Self-evaluation Bias Research Articles

Tracking the implicit self using event-related potentials

Negative biases in implicit self-evaluation are thought to be detrimental to subjective well-being and have been linked to various psychological disorders, including depression. An understanding of the neural processes underlying implicit self-evaluation in healthy subjects could provide a basis for the investigation of negative biases in depressed patients, the development of differential psychotherapeutic interventions, and the estimation of relapse risk in remitted patients. We thus studied the brain processes linked to implicit self-evaluation in 25 healthy subjects using event-related potential (ERP) recording during a self-relevant Implicit Association Test (sIAT). Consistent with a positive implicit self-evaluation in healthy subjects, they responded significantly faster to the congruent (self-positive mapping) than to the incongruent sIAT condition (self-negative mapping). Our main finding was a topographical ERP difference in a time window between 600 and 700 ms, whereas no significant differences between congruent and incongruent conditions were observed in earlier time windows. This suggests that biases in implicit self-evaluation are reflected only indirectly, in the additional recruitment of control processes needed to override the positive implicit self-evaluation of healthy subjects in the incongruent sIAT condition. Brain activations linked to these control processes can thus serve as an indirect measure for estimating biases in implicit self-evaluation. The sIAT paradigm, combined with ERP, could therefore permit the tracking of the neural processes underlying implicit self-evaluation in depressed patients during psychotherapy.

Self-Evaluation Bias of Stopping Behavior at a Crossing with a Stop Sign

Self-Evaluation Bias of Stopping Behavior at a Crossing with a Stop Sign

Peer-comparison overconfidence: Does it measure bias in self-evaluation?

Overconfidence is generally regarded as one of the most robust findings in the psychology of judgment. A precise method for evaluating overconfidence is essential if researchers are to validate these findings. Although peer-comparison questions are a convenient tool for measuring overconfidence, their validity has been questioned. We employed a specific paradigm to verify the validity, and the respondents were asked to predict a verifiable future event in a real-world setting that allowed empirical checking and comparison between the actual result and the prediction. Studies 1 and 2 found that the actual percentile of overconfidence could be accurately predicted using our initial calculation of participants' peer-comparison overconfidence in answering questions about academic performance. Study 3 found a similar effect when using questions related to job hunting. All studies indicated that peer-comparison questions are valid for measuring bias in self-evaluation. Thus, future studies could employ peer-comparison questions to investigate the domain specificity versus the domain generality of overconfidence.

Stability of biases in self-evaluation and relations to well-being among elementary school children

This paper aims to investigate to what extent a bias in self-evaluation is an enduring characteristic among children, and whether there is a relationship between the trajectory of children's self-evaluation bias over a five-year period and their psychosocial adjustment. 462 children (200 boys) in Grade 3 (mean age = 8.6 years old) or Grade 4 (mean age = 9.7 years old) at the outset of the study participated following their parents’ written consent. The group-based approach using a multinomial modeling strategy allowed identifying five groups based on changes in the children's self-evaluation bias over the five-year period. Children in the stable and highly positive bias group stood out as having markedly more positive scores on all indices of psychosocial adjustment, and also outperformed the other children in achievement in language arts and math.

Self-evaluation accuracy and satisfaction with performance: Are there affective costs or benefits of positive self-evaluation bias?

This paper examines how self-evaluation biases may influence satisfaction with performance. A review of theoretical positions suggests there are two views, both of which are supported by studies involving laboratory tasks. The first view predicts affective costs, and the second affective benefits of positive self-evaluation bias. We test the opposing predictions with the data of a study in which fifth-graders’ self-evaluation, performance, and satisfaction with performance were measured before and after a four-week arithmetic training program. Our findings support the benefit view, that is, students with a negative self-evaluation bias rated their satisfaction with performance significantly less than those with positive bias, even though both performed comparably.

Roles of Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Orbitofrontal Cortex in Self-evaluation

Empirical investigations of the relation of frontal lobe function to self-evaluation have mostly examined the evaluation of abstract qualities in relation to self versus other people. The present research furthers our understanding of frontal lobe involvement in self-evaluation by examining two processes that have not been widely studied by neuroscientists: on-line self-evaluations and correction of systematic judgment errors that influence self-evaluation. Although people evaluate their abstract qualities, it is equally important that perform on-line evaluations to assess the success of their behavior in a particular situation. In addition, self-evaluations of task performance are sometimes overconfident because of systematic judgment errors. What role do the neural regions associated with abstract self-evaluations and decision bias play in on-line evaluation and self-evaluation bias? In this fMRI study, self-evaluation in two reasoning tasks was examined; one elicited overconfident self-evaluations of performance because of salient but misleading aspects of the task and the other was free from misleading aspects. Medial PFC (mPFC), a region associated with self-referential processing, was generally involved in on-line self-evaluations but not specific to accurate or overconfident evaluation. Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) activity, a region associated with accurate nonsocial judgment, negatively predicted individual differences in overconfidence and was negatively associated with confidence level for incorrect trials.

