Describing behaviours of self and others: self-enhancing beliefs and language abstraction level

✍ Scribed by Toon W. Taris

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 99 KB
• Volume: 29
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0046-2772
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0992(199903/05)29:2/3<391::aid-ejsp915>3.0.co;2-h

✦ Synopsis

Abstractness and frequency of descriptions of positive and negative behaviours were examined as a function of target (self versus others), valence (positive versus negative), and type of behaviour (publicly veri®able behaviours versus not publicly veri®able behaviours). Positive behaviours of self were expected to be reported more often and more abstractly than positive behaviours of others. For negative behaviours, this pattern of eects should be reversed. Further, publicly veri®able behaviours were expected to oer less opportunity for self-enhancement than private and ambiguous behaviours. ANOVA partially supported these expectations. However, the magnitude of selfenhancing beliefs did not depend on the degree to which the behaviours were publicly veri®able. Implications are discussed.