Better than average and better with time: relative evaluations of self and others in the past, present, and future

Alf Børre Kanten · Karl Halvor Teigen

71 citations0/0 files storedEuropean Journal of Social Psychology

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Personality Traits and Psychology Social and Intergroup Psychology Psychological and Temporal Perspectives Research

Abstract

Abstract Evaluations of self and others in the past, present, and future were examined by asking 385 students to rate themselves or an acquaintance relative to their peers on a number of personality traits. We predicted, and found, evidence for self‐enhancement, as most participants regarded themselves superior to ‘most others’ at all points in time. We also found a better than average improvement effect, as participants considered themselves more superior now, than they were in the past, and expected to become even more superior in the future. Expected improvement in the future was larger than improvement over an equal span of time in the past. It is suggested that favorable self‐constructions are possible to the extent that the past and the future are perceived as ambiguous. Singular acquaintances were also rated better than most others, and were believed to improve over time, but their rate of improvement in the future was smaller than the expected improvement for oneself. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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References

1980Unrealistic optimism about future life events.1989Relation of implicit theories to the construction of personal histories.1985Global self-evaluation as determined by the desirability and controllability of trait adjectives.1995Personal contact, individuation, and the better-than-average effect.1999Lake Wobegon be gone! The "below-average effect" and the egocentric nature of comparative ability judgments.1986Evaluations of Self and Others: Self-Enhancement Biases in Social Judgments 2000Feeling "holier than thou": Are self-serving assessments produced by errors in self- or social prediction?1989Ambiguity and self-evaluation: The role of idiosyncratic trait definitions in self-serving assessments of ability.

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