Positive illusion in close relationships

The literature regarding self-other comparisons suggests that self-enhancing perceptions are prevalent, including forms of “illusion” such as excessively positive self-evaluation, unrealistic optimism, and exaggerated perceptions of control. Concepts from optimal distinctiveness theory served as the basis for two experiments examining whether illusion functions similarly when the context of evaluation involves a relationship. In both experiments participants rated themselves, the best friend, and the average other—or their own romantic relationships, the best friend's relationship, and the relationship of the average other–using scales measuring positivity of evaluation, optimism regarding the future, and perceptions of control. In both experiments, participants exhibited centrality-based differentiation, rating targets more favorably to the degree that the target was more central to their social identity. Patterns of differentiation differed for the two contexts: In the individual context, participants differentiated themselves and their friends from the average other. In the relationship context, participants differentiated their own relationships from the relationships of friends and average others. Also, participants rated individuals as more controllable than relationships. Participants in Experiment 2 provided information regarding potential predictors of illusion. Analyses of these data suggest that favorable centrality-based differentiation may be partially accounted for by impression management, global self-esteem (particularly in the individual context), and commitment level (particularly in the relationship context).     

Unrealistic Pessimism

Abstract

Various data suggest that individuals tend to be unrealistically optimistic about the future. People believe that negative events are less likely to happen to them than to others. The present study examined if the optimistic bias could be demonstrated if a threat is not (as it has been researched up to the present) potential, incidental, and familiar, but real, common, and unfamiliar. The present research was conducted after the explosion at the atomic power station in Chernobyl, and it was concerned with the perception of threat to one's own and to others' health due to consequences of radiation. The female subjects believed that their own chance of experiencing such health problems were better than the chances of others. Thus, in these specific conditions, unrealistic optimism was not only reduced but the reverse effect was obtained: unrealistic pessimism.     

Mood influences on health-related judgments: Appraisal of own health versus appraisal of unhealthy behaviours

An experimental study assessed the impact of positive versus negative mood inductions on health-related judgments with respect to both self-appraisal of health (present health status, future health risks, unrealistic optimism), and appraisal of unhealthy behaviours' noxiousness compared to an untreated control condition. With respect to self-appraisal of health it was hypothesized that there should be stronger effects of negative mood than of positive mood, but that there should also be a mood by specific judgment task interaction. With respect to unhealthy behaviours' noxiousness ratings it was assumed that positive mood leads to higher noxiousness ratings than negative mood. The findings show that 23 per cent of the rating variances can be explained by the mood factor. In accord with the predictions self-appraisal of health was more negative under negative mood, but — with one exception — not more positive under positive mood than in the respective control condition. The exception relates to a measure of unrealistic optimism. Also in accord with the prediction positive mood led to higher noxiousness ratings of unhealthy behaviours than negative mood. All mood effects were independent of the respondents' sex, health locus of control and of the number of illness days during the previous year. Under an applied perspective it is discussed how negative mood may exert a double detrimental influence on health care, whereas positive mood does not lead to a ‘happy go lucky’ attitude.     

Perception of health risks: How smoker status affects defensive optimism

Abstract

People generally underestimate their risk to come down with a life-threatening disease when comparing themselves to similar others. However, to some extent they do take objective risk status or actual risk behavior into account. The present study examined specific conditions of this phenomenon. It was found that smoker status was associated with a somewhat higher perceived risk of getting lung cancer or smoker's cough or having a heart attack, but not of coming down with other diseases. Still, smokers did not admit that they had an above-average risk for these maladies, thus reflecting defensive optimism. In addition, smokers characterized the behavior of an abstract person, a “risk stereotype”, by estimating the number of years of smoking, the daily number of cigarettes, and the cigarettes' nicotine content necessary to be at high risk for lung cancer. There was evidence that smokers used these risk stereotypes as a reference point for evaluating their own relative risk. Smokers also made higher risk estimates if their own behavior approached that of the risk stereotype. On the whole, the results suggest that people use subjective risk factor theories when estimating their own personal health risks.     

