Skill Level,Self‐Views and Self‐Theories as Sources of Error in Self‐Assessment

People's impressions of the quality of their performances are often surprisingly inaccurate. In this paper, I discuss three specific factors that contribute to error in self‐assessment. First, at a most basic level, individuals must possess a certain level of knowledge to simply distinguish weak from strong performances. Thus, a lack of skill can contribute to erroneous self‐assessments. Second, even those who possess skill might rely on the wrong information to evaluate their performances. I discuss how relying on preexisting self‐views can lead estimates of one's performance astray. Third, I discuss how motivational forces can play an indirect role in overconfidence. In particular, theories of intelligence that inspire people to think well of themselves also inspire behaviors that contribute to overconfident impressions of how well one has performed on a task. Finally, I discuss how we can draw on this research to improve accuracy in self‐assessments.     

The Effect of Gender and Self‐Care Behaviors on Counselors' Perceptions of Colleagues With Depression

This study examined the effects of gender and self‐care behaviors on counselors' perceptions of depressed colleagues. Three hundred and six respondents completed 1 of 8 versions of vignettes describing either a male or female counselor responding to his or her depressive symptoms through the use of antidepressants, counseling, alternative therapies, or no course of action. Target counselors who took antidepressants were perceived as more competent than counselors who practiced holistic measures and those who chose no course of action. Target counselors who sought personal counseling were perceived as more ethical than those choosing no course of action.     

Consciousness and Self‐Regulation in Mobile Communication

The everyday use of mobile devices is sometimes performed in a minimally conscious manner (e.g., automaticity, habits, impulses), whereas other times it is performed in a highly conscious manner (e.g., immersion, presence, absorption). In Study 1, we surveyed individuals (n = 250) to evaluate the seemingly oppositional relationship between automatic (less conscious) and immersive (more conscious) tendencies toward texting. Despite their standard separation, confirmatory factor analyses revealed that automaticity and immersion were actually positively related independent of usage frequency. In Study 2 (n = 526), these consciousness tendencies were related to select facets of trait self‐control and mindfulness. Together, these studies underline the importance of media cognition in combination with personality factors for understanding the psychology of mobile device use.     

Self‐Interests and Beliefs: Predictors of Mothers’ Views of Child Care1

Mothers (N= 270) completed questions related to child care for their children who were between 2 and 6 years of age. They completed a 9‐page questionnaire that included scales used to assess their attachment to their careers, financial need to work, and gender‐role beliefs as predictors of their ratings of the effects of child care on 4 criterion measures. Findings supported the hypothesized model that a mother's needs and her self‐interests and beliefs would influence her ratings of the benefits and costs of child care, her anxiety in leaving her child in child care, and her views of the effects of child care on her child. It is suggested that future research should avoid biases that might arise from participant or observer self‐interest and seek more objective approaches to the examination of the impact of child care on children.     

Gender Self‐Definition and Gender Self‐Acceptance in Women: Intersections With Feminist,Womanist, and Ethnic Identities

The author explored the relationships among women's gender identity constructs as well as the relationships of those constructs to ethnic identity. Nine of the 12 hypothesized relationships between gender self‐definition and female identity development statuses and between gender self‐acceptance and female identity development statuses were supported. Gender self‐definition and gender self‐acceptance were also both positively correlated with ethnic identity. Analyses of the Hoffman Gender Scale (R. M. Hoffman, 1996; R. M. Hoffman, L. D. Borders, & J. A. Hattie, 2000) provided additional support for its use as a measure of gender self‐definition and gender self‐acceptance.     

Self‐Harm and Conventional Gender Roles in Women

A total of thirty‐two women admitted to a general hospital for medical treatment after self‐harming completed measures of conventional positive and negative masculinity and femininity. Comparisons were made with two control groups with no self‐harm history; 33 women receiving psychiatric outpatient treatment and a nonclinical sample of 206 women. Multinomial logistic regression analyses showed that those with lower scores on Instrumentality and Unmitigated Agency (positive and negative masculinity) and higher scores on Insecurity (negative femininity) had greater odds of self‐harming. Relationships were weaker after accounting for generalized self‐efficacy. Results are discussed in relation to previous findings and suggestions for prevention are made.     

The Proteus Effect: The Effect of Transformed Self‐Representation on Behavior

Virtual environments, such as online games and web‐based chat rooms, increasingly allow us to alter our digital self‐representations dramatically and easily. But as we change our self‐representations, do our self‐representations change our behavior in turn? In 2 experimental studies, we explore the hypothesis that an individual’s behavior conforms to their digital self‐representation independent of how others perceive them—a process we term the Proteus Effect. In the first study, participants assigned to more attractive avatars in immersive virtual environments were more intimate with confederates in a self‐disclosure and interpersonal distance task than participants assigned to less attractive avatars. In our second study, participants assigned taller avatars behaved more confidently in a negotiation task than participants assigned shorter avatars. We discuss the implications of the Proteus Effect with regards to social interactions in online environments.     

