Self-enhancement Model Research Articles

A self-enhancement model of impostor thoughts at work

Workplace impostor thoughts arise from the perception that others overestimate one's competence at work. Previous research has demonstrated the negative consequences of holding impostor thoughts at work, yet theory and research suggest it is also possible to benefit from such thoughts. Drawing on self-enhancement theory, we proposed and tested a conceptual model to account for the potentially positive impact of impostor thoughts on interpersonal helping via prosocial motivation. We proposed that one's level of prevention focus would moderate this relationship chain, such that the positive relationships would be more pronounced when one has a lower (vs. higher) prevention focus. Findings from a multiwave, multisource field survey we conducted with 286 Chinese employees and their paired colleagues supported these hypotheses. Our study challenges the notion that imposter thoughts are uniformly detrimental and reveals pathways through which a beneficial effect on interpersonal helping may occur.

How well does self-concept predict science achievement across cultures? The mediating effect of autonomous motivation

ABSTRACT This study examines the direct and indirect relationships between key motivational constructs and science achievement using TIMSS 2019 data sets for Japan, Norway, and the United States. The sample of the study includes 4,446 and 8,698 eighth graders in Japan and the United States, with 4,575 ninth graders in Norway. The structural equation model was built on the self-determination theory (SDT) and the self-enhancement model of self-concept. The study’s findings show that self-concept is consistently the strongest predictor of science achievement among motivational constructs for all three countries. In addition, the significant relationship between self-concept and autonomous motivation supports the SDT’s claims about basic psychological needs. Although this relationship is consistent, as SDT predicts, across three countries, the magnitude of the relationship seems to be culture-dependent. The findings of this study are discussed using the SDT and self-concept theory from a cultural standpoint.

Temporal relationship between attitude toward mathematics and mathematics achievement

ABSTRACT This study examined the temporal relationship between attitude toward mathematics and mathematics achievement among first-year secondary (i.e. middle) school students (grade 7, about 14–15 years) with a focus on sex differences in Central Uganda. Random-intercept cross-lagged panel models, based on structural equation modeling, were used to analyze data which were collected through students’ questionnaires and mathematics tests at three measurement points. The proportion of variance at the class and school level was larger for the achievement measures than for the attitude measures. At these two levels, also the correlation coefficients between the two constructs were higher for boys than for girls. The study found evidence in support of the reciprocal-effects model as the best-fitting structural model within and across both sexes. Between the first and second measurement points, there was evidence for the self-enhancement model (attitude influencing achievement), while between the second and third points, the skill-development model (achievement influencing attitude) was supported.

Math Self-Concept and Mathematics Achievement: Examining Gender Variation and Reciprocal Relations among Junior High School Students in Taiwan

The study explored Taiwanese students’ mathematics learning at the junior high school level. Utilizing structural equation modeling, it examined the relationships between math self-concept and mathematics achievement with longitudinal data. Participants included 1,256 Taiwanese seventh graders in the first wave and declined slightly to 1,211 eighth graders in the second wave. Findings indicated the following. First, the longitudinal effects were all significant: (a) prior mathematics achievement significantly predicted subsequent math self-concept (skill development model), (b) prior math self-concept significantly predicted subsequent mathematics achievement (self-enhancement model), and (c) the reciprocal effects model was supported, and the effects of achievement tended to become stronger and more systematic. Second, results showed significant gender variation with respect to math self-concept and mathematics achievement. Boys had significantly higher math self-concept than girls, whereas girls exhibited higher mathematics achievement than boys. The implications of these findings for cultivating students’ interest in mathematics learning were discussed.

Participation in organized sport and self-esteem across adolescence: the mediating role of perceived sport competence.

The purpose of the study was to test longitudinal (2 years across three occasions) associations between sport participation (SP) and self-esteem (SE) across adolescence (10-18 years), addressing the mediating role of perceived sport competence (PSC) from a developmental perspective. Three waves of data were collected from three age cohorts (10-12, 13-15, and 16-18 years) of school-aged youth (N = 1358). The results demonstrate that SP and SE are related across time and that PSC has an important mediating role in this relationship, both from a skill development and a self-enhancement perspective. In the skill development model, the mediating role of PSC was significantly stronger in the youngest cohort whereas the effect of PSC on subsequent SP in the self-enhancement model was significantly stronger in the 13-15 age group compared with the youngest age group.