Exaggerated Self-Assessments and the Preference for Controllable Risks

People prefer controllable risks over less dangerous uncontrollable ones. Two kinds of evidence suggest that people′s belief that they are more capable than others at controlling dangerous outcomes contributes to this preference: In Study 1, the preference for controllable risks was reduced when subjects were choosing risks for another person rather than for themselves. In Study 2, this preference was stronger when the ability required to control outcomes was conducive to an "I am above average" bias than when it was not. The preference for controllable risks over less dangerous uncontrollable ones was obtained for hypothetical scenarios as well for actual choices and was shown to reduce subjects′ expected outcomes.     

Social Comparisons of One's Own With Others' Attitudes Toward Casual and Responsible Sex1

College students perceive their risks for negative outcomes from sexual behavior as lower than that of their peers. We examined whether similar biases would occur when undergraduates rated their own, their close friends', and the typical college student's attitudes regarding casual sex and sexual responsibility. Participants rated their own attitudes relative to all others' as the least permissive and most sexually responsible. Close friends' attitudes were rated as less permissive and more responsible than the average college student's. Finally, individuals with unrestricted sociosexual orientations and men attributed more permissive and less sexually responsible attitudes to both themselves and close friends than did individuals with restricted sociosexual orientations and women. These latter effects were absent when rating the typical college student.     

The optimal impact phenomenon: beyond the third person effect

According to the third person hypothesis, people believe that the media have a greater effect on other people's attitudes and behaviours than on their own attitudes and behaviours. A self-enhancement explanation for the third person effect was tested, stating that people perceive their own responses to the media not as weaker but as more appropriate than other people's responses. Subjects rated the relative attitudinal impact of messages that are generally considered to be desirable to be influenced by and of messages that are generally considered undesirable to be influenced by on themselves as compared to the average peer. Both attitudinal impact in the direction advocated by the message and in the opposite direction was rated. A ‘classic’ third person effect was obtained in those cases in which attitudinal media impact was considered undesirable only. In cases in which attitudinal media impact was considered desirable a ‘reversed’ third person effect occurred, thus supporting the self-enhancement explanation and suggesting a reconceptualization of the third person effect in terms of an ‘optimal impact phenomenon’.     

Self-Favoring Biases, Self-Presentation, and the Self-Other Asymmetry in Social Comparison

ABSTRACT The relationship between self-favoring biases in social comparison, favorable self-presentation, and well-being and the self-other asymmetry effect was examined. Participants gave comparative chance estimations and trait ratings for positive and negative future events and traits. One-half of the participants compared themselves to the average other, while the remainder compared the average other to themselves. All participants completed measurements of two types of desirable responding (self-deception and impression management) and of subjective well-being. Participants who compared themselves to another showed stronger unrealistic optimism and illusory superiority effects for positive (but not for negative) future events und traits than participants comparing another to themselves, demonstrating a self-other asymmetry effect. Unrealistic optimism and illusory superiority concerning positive attributes were related to self-deception, while unrealistic optimism and illusory superiority concerning negative attributes were related to impression management. The relative independence of “positive” and “negative” self-favoring biases was further demonstrated by their differential relationship with self-esteem and subjective well-being.     

Can people accurately estimate their own personality test scores?

This study examined the relationship between subjects' actual test derived scores and their estimates of what those scores would be. Fifty-six subjects completed three questionnaires (Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire; FIRO-B; Myers—Briggs Type Indicator MBTI), and then estimated the scores on each dimension (15 in all) for themselves and another person that they knew well. The results showed significant positive correlations on 10 of the 15 dimensions for themselves. The dimensions that they were best at estimating were Morningness-Eveningness; Extraversion, and Thinking on the MBTI; and Wanted and Expressed Inclusion on the FIRO-B. Eight correlations reached significance concerning their ability to predict another known person's scores but were lower than for their own estimate-actual score correlations. Whereas subjects believed that they were like the other person they nominated (12 of the 15 correlations were significantly positive), in actual fact their test derived scores showed only five significant findings, two positive and the others negative. The results are discussed in terms of lay theories of personality and their relationship to personality assessment.     

