Memorial Monitoring and Control: How Confidence and Social and Financial Consequences Affect Eyewitnesses' Reporting of Fine‐Grain Information

Research suggests that accessible coarse‐grain (i.e. general) information is sometimes under‐reported in memory accounts. In two experiments, socially motivating conditions were manipulated to determine whether, and under what contexts, coarse‐grain information is avoided because eyewitnesses are motivated to be specific and willing to risk accuracy. In Experiment 1, response privacy (private, public) and audience (high authority, low authority) were manipulated. Response privacy and penalty for inaccurate reporting (penalty, no penalty) were manipulated in Experiment 2. Across both experiments, eyewitnesses' confidence estimation (i.e. monitoring) was effective, suggesting that coarse‐grain information is under‐reported through poor decision making (i.e. control). Eyewitnesses avoided coarse‐grain information because they sometimes displayed a bias towards reporting fine‐grain information. This bias was more apparent, and coarse‐grain information avoiding more likely, when the perceived consequences for reporting were minimal (i.e. when in private in Experiment 1 and when no penalty for inaccuracy was imposed in Experiment 2). Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

自我增强偏向的文化差异

个人主义和集体主义两种文化下个体的自我增强行为是否有差异,一直以来都是一个争论的焦点。文章回顾了西方心理学家在个人主义文化背景下自我增强的研究成果,对近年来国内外证明东方文化中存在自我增强的研究进行了综述,并提出中国人的自我增强具有人际性和隐蔽性的特点,展望了中国人自我增强的研究方向。     

Boys,girls, and the school cultural environment: Teachers’ judgment and students’ values

Due to gender socialization, girls are more likely to endorse self-transcendence values (e.g., helping people) compared to boys, whereas boys are more likely to endorse self-enhancement values (e.g., wanting to be in charge) compared to girls. In two studies, we investigated teachers’ judgment regarding the display of these values in school and students’ endorsement of the self-transcendence and self-enhancement values in two contexts: home and school. In Study 1 (N = 240), teachers evaluated a student perceived as strongly endorsing the self-transcendence values more positively compared to a student perceived as strongly endorsing the self-enhancement values, regardless of the student’s gender. In Study 2 (N = 151), boys endorsed the self-enhancement values more than the self-transcendence values at home, whereas the opposite occurred in the school context. Girls did not vary across contexts, endorsing the self-transcendence values more than the self-enhancement values in both contexts. Possible consequences on boys’ school-related outcomes are discussed.     

Slant perception in near space is categorically biased: Evidence for a vertical tendency

The geographical slants of hills are known to appear quite exaggerated. Here, we examine the visual and haptic perception of the geographical slant of surfaces within reach under full-cue conditions and show that the perceived orientation of even these surfaces is biased. An exaggeration with respect to deviations from horizontal is shown to be present cross-modally. Experiment 1 employed numerical estimation to show the effect for visually observed surfaces, while controlling for verbal numerical bias. Experiment 2 demonstrated that the bias is present even when manual measures show good calibration. Experiment 3 controlled for direction of gaze. Experiment 4 measured the same bias for haptic surfaces. Experiment 5 showed that the bias can also be observed using the nonnumeric task of angle bisection. These results constrain theories of geographical slant perception and appear most consistent with functional scale expansion of deviations from horizontal.     

Mechanism underlying the self-enhancement effect of voice attractiveness evaluation: self-positivity bias and familiarity effect

The aim of the present study was to determine whether the self-enhancement effect of voice attractiveness evaluation is due to general self-positivity bias and/or the familiarity effect. The participants were asked to rate the attractiveness of their own voice, a friend's voice and strangers' voices. In addition, a self-reference valence (SR-valence) task was adopted in the experiment. Significant self-enhancement effects in voice attractiveness ratings were demonstrated, regardless of whether the participants recognized their self-voice or not. However, the friend-enhancement effect was found in only those participants who successfully recognized their friend's voice. Moreover, a significant correlation was found between self-positivity bias in the SR-valence task and the self-enhancement effect (but not the friend-enhancement effect). Our findings suggest that both the familiarity effect and self-positivity bias account for the vocal self-enhancement effect, and the influence of self-positivity bias could be implicit. The present study thus provides empirical evidence to clarify the potential explanations for the self-enhancement of voice attractiveness assessment.     

