How females think about themselves and how they assume that significant others think about them: The influence of perspective taking on self-referential processing.

Saskia Doreen Forster,Valerio Capraro,Sara Britz,Verena Mainz,Barbara Drueke,Siegfried Gauggel

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0217870

Saskia Doreen Forster, Valerio Capraro + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0217870

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Journal: PloS one	Publication Date: May 31, 2019
Citations: 5	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: RWTH Aachen University

Abstract

People maintain a positive self-concept through positive self-appraisals (Self-Serving Bias Effect, SSBE) and a diminished memory for self-threatening information (Mnemic-Neglect Effect, MNE). Other people also influence a person’s self-concept. This study investigated SSBE and MNE in 60 females by using a trait-judgment paradigm applying two perspectives (self- and third-person appraisals) and a recall task. Additionally, self-esteem was assessed as an associated factor. SSBE and MNE were found in both kinds of appraisal perspectives. Interestingly, participants saw themselves as even more positive in reflected appraisals. SSBE and self-esteem were associated only in self-appraisals, indicating a larger SSBE on self-appraisals with raising self-esteem. In conclusion, both what females think about themselves and how they assume that others think about them preserve their overall positive self-concept.

Highlights

A stable and positive self-concept is fundamental to psychological functioning and behavior
The present study investigated differences among SelfServing Bias Effect (SSBE), Self-Serving Reaction Time Effect (SSRTE), and Mnemic-Neglect Effect (MNE) by comparing trait-judgments taken from one’s own perspective with trait-judgments taken from the perspective of a significant other
Each participant was guided through the course of the study by an experimenter whom was present during the investigation and instructed each participant on the individual task requirements before each task was performed

Summary

Introduction

A stable and positive self-concept is fundamental to psychological functioning and behavior. Various empirical studies have investigated specific processes related to the self, in order to develop models of how people arrive at conclusions about themselves (e.g., [2]) These studies examined different aspects of self-referential processing, including ownership [3], the processing of self-related cues [4], autobiographic memory [5], the accuracy of meta-perception regarding the self [6], or individual judgments of personality traits [7, 8]. According to these studies, self-referential processes differ from other forms of information processing, such as references to other people’s mental states or semantic processing [9]

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