Northern Kentucky University
Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better: Effects of Self-Focus on Self-Judgments and the Better-Than-Average Effect
Institution
Northern Kentucky University
Faculty Advisor/ Mentor
Douglas Krull; David Silvera (The University of Tromso)
Abstract
The goal of this research was to investigate whether self-focusing influences the positivity of self-ratings. It was expected that participants who focused on themselves would rate themselves better than average on ambiguous traits, but not on clear traits. Participants were randomly assigned to read one of two paragraphs. One group read a paragraph that encouraged self-focus and was instructed to circle all words within the paragraph pertaining to the self: me, my, I, etc. The other group read a paragraph that did not promote self-focus and was instructed to circle all conjunctions: and, but, or, etc. All participants then rated themselves on the same set of clear and ambiguous traits (9 point scale). A 2 (Self Focus: Self, Non-Self) x 2 (Traits: Ambiguous, Clear) analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant interaction, F (1,32) = 8.56, p = .006. Whereas ratings for clear traits were similar in the self-focus (M = 5.74) and non-self-focus (M = 5.79) conditions, ratings for ambiguous traits were lower in the self-focus condition (M = 5.56) than in the nonself-focus condition (M = 6.38), contrary to expectations. These results suggest that self-focus does not increase the better-than-average effect. Rather, self-focus may enhance the accuracy of judgments about the self.
Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better: Effects of Self-Focus on Self-Judgments and the Better-Than-Average Effect
The goal of this research was to investigate whether self-focusing influences the positivity of self-ratings. It was expected that participants who focused on themselves would rate themselves better than average on ambiguous traits, but not on clear traits. Participants were randomly assigned to read one of two paragraphs. One group read a paragraph that encouraged self-focus and was instructed to circle all words within the paragraph pertaining to the self: me, my, I, etc. The other group read a paragraph that did not promote self-focus and was instructed to circle all conjunctions: and, but, or, etc. All participants then rated themselves on the same set of clear and ambiguous traits (9 point scale). A 2 (Self Focus: Self, Non-Self) x 2 (Traits: Ambiguous, Clear) analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed a significant interaction, F (1,32) = 8.56, p = .006. Whereas ratings for clear traits were similar in the self-focus (M = 5.74) and non-self-focus (M = 5.79) conditions, ratings for ambiguous traits were lower in the self-focus condition (M = 5.56) than in the nonself-focus condition (M = 6.38), contrary to expectations. These results suggest that self-focus does not increase the better-than-average effect. Rather, self-focus may enhance the accuracy of judgments about the self.