Self‐Fulfilling Prophecies: The Influence of Gender Stereotypes on Functional Neuroimaging Research on Emotion

Feminist scholars have shown that research on sex/gender differences in the brain is often used to support gender stereotypes. Scientists use a variety of methodological and interpretive strategies to make their results consistent with these stereotypes. In this paper, I analyze functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research that examines differences between women and men in brain activity associated with emotion and show that these researchers go to great lengths to make their results consistent with the view that women are more emotional than men.     

The Effect of Self‐Efficacy and Issue Characteristics on Threat and Opportunity Categorization1

The purpose of the current study was to examine self‐efficacy and issue characteristics as antecedents of issue categorization. A laboratory experiment using 277 participants manipulated self‐efficacy, scenario category (threat/opportunity), and scenario strength (weak/strong), and subsequently measured perceptions of threat and opportunity. Results indicate that high self‐efficacy participants categorized scenarios as more representative of opportunity and that self‐efficacy influenced the framing of opportunity scenarios, but not threat scenarios. Parallel results were found across both categorical and dimensional threat and opportunity measures.     

The Role of Cognitive Ability in Self‐Efficacy and Self‐Assessed Test Performance1

Research has shown that test takers are often unable to assess their own test performance accurately. However, the role of cognitive ability in assessing one's test performance has not been explored. We examined whether high cognitive ability participants were better than low cognitive ability participants in assessing their performance on a video‐based situational judgment test (SJT) of customer‐service skills. Results indicated a strong relationship between actual and perceived SJT performance for high cognitive ability participants, but no relationship for those low in cognitive ability. The discussion focuses on implications for metacognitive theory, test perceptions, and providing feedback to applicants.     

Gender Self‐Confidence and Social Influence: Impact on Working Alliance

The authors investigated the relationships between the counselor's gender self‐confidence, the counselor's use of social influence within the counseling session, and the counselor's sex in relation to the counseling relationship. These attributes were studied with regard to how deeply a therapeutic working alliance developed between the counselor and the client. Results support the importance of counselor characteristics on the counselor–client alliance. Implications for teaching, research, and practice are presented.     

Similarity in Gender and Self‐Esteem for Supportive Peer Relationships: The Mediating Role of Cooperative Goals1

The present study investigated whether cooperative goals mediate the relationship between similarity in gender and self‐esteem and social support and relationship quality in ongoing peer dyads. Based on data collected from 209 student dyads, the findings largely support the mediating role of cooperative goals. However, the study found that gender similarity was positively related while self‐esteem similarity was negatively related to cooperative goals and relationship quality of peer dyad members.     

The Effect of Self‐Control on Attentional Bias for Alcohol Cues in Male Heavy Drinkers1

Attentional bias for alcohol cues increases craving and subsequent alcohol consumption. Override processes can be used to disengage attention from alcohol cues. This requires self‐control and implies that depletion of self‐control would impair the ability to disengage attention from alcohol cues. This study examined the effect of self‐control on attentional bias among male heavy drinkers. To manipulate self‐control resources, an expression control task was used. Attentional bias was measured with a visual probe task. The Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS; Anton, Moak, & Latham, 1996 ) assessed the urge to drink and persistent thoughts about alcohol. The results suggest that participants who scored relatively high on the OCDS showed more attentional bias after controlled emotional expression, compared to free emotional expression.     

A Self‐Categorization Explanation for the Third‐Person Effect

Three studies tested a self‐categorization theory explanation for the third‐person effect. In Study 1 (N= 49) undergraduate students judged the influence of the National Enquirer, Wall Street Journal, and TV show Friends on themselves, relative to low‐ and high‐status outgroup members, and other undergraduate students. The profile of first‐ and third‐person perceptions was largely consistent with predictions, and the size of the third‐person effect decreased as perceived similarity to target others increased—but only for media that were normative for comparison others. Study 2 (N= 49) provided evidence for this process with different media and showed that the profile of first‐ and third‐person perceptions matched closely with perceived norms of media consumption—but not the social desirability of those media. Study 3 (N= 64) showed that the third‐person effect for the same media and target other shifts with the frame of reference in which the judgment is made. Taken together, the findings are consistent with self‐categorization theory and difficult to reconcile with other explanations.     

The Contribution of Self‐Efficacy in Assessing Interests Using the Self‐Directed Search

Using the variables self‐efficacy, self‐estimates, and self‐competencies in a hierarchical multiple regression and confirmatory factor analysis, the present study provided strong support for 3 of 6 RIASEC (Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, and Conventional) interest domains regarding Holland's (1997) assertion that it is unnecessary to administer a separate measure of self‐efficacy when using the Self‐Directed Search (SDS; Holland, Powell, & Fritzsche, 1994) to measure interests in career counseling. Implications for the interpretation of SDS scores in light of self‐efficacy assessment are discussed.