Do people have inflated views of their own ability?
- 1 January 1975
- journal article
- Published by American Psychological Association (APA) in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Vol. 31 (2) , 295-301
- https://doi.org/10.1037/h0076300
Abstract
An experiment tested a need-for-self-esteem notion that people inflate self-appraisals of ability, deny criticism, and overrespond to praise. Actors and bystanders rated actors' performances on a nonobjective task after hearing the performance praised or criticized or before hearing it evaluated. No evidence of self-enhancement was found; to the contrary, actors compared to bystanders rated themselves harshly, lowered their ratings after criticism equally, and showed relief after praise. A second experiment compared actor and bystander ratings of actors who expected evaluation of their performances or who expected no evaluation. Results suggested self-derogation by actors as a defense against possible loss of self-esteem.Keywords
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