Heroic or hubristic? A componential approach to the relationship between perceived transformational leadership and leader–member exchanges

Using an interpersonal approach to self-perceptions, we broke down leaders’ self-perceptions of their transformational leadership behaviour into three components: a target effect (i.e., how leaders are perceived by followers), a perceiver effect (i.e., how leaders perceive followers), and a self-enhancement effect (i.e., idiosyncratic positivity bias in how leaders perceive themselves), and then examined the relationships between these components and the quality of exchanges between leaders and followers (LMX). In a survey study among 60 leaders with 286 followers, we found the target effect in leaders’ self-perceptions of their transformational leadership to be positively related to the quality of LMX, whereas the perceiver effect and self-enhancement effects were negatively associated with LMX. Follower extraversion intensified the positive role of the target effect and the negative role of the self-enhancement effect in the leader–follower exchanges.     

Social Desirability Scales as Indicators of Self-Enhancement and Impression Management

This article presents 2 studies testing Paulhus's (2002) assumption that unconscious self-enhancement and conscious impression management represent separate processes of socially desirable responding (SDR) that can be observed within 2 content domains (egoistic and moralistic bias). In Study 1, we devised egoistic and moralistic SDR scales intended to measure self-enhancement in honest responding and impression management under demands for positive self-presentation. In Study 2, we correlated scores on these scales with external indicators of self-enhancement and impression management. In honest responding, both SDR scales most strongly correlated with self-enhancement indicators, whereas under demands for positive self-presentation they correlated more strongly with external measures of impression management.     

The role of learning in remembered duration

In two experiments, the effects of learning on both the accuracy and bias of duration judgments were examined. In Experiment 1, subjects learned one of two tasks (i.e., using a computer software package, building a model car), containing a varying number of action steps, over a one-, three-, or five-trial period. Retrospective judgments of a task’s total duration revealed that accuracy was high at intermediate stages of learning but was low at early stages due to an overestimation bias and low at later stages due to an underestimation bias. The number of action steps within a task influenced behavior only at early learning stages where more action steps led to significantly longer duration estimates. Experiment 2 acted as a converging operation in which novice and experienced pianists were asked to estimate, in advance, how long they thought it would take them to play melodies that varied in their degree of familiarity (i.e. recently learned, well learned, extremely well learned). When these estimates were compared with the melodies’ actual playing times, results revealed a similar pattern of accuracy and bias as found in Experiment 1. These findings are discussed in terms of a “structural remembering model” that emphasizes the role of event predictability in time estimation behavior.     

Positive illusions about the self: short-term benefits and long-term costs

Two studies addressed parallel questions about the correlates and consequences of self-enhancement bias. Study 1 was conducted in a laboratory context and examined self-enhancing evaluations of performance in a group-interaction task. Study 2 assessed students' illusory beliefs about their academic ability when they first entered college and then followed them longitudinally to test claims about the long-term benefits of positive illusions. Both studies showed that self-enhancement bias was related to narcissism, ego involvement, self-serving attributions, and positive affect. Study 2 found that self-enhancement was associated with decreasing levels of self-esteem and well-being as well as with increasing disengagement from the academic context. Self-enhancement did not predict higher academic performance or higher graduate rates. Thus, the findings suggest that self-enhancing beliefs may be adaptive in the short term but not in the long term.     

Exposure to sexism can decrease implicit gender stereotype bias

Two studies examined the effect of exposure to sexism on implicit gender bias, focusing specifically on stereotypes of men as competent and women as warm. Male and female participants were exposed to sexism or no sexism. In both Experiment 1 (Implicit Association Task; N = 115) and Experiment 2 (Go/No‐go Association Task; N = 167), women who had been exposed to sexist beliefs demonstrated less implicit gender stereotype bias relative to women who were not exposed to sexism. In contrast, exposure to sexism did not influence men's implicit gender stereotype bias. In Experiment 2, process modelling revealed that women's reduction in bias in response to sexism was related to increased accuracy orientation and a tendency to make warmth versus competence judgments. The implications of these findings for current understandings of sexism and its effects on gender stereotypes are discussed.     

