Distortions in reports of health behaviors: The time span effect and illusory supefuority |
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Authors: | Vera Hoorens Peter Harris |
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Affiliation: | 1. Department of Psychology , Tilburg University , Box 90153, 5000 LE, Tilburg, The Netherlands;2. University of Sussex , Brighton, UK |
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Abstract: | Abstract The occurreace of a time span effect and illusory superiority in self reports of health behaviors was tested. It was found that people report proportionally lower frequencies of both healthy and unhealthy behaviors if they give frequency estimations over a longer as compared to a shorter time span (time span effect). In addition, they report lower frequencies of unhealthy behaviors, and higher frequencies of healthy behaviors for themselves than for the average other (illusory superiority). For healthy but not for unhealthy behaviors a stronger illusory superiority effect was obtained in frequency reports for behavioral expectations as compared to past behaviors. Potential explanations and implications for subjective measurements of health behavior are discussed. |
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Keywords: | Time span effect illusory superiority self reports health behavior behavioral expectations. |
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