Egocentrism and focalism in unrealistic optimism (and pessimism)

People tend to overestimate their comparative likelihood of experiencing a rosy future. The present research suggests that one reason for this error is that when people compare their likelihood of experiencing an event with that of the average person, they focus on their own chances of experiencing the event and insufficiently consider the likelihood of the average person experiencing the event. As a consequence, people tend to think that they are more likely than the average person to experience common events and less likely than the average person to experience rare events. This causes unrealistic optimism in the case of common desirable events and rare undesirable events, but unrealistic pessimism in the case of rare desirable events and common undesirable events (Studies 1 and 2). Study 2 further suggests that both egocentrism and focalism underlie these biases. These results suggest that unrealistic optimism is not as ubiquitous as once thought.     

Gender Disparity in Video Game Usage: A Third-Person Perception-Based Explanation

This study took a close look at the mechanism behind gender disparity in video game usage by examining two perceptual variables: perceptions about others' video game usage and perceived influence of unrealistic video game character images on others. Both men and women perceived that young women play video games far less frequently than young men and also considered themselves less influenced by the unrealistic images than others. In addition, women, in comparison to men, perceived the video game images to have stronger influences on others. Furthermore, regression analyses revealed that perceived frequency of other women's video game play and perceived influence of the images on other women explained women's actual time spent on video games, but not men's time spent on video games. A discussion of these findings was provided, along with suggestions for video game developers, parents, educators, and video game researchers.     

Unrealistic Optimism and Positive-Negative Asymmetry: A Conceptual and Cross-cultural Study of Interrelationships between Optimism,Pessimism, and Realism

Using a variant of Weinstein's (1980) technique for the measurement of unrealistic optimism, subjects were classified as optimistic, realistic, or pessimistic about their chances of being confronted in the future with problems such as divorce, nervous breakdown, etc. On the basis of previous theory and research on cognition and affect, it was hypothesized that, across problems, subjects would alternate optimism with realism rather than with pessimism. Cross-cultural data obtained from 19 samples of Belgian, Moroccan, and Polish subjects not only confirmed the hypothesis but also showed high agreement about the nature of the problems that were selectively associated with optimism, realism and pessimism.     

Self-referenced interpersonal similarity phenomena: Theoretical specification and assessment at the individual,dyadic and group levels

A basic interpersonal task is assessing if another is similar to oneself, and is even observed among prelinguistic infants. In 450 highly acquainted dyads (150 from family, friend, co-worker groups), participants judged others' similarity to themselves, and predicted others' similarity ratings of them. Assumed reciprocity and reciprocity of similarity judgments were observed; the former was much stronger than the latter. Specific others were judged as uniquely similar; in families these judgments were reciprocated. People inaccurately predicted others', and specific others', similarity judgments. Common members of these groups (key person) judged others as similar to themselves, and predicted others' reciprocated similarity judgments, although they did not. Social relations modeling showed that interpersonal similarity assessments in different groups are multiple phenomena at multiple levels of analysis and should not be treated as a single, unitary phenomenon.     

Excuse-making and blaming as a function of internal—external locus of control

Two studies examined differences in excuse-maktg and blaming by subjects with internal or external locus of control. In Study I, 39 internals and 30 externals judged acceptability of various excuses in three situations and also assigned blame for cheating and lying in other situations. Externals were uniformly more prone to use excuses than internals, both for other actors and for themselves. Also, externals tended to assign less blame for cheating and lying. In Study II, 24 internals and 32 externals divided blame among themselves, another person, and ‘no one to blame’ in 10 joint-responsible situations. Externals assigned more blame to the other person and less to themselves, but approximately the same blame to ‘no one’ Externals also had higher tendencies to blame others and were more sensitive to being blamed. These results point to a ‘missing dimension’ of interpersonal relations in studies of excuse-making and blame.     

Perceived locus of control and satisfaction in same–sex friendships

Two studies examined perceptions of locus of control (LofC) and friendship satisfaction. Study 1 tested the accuracy of college students’ perceptions of a friend's LofC and their friendship satisfaction. Participants perceived their friends to be similar to themselves on LofC and satisfaction but these perceptions did not match the friends’ self–ratings. Instead, the perceptions reflected a belief in the similarity to the self—the Attraction–Similarity Hypothesis. Study 2 tested whether own and perceived friend's LofC predicted own satisfaction. The Internality Hypothesis indicates that an external LofC would predict dissatisfaction but an internal LofC would predict satisfaction. It was also predicted that these effects would be stronger for women's friendships than for men's friendships. For female, but not male, friendships, perceptions of the friend's external LofC predicted dissatisfaction.     

