In light of consistently observed correlations among Big Five ratings, the authors developed and tested a model that combined
E. L. Thorndike's (1920)
general evaluative bias (halo) model and
J. M. ...Digman's (1997)
higher order personality factors (alpha and beta) model. With 4 multitrait-multimethod analyses, Study 1 revealed moderate convergent validity for alpha and beta across raters, whereas halo was mainly a unique factor for each rater. In Study 2, the authors showed that the halo factor was highly correlated with a validated measure of evaluative biases in self-ratings. Study 3 showed that halo is more strongly correlated with self-ratings of self-esteem than self-ratings of the Big Five, which suggests that halo is not a mere rating bias but actually reflects overly positive self-evaluations. Finally, Study 4 demonstrated that the halo bias in Big Five ratings is stable over short retest intervals. Taken together, the results suggest that the halo-alpa-beta model integrates the main findings in structural analyses of Big Five correlations. Accordingly, halo bias in self-ratings is a reliable and stable bias in individuals' perceptions of their own attributes. Implications of the present findings for the assessment of Big Five personality traits in monomethod studies are discussed.
Superstars and Me Lockwood, Penelope; Kunda, Ziva
Journal of personality and social psychology,
07/1997, Volume:
73, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
The authors propose that superstars are most likely to affect self-views when they are considered relevant. Relevant superstars provoke self-enhancement and inspiration when their success seems ...attainable but self-deflation when it seems unattainable. Participants' self-views were affected only when the star's domain of excellence was self-relevant. Relevant stars provoked self-enhancement and inspiration when their success seemed attainable in that participants either still had enough time to achieve comparable success or believed their own abilities could improve over time. Open-ended responses provided rich evidence of inspiration in these circumstances. Relevant stars provoked, if anything, self-deflation when their success seemed unattainable in that participants either had already missed the chance to achieve comparable success or viewed their abilities as fixed and so unlikely to improve.
Comparison processes are critical to social judgments, yet little is known about how individuals compare people other than themselves in daily life (social-judgment comparisons). The present research ...employed a 7-day experience-sampling design (Nparticipants = 93; Nsurveys = 3,960) with end-of-week and 6-month follow-ups, to examine how individuals make social-judgment comparisons in daily life as well as the cumulative impact of these comparisons over time. Participants compared close (vs. distant) contacts more frequently and made more downward than upward comparisons. Furthermore, downward, relative to upward, comparisons predicted more positive perceptions of the contact, greater closeness to the contact, and greater relationship satisfaction. More frequent downward comparisons involving a particular contact also predicted greater closeness 1 week and 6 months later. When participants made upward comparisons, they were motivated to protect close, but not distant, contacts by downplaying domain importance, and engaging in this protective strategy predicted greater closeness to the contact 1 week later.
In two studies, cross-cultural differences in reactions to positive and negative role models were examined. The authors predicted that individuals from collectivistic cultures, who have a stronger ...prevention orientation, would be most motivated by negative role models, who highlight a strategy of avoiding failure; individuals from individualistic cultures, who have a stronger promotion focus, would be most motivated by positive role models, who highlight a strategy of pursuing success. In Study 1, the authors examined participants’ reported preferences for positive and negative role models. Asian Canadian participants reported finding negative models more motivating than did European Canadians; self-construals and regulatory focus mediated cultural differences in reactions to role models. In Study 2, the authors examined the impact of role models on the academic motivation of Asian Canadian and European Canadian participants. Asian Canadians were motivated only by a negative model, and European Canadians were motivated only by a positive model.
Two studies examined the extent to which matching on gender determines the impact of career role models on the self. Because women face negative stereotypes regarding their competence in the ...workplace, they may derive particular benefit from the example of an outstanding woman who illustrates the possibility of overcoming gender barriers to achieve success. In contrast, men may not have the same need for same-gender role models. Study 1 assessed the impact of gender-matched and mismatched career role models on the self-perceptions of female and male participants. In Study 2, female and male participants were asked to describe a career role model who had inspired them in the past. In both studies, results indicated that female participants were more inspired by outstanding female than male role models; in contrast, gender did not determine the impact of role models on male participants.