Neural systems of social comparison and the “above-average” effect

Extant neural models of self-evaluation are dominated by associations with medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) function and have mostly been developed from studies differentiating self-evaluation from evaluation of other people. Although self-evaluation is robustly characterized by systematic biases, current neural models of self-evaluation cannot speak to their neurobiology because of a lack of research. The few extant studies have made claims about associations between bias and ventral anterior cingulate cortex (vACC) function but have confounded bias with the valence of experimental stimuli. In study 1, fMRI was used to examine the neurobiology of the “above-average” effect, a robust self-evaluation bias. The majority of people judge their personality to be more desirable (i.e., more positive and less negative traits) than their peers' personalities. MPFC and PCC were significantly more activated by a condition that reduced susceptibility to “above-average” judgments. However, MPFC and PFCC activity were not modulated by individual differences in “above-average” judgments. VACC activity distinguished positive from negative valence but did not predict individual differences in “above-average” judgments. Instead, the extent to which participants viewed themselves as “above average” was negatively correlated with orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and, to a lesser extent, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) activation. A complementary study found that mental load increases “above-average” judgments (study 2). These findings are the first to directly examine the neural systems involved in social judgment bias and have implications for the association between frontal lobe dysfunction and poor insight.

Biases in self-evaluation: moderating effects of attribute controllability

This study investigated moderating effects of attribute controllability on self-evaluation biases. Students of psychology rated the degree to which they possessed attributes that were described as having either positive or negative implications for academic success. For attributes that were perceived as trait-like or stable, self-ratings were higher when the attributes were presented as positive predictors of achievement than when the same attributes were presented as risk factors, indicating a self-enhancement bias. An opposite tendency emerged for attributes that were perceived as open to personal control: Here, self-ratings were higher for attributes that were presented as risk factors, indicating an enhanced tendency for self-critique and self-correction. This asymmetry of effects is explained in terms of a dual-process model of action regulation (Brandtstädter & Rothermund, 2002a, 2002b). Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Self-evaluation bias and academic performance: Some ways and some reasons why

Are positive illusions about the self adaptive? Controversy surrounding this question can be traced to two features of past research. First, different researchers have used different criteria to assess bias in self-evaluation. Some have relied on normative models, whereas others have relied on social consensus. We identify problems associated with each of these subjective methods and suggest the use of objective or operational criteria. Second, bias in self-evaluation can result from different motivations. In some cases, overly positive self-reports may reflect self-protective or avoidance motivations, whereas in other cases they may reflect self-enhancement or approach motivations. We argue that it is not the level of self-evaluation bias, per se, that determines whether such bias is associated with positive or negative consequences. Instead, consequences are related to the specific motivation underlying this bias. Two studies examine these issues in the context of self-evaluation and academic performance in college.

The Effects of Induced and Naturally Occurring Dysphoric Mood on Biases in Self-evaluation and Memory

Biases in self-evaluation and memory were compared across nondysphoric (ND), experimentally dysphoric (ED), and naturally dysphoric (DYS) subjects. First, subjects judged the self-descriptiveness of a series of negative and positive adjectives, and were then given an incidental memory test. Next, subjects performed an intentional memory task with negative and neutral materials. Across measures of endorsement, judgement latency, and memory, both ED and ND subjects showed positive biases, whereas DYS subjects exhibited “even-handed” processing. These findings suggest that dysphoric mood (at least of brief duration) cannot be solely responsible for the erosion of positive biases that appear to characterise depression.

Relationship between stability of cognition and stability of depressive mood.

Subjects were assessed for depression at two points in time, and classified as 32 stable depressives, 30 unstable depressives, or 25 stable nondepressives. Cognitions were also assessed during both periods to determine the existence of a positive or negative bias in self-evaluation. Stable depressives expressed a stable negative bias in self-evaluation; unstable depressives became somewhat more positive as their depression lifted, and stable nondepressives significantly increased in positive bias over time.