Self-enhancement
Self-enhancement is a psychological phenomenon where individuals focus on their positive traits and accomplishments while downplaying or ignoring their negative aspects. This tendency is often driven by a desire to maintain a favorable self-image and self-worth. Self-enhancement can manifest in various ways, such as exaggerating one’s contributions to successes and minimizing failures by attributing them to external factors. For example, a person might take credit for a successful project while attributing any shortcomings to circumstances outside their control.
The concept has historical roots in ancient philosophy, where figures like Epicurus advocated for positive self-reflection as a means to enhance pleasure and happiness. However, self-enhancement is not universally practiced; research indicates that while prevalent in many Western cultures, it is less common in others, such as in some Asian cultures where more accurate self-assessment is emphasized. This tendency can lead to the "above average effect," where people believe they possess above-average qualities or abilities, resulting in unrealistic expectations about their successes and life outcomes. Understanding self-enhancement can provide insights into personal behavior and cultural differences in self-perception.
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Self-enhancement
Self-enhancement is a psychological concept that addresses the tendency for people to emphasize positive thoughts and information about themselves and diminish or dismiss the negative. The tendency is motivated by a desire to enhance self-image and see one’s self as a good and worthy person. It is a form of emotional bias that often leads people to exaggerate their own role in success and ignore any external factors such as luck or the assistance of others.
The concept is related to several other cognitive activities that people engage in related to themselves. However, the practice does not appear to be universal. While research has indicated that self-enhancement has been a common practice in Western cultures at least as far back as the ancient Greeks, twenty-first century studies have indicated that the tendency may be all but absent in a number of cultures.
Background
Among the earliest documented instances of interest in the concept of self-enhancement is in the work of some ancient Greek philosophers. These writings and teachings indicate significant interest in self-evaluation and self-image. Most emphasized learning about one’s self regardless of whether the insight was positive or negative. However, some were more exclusively interested in positive self-enhancement. In particular, the followers of Epicurus (341 – 270 BCE) were encouraged to think only the best and most positive thoughts about themselves. It was considered immoral to have negative self-thoughts because these thoughts brought pain and diminished pleasure, and the Epicurean philosophy focused on finding pleasure in life.
A number of concepts can be related to self-enhancement but should not be confused with it. Most can be part of the process of self-enhancement. These include self-assessment, self-improvement, self-presentation, self-protection, and self-verification. Self-assessment is an effort to accurately analyze one’s positive and negative aspects. Self-improvement refers to efforts to improve one’s self in one or more ways. Self-presentation is an attempt to make a good impression with others by emphasizing one’s own most positive traits. Self-protection is any effort to deny negative characteristics, whether the person is denying them to others or to themselves. Self-verification is searching out evidence to support the most positive images a person has about themselves.
Overview
Self-enhancement is a form of motivated reasoning, or a thought process that results when people seek a positive view of themselves and how they fit into the world around them. It is part of having a positive self-image except the person goes beyond recognizing positive attributes and accomplishments to ignoring or downplaying negative traits. It is often a self-protective tendency, allowing the person to avoid any emotional discomfort that could come from recognizing a behavior or character flaw.
Psychologists have determined that people tend to look at their positive and negative aspects in different ways. The tendency is to broaden the impact of any successes and minimize the effect of any negative traits, behaviors, or experiences. For example, if a person successfully navigates a difficult route to a place they have never been before, they might consider that to be an indication that they are an excellent driver and map reader. If, on the other hand, that person takes one or two wrong turns, they do not consider that to reflect on their driving or map reading skills. Instead, they might minimize the errors as something that can happen to anyone.
These types of conclusions are self-serving, allowing the person to take more credit than is due for the positive and avoid taking any responsibility for the negative. In a related practice, people often tend to treat bad occurrences and good ones differently as well. For instance, if a project that a person was working on is a success, that person may overemphasize their contribution to the project and see it as a sign of their own excellence. On the other hand, if the project does not go well or the person is called out for poor performance, the tendency can be to blame external factors. The person might say they did not feel well, that the other people working on the project did not do their share, or that the boss is impossible to please so there was no sense in working harder. In addition, the person is likely to dismiss this negative experience as a predictor of future success and instead think of it as a fluke or aberration.
Another way that a person can engage in self-enhancing behaviors is to alter the importance of the situation. The person may exaggerate the importance of something when they do well but dismiss the importance of something when they do not fare as well. For example, if a person is complemented for their writing ability, they may decide that is an essential skill for success and consider themselves to have an advantage because of it. On the other hand, a person who has their writing criticized may dismiss the importance of being able to write well and decide that is a task that can be delegated and will have no impact on their future success.
According to psychologists, self-enhancement also tends to make people define success in terms of the skills that they possess. Regardless of what the skills are, people will tend to see them as indicators that they have great potential for success. Conversely, they may decide that people who do not possess those skills will not be as successful.
This practice leads to what psychologists call the “above average effect.” Studies have shown that most people think they are above average in many different attributes even though that is a statistical impossibility. For instance, when asked whether they consider themselves to be smarter, more disciplined, or more likely to behave ethically than others, the majority of people will respond in the affirmative. People also tend to think that they will experience positive life outcomes, such as having a great job and home, and less likely to face difficult situations than others. However, since by definition an average is the mean, or middle value, it is mathematically equally likely that they will be below average as above. This can result in unrealistic expectations and disappointment for people when circumstances do not turn out as they expect.
The tendency toward self-enhancement seems to be fairly common in Western cultures such as those in the United States and parts of Europe. However, research has indicated the tendency is not as prevalent in other cultures. In some areas of the world, such as Asia, people have a greater tendency to perform more accurate self-assessments to pursue self-improvement.
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