We examined whether people's motivational orientations towards growth (i.e., promotion focus) and security (i.e., prevention focus), collectively termed regulatory focus, are associated with ...profile‐browsing experiences and perceived success in online dating. In an internal meta‐analysis of four studies (Ns = 220, 200, 300, and 478), we found that promotion focus was associated with an engaging and easy profile‐browsing experience, along with perceived success, whereas prevention focus was associated with an engaging yet more effortful profile‐browsing experience, along with a perceived lack of success. A preregistered follow‐up study (N = 150) replicated the positive associations between promotion focus and engagement and perceived success, as well as the negative associations between prevention focus and ease and perceived success.
The accessibility of people's highest hopes and achievements can affect their reactions to upward comparisons. Three studies showed that, under normal circumstances, individuals were inspired by an ...outstanding role model; their motivation and self-evaluations were enhanced. However, when their most positive self-views were temporarily or chronically activated, inspiration was undermined, and individuals' motivation and self-evaluations tended to decrease. Another study found that role models inspired participants to generate more spectacular hopes and achievements than they would have generated otherwise. It appears that increasing the accessibility of one's best selves undercuts inspiration because it constrains the positivity of the future selves one may imagine and prevents one from generating the more spectacular future selves that the role model normally inspires.
The authors hypothesized that the effectiveness of role models varies across the adult life span because of differences in health-related regulatory orientations. Because young adults have strong ...health-related promotion orientations, they should be motivated by positive models who illustrate the benefits of good health. Because older adults have more balanced health-related promotion and prevention orientations, they should be motivated not only by positive models but also by negative models who illustrate the costs of poor health. Results indicated that both young and older adults perceived positive models to be motivating, but older adults found negative models to be more motivating than did young adults. Age differences in responses to negative models were partially mediated by differences in health-related prevention orientation.
Cross-relationship comparisons are an integral part of relationship processes, yet little is known about the impact of these comparisons in daily life. The present research employed a dyadic ...experience-sampling methodology (N = 78 couples) with end-of-day surveys, end-of-week follow-up, and a 6-month follow-up to examine how individuals make cross-relationship comparisons in daily life, the cumulative impact of these comparisons over time, and the dyadic consequences of such comparisons. Participants made more downward than upward comparisons; however, upward comparisons had a more lasting impact, resulting in decreased satisfaction and optimism, and less positive self-perceptions and partner perceptions, at the end of each day and the week. Individuals who made more upward comparisons were also less satisfied 6 months later. Individuals were also affected by their partner’s comparisons: On days when partners made more upward comparisons, they felt less satisfied and optimistic about their relationship and less positive about themselves and their partner.
Comparing You = Comparing Me Thai, Sabrina; Lockwood, Penelope
Personality & social psychology bulletin,
07/2015, Volume:
41, Issue:
7
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
We examine whether individuals respond to comparisons involving romantic partners as they would to comparisons involving the self. Four studies (N = 2,210) using recalled (Studies 1-3) and actual ...(Study 4) comparisons about attractiveness (Study 1) and relationship skills (Studies 2-4) demonstrated that individuals high in self-other overlap decrease domain relevance following upward but not downward comparisons to protect their positive partner perceptions. This strategy was absent among those low in self-other overlap. Study 2 demonstrated that this effect extends to best friends, but not casual friends, due to the degree of self-other overlap. Furthermore, when reminded of their partner’s inferiority in a domain, high overlap participants maintained positive global partner perceptions, whereas low overlap participants’ global perceptions were negatively affected (Study 3). These results suggest that individuals do experience partner-other comparisons as if they were directly involved, but only if their partner is incorporated into their self-identity.
PDF