排除“每个人都优于平均水平”机制影响的自我提升研究

采用优于平均效应、自我服务归因偏向和内隐测验三种方法测量中国大学生的自我提升,并在前两种方法中考虑了EBTA机制的影响,以探讨中国人的自我提升动机及其表现形式。结果发现：EBTA机制影响显著;排除EBTA机制的影响后,大学生依然存在优于平均效应和自我服务归因偏向;大学生存在内隐自我提升值;内隐自我提升值与外显自我提升值之间存在显著正相关。     

The effects of culture and self-construal on responses to threatening health information

Objective: The current studies examined if cultural and self-construal differences in self-enhancement extended to defensive responses to health threats.

Design: Responses to fictitious medical diagnoses were compared between Asian-Americans and European-North Americans in Experiment 1 and between Canadians primed with an interdependent versus an independent self-construal in Experiment 3. In Experiment 2, the responses of Chinese and Canadians who were either heavy or light soft drink consumers were assessed after reading an article linking soft drink consumption to insulin resistance.

Main outcome measure: The primary-dependent measure reflected participants’ defensiveness about threatening versus nonthreatening health information.

Results: In Experiment 1, all participants responded more defensively to an unfavourable than a favourable diagnosis; however, Asian-Americans responded less defensively than did European-North Americans. In Experiment 2, all high soft drink consumers were less convinced by the threatening information than were low soft drink consumers; however, among high consumers, Chinese changed their self-reported consumption levels less than did European-Canadians. In Experiment 3, interdependence-primed participants responded less defensively to an unfavourable diagnosis than did independence-primed participants.

Conclusion: Defensive reactions to threatening health information were found consistently; however, self-enhancement was more pronounced in individuals with Western cultural backgrounds or independent self-construals.     

Accountability as a deterrent to self-enhancement: the search for mechanisms

Although self-enhancement is linked to psychological benefits, it is also associated with personal and interpersonal liabilities (e.g., excessive risk taking, social exclusion). Hence, structuring social situations that prompt people to keep their self-enhancing beliefs in check can confer personal and interpersonal advantages. The authors examined whether accountability can serve this purpose. Accountability was defined as the expectation to explain, justify, and defend one's self-evaluations (grades on an essay) to another person ("audience"). Experiment 1 showed that accountability curtails self-enhancement. Experiment 2 ruled out audience concreteness and status as explanations for this effect. Experiment 3 demonstrated that accountability-induced self-enhancement reduction is due to identifiability. Experiment 4 documented that identifiability decreases self-enhancement because of evaluation expectancy and an accompanying focus on one's weaknesses.     

Action embellishment: an intention bias in the perception of success

Na?ve theories of behavior hold that actions are caused by an agent's intentions, and the subsequent success of an action is measured by the satisfaction of those intentions. However, when an action is not as successful as intended, the expected causal link between intention and action may distort perception of the action itself. Four studies found evidence of an intention bias in perceptions of action. Actors perceived actions to be more successful when given a prior choice (e.g., choose between 2 words to type) and also when they felt greater motivation for the action (e.g., hitting pictures of disliked people). When the intent was to fail (e.g., singing poorly), choice led to worse estimates of performance. A final experiment suggested that intention bias works independent from self-enhancement motives. In observing another actor hit pictures of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, shots were distorted to match the actor's intentions, even when it opposed personal wishes. Together these studies indicate that judgments of action may be automatically distorted and that these inferences arise from the expected consistency between intention and action in agency.     