Self-appraisals in Mexico

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to assess the validity of the self-enhancement tactician perspective, which proposes that workers inflate their self-ratings regardless of their national culture, while exploring the nature of self-ratings in Mexico. Design/methodology/approach – Structural equation modeling and t tests were applied to data collected from a sample of 300 employees randomly selected from a manufacturing company in Mexico. The data collected include self-performance ratings, employees’ expected evaluations from supervisors, evaluations by supervisors and a pay-per-performance measure. Findings – The results provide general support to the self-enhancement tactician model, showing that self-rating is inflated and that supervisory rating constitutes the best predictor of employees’ performance. Research limitations/implications – Based on previous research findings, it was presumed that Mexican workers participating in this investigation reflected collectivistic-oriented traits. Future resear...

Student achievement and academic self-concept among secondary students in Flanders: gender and changes over time

This study investigated the causal ordering between general academic self-concept and academic achievement from Grade 7 to Grade 12 of secondary school by repeated assessment of 2834 Flemish adolescents. Age and sex differences were tested using structural equation modelling. Our results supported a moderate reciprocal effects model, indicating that previous achievement had a positive effect on subsequent academic self-concept and that previous academic self-concept had a positive effect on subsequent academic achievement. Furthermore, an interesting developmental pattern was observed as students move through secondary school. Between Grades 7 and 8, our results showed no relation between academic self-concept and achievement. Subsequently, between Grades 8 and 10, a self-enhancement model was supported, whereas in the final years of secondary school, a full reciprocal effects model was found. Finally, small gender differences were observed in the causal relation between academic self-concept and achievement. The discussion addresses both methodological and theoretical issues in self-concept research. The practical implications of the results are discussed briefly.

Self-Love's Lost Labor: A Self-Enhancement Model of Workplace Incivility

We present a self-enhancement model of workplace incivility to account for the effects of exposure to incivility on task performance. In particular, we predict that workplace incivility thwarts the ability to self-enhance at work, resulting in employees' divesting their sense of self from work via disengagement processes. Maintaining high levels of task performance subsequently ceases to be a source of self-enhancement for employees who have disengaged their sense of self from work. We also examined the extent to which the desire for self-enhancement (i.e., narcissism) moderated the effect of incivility on engagement. Using two sets of multiwave, multisource data collected in China, our results provide full support for our hypotheses and provide new theoretical directions for incivility research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DIFFERENTIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES UNDERLYING THE SKILL-DEVELOPMENT MODEL AND SELF-ENHANCEMENT MODEL ACROSS MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE IN 28 COUNTRIES

The skill-development model contends that achievements have an effect on academic self-confidences, while the self-enhancement model contends that self-confidences have an effect on achievements. Differential psychological processes underlying the 2 models across the domains of mathematics and science were posited and examined with structural equation modeling using the data of grade 8 students from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study across 28 countries (N = 144,069), which generated 2 major findings. In statistical terms, (1) there were negative cross-domain paths leading from achievements to self-confidences, controlling for the positive matching domain paths, as predicted by the skill-development model across domains; (2) there were positive cross-domain paths leading from self-confidences to achievements, controlling for the positive matching domain paths, as predicted by the self-enhancement model across domains. There were, however, qualitative variations in the degrees of support for the 2 models across countries.

A Short-Term Longitudinal Study of the Relationship between Motivation to Read and Reading Fluency Skill in Second Grade.

This short-term longitudinal study investigated the relationships between students' reading self-concept, goals for reading, and reading fluency skill over the course of the second grade year. Second grade children (N=185) were administered the Test of Word Reading Efficiency, the second grade Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills, and an adapted version of Motivation to Read Profile at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year. Results showed that students' goals for reading were related to reading self-concept, but unrelated to reading fluency. In addition, reading self-concept was significantly related to reading fluency at each time point. Latent-variable path analysis was used to test four potential relationships between students' reading self-concept and reading fluency skill: (a) an independence model; (b) a skill development model; (c) a self-enhancement model; and (d) a reciprocal effects model. Support for a reciprocal model was found between students' reading fluency skill and reading self-concept over the second grade year. This finding also indicated that students' reading self-concept begins to influence their reading achievement earlier than previous research had indicated. Implications for educational practice and future research will also be discussed.