The Heart on the Sleeve and the Secret Self: Estimations of Hidden Emotion in Self and Acquaintances

ABSTRACT This research investigated how estimations of subjectively experienced emotion and estimations of displayed emotion varied with the familiarity of the target person Subjects imagined themselves, a close friend, a moderate friend, or a casual acquaintance in a series of brief affect-eliciting situations, and then estimated the degree to which the designated person would both feel and display specific emotions Subjects consistently estimated that people, including themselves, would feel more emotion than they displayed This discrepancy between experienced feeling and displayed feeling increased as a linear function of familiarity with the person The amount of undisplayed affect–the estimated “secret self”–was generally smallest for a casual acquaintance, greater for a moderate friend, still greater for a close friend, and greatest of all for the self The magnitude of this familiarity effect, however, varied with the social desirability of the emotion If an emotion was socially desirable, subjects estimated that familiar persons would both feel the emotion more and display it more than less familiar others would If an emotion was socially undesirable, subjects also estimated that familiar others would feel it more than unfamiliar others would However, they estimated that familiar and less familiar others would display socially undesirable emotions to about the same degree, and estimated that they themselves would display these emotions significantly less than others Consequently, although subjects always perceived     

Gender differences in unrealistic optimism about marriage and divorce: are men more optimistic and women more realistic?

Two studies (n = 497) examine gender differences in "unrealistic optimism" in beliefs of marriage using a Taiwanese population. Unrealistic optimism is defined as the beliefs that positive (negative) events are more (less) likely to happen to one's self versus others. Although the bias is robust, it has been shown to be lower among people with an interdependent orientation, specifically those from a collectivist culture (e.g., Taiwan). We find that the unrealistic optimism bias is stronger (Study 1) and more resilient to change when base rates are provided (Study 2) for men as compared to women. Results are consistent with the interpretation that men have a less relationally interdependent self-construal than women. Theoretical implications for unrealistic optimism, cross-cultural psychology, as well as gender differences are discussed.     

Covariation information,causal questioning,and interpersonal behavior

The effects of covariation information on perceivers' behavior toward a target person were investigated in a face-to-face setting. Subjects observed a female stimulus person behave in an impolite fashion. They were then presented with consensus, consistency, and distinctiveness information, patterned to imply either a person or an entity explanation for the rude behavior. Some subjects immediately completed a measure of their attributions, whereas others did not answer any attribution question. Subjects then interacted with the target person in an interview setting and afterward rated her on several evaluative dimensions. As predicted, the covariation information presented to subjects affected their impressions of the target person and their behavior toward her during the interaction. These effects were consistent across measures when subjects did not answer the attribution question, but appeared only on certain measures when subjects answered the attribution item prior to the interaction. This pattern of findings was interpreted as showing that the attribution question made subjects uncertain about the true cause of the target's rude behavior.     

Self-monitoring and the prediction of one's own and others' personality test scores

This study had two aims. Firstly, it examined the similarity between subjects' ratings of themselves and others and their scores on various personality tests. A group of 264 undergraduates in psychology completed Snyder's (1974) Self-Monitoring Scale and the Neuroticism and Extraversion Scales from the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Eysenck and Eysenck, 1975; 1986). Then, they estimated both their own score and that of a peer on those questionnaires. The results showed that subjects (i) were fairly good at estimating their own and others' extraversion and neuroticism scores, (ii) were less accurate at estimating self-monitoring scores, (iii) were better at predicting their own scores than those of others, and (iv) erroneously believed themselves to be significantly similar to the chosen peer. Secondly, individual differences in the accuracy of personality estimation were studied. According to Synder's (1974) self-monitoring construct, people high in self-monitoring would be especially adept at reading others' expressive behaviours; therefore, any differences in the accuracy of perceiving the personality of others might be associated with differences in self-monitoring. High self-monitors were more accurate than low self-monitors at estimating neuroticism scores for others. Another implication of the self-monitoring theory is that, taking high and low self-monitors as targets of others' estimations, there should be greater discrepancy between actual scores and peer estimations for high self-monitors. The results here supported this prediction, but only in self-monitoring estimation.