The performance of narcissists rises and falls with perceived opportunity for glory

Narcissists consider themselves to be exceptional performers, but past research has found no consistent relationship between narcissism and performance. The present research tested the hypothesis that the relationship between subclinical narcissism and performance is moderated by a motivational factor: perceived self-enhancement opportunity. Four experiments were conducted, each using different manipulations of self-enhancement opportunity and different performance tasks. In each study, narcissists performed better when self-enhancement opportunity was high rather than low. In contrast, the performance of participants with low narcissism was relatively unaffected by self-enhancement opportunity. Other findings suggested that narcissists' self-enhancement motivation stems more from a desire to garner admiration than from a desire to self-evaluate. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

Overcoming default categorical bias in spatial memory

In the present study, we investigated whether a strong default categorical bias can be overcome in spatial memory by using alternative membership information. In three experiments, we tested location memory in a circular space while providing participants with an alternative categorization. We found that visual presentation of the boundaries of the alternative categories (Experiment 1) did not induce the use of the alternative categories in estimation. In contrast, visual cuing of the alternative category membership of a target (Experiment 2) and unique target feature information associated with each alternative category (Experiment 3) successfully led to the use of the alternative categories in estimation. Taken together, the results indicate that default categorical bias in spatial memory can be overcome when appropriate cues are provided. We discuss how these findings expand the category adjustment model (Huttenlocher, Hedges, & Duncan, 1991) in spatial memory by proposing a retrieval-based category adjustment (RCA) model.     

Self as the Target and the Perceiver: A Componential Approach to Self-Enhancement

In this paper, we review the recent literature on the debate over the value of self-enhancement. Past studies fall into two distinct sets, each in the context of a different research tradition. The componential approach to self-enhancement integrates these two divergent perspectives and takes seriously the interplay of self-perception and interpersonal perception. Instead of global indices, the componential approach identifies specific components of person perception. By partitioning the components in self-perception, the componential approach allows for better understanding of the dynamic interactive effects of self-enhancement bias and other components in self-perception on adjustment. We conclude the paper by discussing the emerging attempts to advance a componential approach to examine self-perception in terms of components and outcomes.     

Reconceptualizing individual differences in self-enhancement bias: an interpersonal approach

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.     

Cognitive Bias for the Distribution of Ball Landing Positions in Amateur Tennis Players (Cognitive Bias for the Motor Variance in Tennis)

This study aimed to investigate whether the isotropy bias (estimating one's own motor variance as an approximately circular distribution rather than a vertically elongated distribution) arises in tennis players for the estimation of the two-dimensional variance for forehand strokes in tennis (Experiment 1), as well as the process underlying the isotropy bias (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, 31 tennis players were asked to estimate prospectively their distribution of ball landing positions. They were then instructed to hit 50 forehand strokes. We compared the eccentricity of the ellipse calculated from estimated and observed landing positions. Eccentricity was significantly smaller in the estimated ellipse than in the observed ellipse. We assumed that the isotropy bias for the estimated ellipse comes from the process of variance estimation. In Experiment 2, nine participants estimated the 95% confidence interval of 300 dots. Eccentricity was significantly smaller in their estimated ellipses than it was in the ellipses for the dots, though the magnitude of bias decreased for the estimation of dots. These results suggest that the isotropy bias in tennis ball landing position includes the bias of recognizing landing position and the bias of estimating the ellipse confidence interval from the recognized landing position.     

Ingroup bias,self-enhancement and group identification

These two studies integrate self-enhancement and ingroup bias and analyse the phenomena from the social identity theory and self-categorization theory. In Study 1, the subjects (N=181) evaluated supporters of two presidential candidates on a rating scale. In Study 2, the subjects (N=302) evaluated either Finnish women's and men's positive characteristics (success condition) or negative characteristics (failure condition) which might play a role in achieving equality between the sexes in Finland. Self-evaluations were conducted on the same scale as those of ingroup and outgroup evaluations. The results showed that ingroup was evaluated more positively than outgroup (hypothesis 1) and that self was evaluated more positively than ingroup (in Study 2, however, this main effect was qualified by gender). As expected, group identification did not dilute self-enhancement (hypothesis 2) in either of the studies but strengthened self-enhancement in Study 1. Hypothesis 3 stated that self-enhancement is inversely related to ingroup favouritism but the hypothesis was only partially confirmed in that the correlation was predictably negative in Study 1 but near zero in both conditions of Study 2. Finally, contrary to hypothesis 4, it turned out that high identified group members evaluated self and ingroup more independently than lows which contradicts the idea of depersonalization. Together the results would be plausible if we rejected the unidimensional conception of interpersonal–intergroup behaviour and assumed instead that interpersonal and intergroup behaviour constitute two bipolar continua. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.