidence supporting Taylor and Brown used the “above-average effect” to operationalize self-enhancement. In contrast, the evidence for the negative side of self-enhancement comes from researchers who operationalize self-enhancement as a positive discrepancy between self-report and objective measures of traits or qualities. For example, self-reports of personality can be compared to observer-ratings (Paulhus, 1998) or actual behavior (Gosling et al., 1998). Self-reports of intelligence can be compared to scores on cognitive ability tests (Paulhus & John, 1998). The most recent data confirm that a discrepancy operationalization yields maladaptive outcomes whereas an intrapsychic operationalization yields adaptive outcomes (Kurt & Paulhus, 2008).

Other work from our laboratory has demonstrated convergence of discrepancy self-enhancement with narcissism and overclaiming (Paulhus, 1998; Paulhus & Williams, 2002; Paulhus et al., 2003).

A third avenue of research concerns the dimensionality of self-enhancement. In how many ways do people promote themselves? One answer is that people can find any number of abilities, traits, and behaviors on which they can self-promote. Our research has narrowed down the wide variety of possibilities into two: agentic and communal (Paulhus & John, 1998; Yik, Bond, & Paulhus, 1998).

The most detailed summary of our perspective on self-enhancement is in our Handbook of Personality chapter (Paulhus & Trapnell, 2008). See also Paulhus and Holden (2009).

References

Please do not cite any of our unpublished work without obtaining prior permission.

Brown, J.D. (1986). Evaluations of self and others: Self-enhancement biases in social judgments. Social Cognition, 4, 353-376.

Gosling, S., John, O.P., Craik, K.H., Robins, R.W. (1998). Do people know how they behave?: Self-reported act frequencies compared with on-line coding by observers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 1337-1349.

John, O. P., & Robins, R. W. (1994). Accuracy and bias in self-perception: Individual differences in self-enhancement and the role of narcissism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 206-219.

Kurt, A. & Paulhus, D.L. (2008). Moderators of the adaptive value of self enhancement: Operationalization, domain, and form of adjustment. Journal of Research in Personality, 42, 839-853.

Paulhus, D. L. (1998). Intrapersonal and intrapsychic adaptiveness of trait self-enhancement:A mixed blessing? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 1197-1208.

Paulhus, D.L., & Holden, R.R. (2009). Self-enhancement: From self-report to behavior. In C.R. Agnew, D.E., Carlston, D. E., W. G. Graziano, & J.R. Kelly (Eds.), Then a miracle occurs: Focusing on behavior in social psychological theory and research (pp. 221-240). New York: Oxford University Press.

Paulhus, D.L, Robins, R.W., Trzesniewski, K.H., & Tracy, J.L. (2004). Two replicable suppressor effects in personality research. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 39, 303-328.

Paulhus, D. L. & John, O. P. (1998). Egoistic and moralistic biases in self-perception. Journal of Personality, 66, 1025-1060.

Paulhus, D.L., & Trapnell, P.D. (2008). Self-presentation of personality: An agency-communion framework. In O.P. John, R.W. Robins, & L.A. Pervin (Eds.), Handbook of personality. New York: Guilford

Robins, R.W., & Beer, J. (2001). Positive illusions about the self: Their correlates and consequences. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 340-352.

Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. (1988). Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 193-210.

Yik, M.S.M., Bond, M., & Paulhus, D.L. (1998). Do Chinese self-enhance or self-efface?: It's a matter of domain. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 399-406.