Feeling bad but looking good: sick role features that lead to favorable interpersonal judgements

Despite the presumed stigma of medical illnesses and injuries, persons with factitious disorder (FD) actively work to occupy the role of medical patient. They do so for reasons that are distinctly psychological, not for any obvious instrumental benefits. There is little empirical evidence that addresses the psychological benefits that accrue from the sick role. The self-enhancement model of factitious illness behavior suggests that the psychological benefits of the sick role might include protection or enhancement of the patient's self-esteem or self-image. Specifically, the model suggests that the sick role can be self-enhancing by (a) serving as a vehicle for the accumulation and display of prized medical knowledge, (b) providing the patient with a sense of uniqueness, and (c) providing vicarious self-esteem by bringing the patient in contact with prestigious physicians. We tested the self-presentational value of these sick role features by asking participants to provide interpersonal judgments of a fictitious medical patient. Participants made significantly more favorable judgments of the patient when the patient was described as medically knowledgeable, and when the patient had a unique, as opposed to a common, medical problem. No evidence was found to support the hypothesis that patients are seen more positively through their association with prestigious physicians. These results provide preliminary support for an important assumption of the self-enhancement model, namely that the sickrole, or at least certain enactments of the sick-role, can have positive self-presentational outcomes.

Academic self-concept and academic achievement: Developmental perspectives on their causal ordering.

This study tests theoretical and developmental models of the causal ordering between academic self-concept and academic achievement in a multicohort-multioccasion design (i.e., 3 age cohorts, each with 3 measurement waves). Participants were students in Grades 2, 3, and 4 from 10 elementary schools. The structural equation model for the total sample supported a reciprocal-effects model, indicating that achievement has an effect on self-concept (skill-development model) and that academic self-concept has an effect on achievement (self-enhancement model). This pattern was replicated in tests of invariance across the 3 age cohorts and did not support the developmental hypothesis that skill-development and self-enhancement models would vary with age. Discussion centers on the theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of the results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Academic self-concept and academic achievement: Developmental perspectives on their causal ordering.

This study tests theoretical and developmental models of the causal ordering between academic self-concept and academic achievement in a multicohort-multioccasion design (i.e., 3 age cohorts, each with 3 measurement waves). Participants were students in Grades 2, 3, and 4 from 10 elementary schools. The structural equation model for the total sample supported a reciprocal-effects model, indicating that achievement has an effect on self-concept (skill-development model) and that academic self-concept has an effect on achievement (self-enhancement model). This pattern was replicated in tests of invariance across the 3 age cohorts and did not support the developmental hypothesis that skill-development and self-enhancement models would vary with age. Discussion centers on the theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of the results. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

Relations Among Achievement, Self-Concept, and Motivation in Mathematics and Language Arts: A Longitudinal Study

Relations among achievement, self-concept, and motivation in mathematics and language arts were examined in a longitudinal 2-wave, 3-variable panel study. The participants were 3 cohorts of Norwegian elementary and middle school students (N = 1,005). The 1st data collection took place in October and November 1996, when the students in the 3 cohorts attended 3rd, 6th, and 8th grades. The 2nd data collection took place 1 academic year later. LISREL 8 was used in the separate analyses of mathematics and language arts data; the data were analyzed for each cohort by means of 6 path analyses for latent variables. In all cohorts, the results were consistent with a skill-development model of the achievement-self-concept relation, that is, the view that achievement affects subsequent self-concept. No evidence was found that self-concept affects subsequent achievement (self-enhancement model). Moreover, in the 2 oldest cohorts, motivation was affected by previous achievement. However, there was no evidence that self-concept affects subsequent motivation or achievement. Expectations of a developmental change in the achievement-self-concept relation was not supported.

Social comparison in everyday life.

Ninety-four college students recorded details of their social comparisons over 2 weeks using a new instrument, the Rochester Social Comparison Record. Major results were (a) comparison direction varied with relationship with the target; (b) precomparison negative mood led more often to upward comparison than to downward comparison, supporting a selective affect-cognition priming model in which dysphoria primes negative thoughts about the self (Bower, 1991; Forgas, Bower, & Moylan, 1990) rather than a motivational self-enhancement model (Wills, 1981,1991); (c) upward comparison decreased subjective well-being, whereas downward comparison increased it; and (d) high self-esteem individuals engaged in more self-enhancing comparison. Festinger's theory of social comparison processes (Festinger, 1954) continues to be an active arena for theory and research. A new edited book (Suls & Wills, 1991), a symposium at the 1990 meeting of the Society for Experimental Social Psychology (SESP), and frequent journal articles attest to this vigor. Yet underlying the vitality is a feeling of uneasiness, obvious in the comments occasioned by the SESP symposium, in which a group of extraordinari ly knowledgeable participants showed little agreement about such apparently basic questions as people compare at all (or very much)? When do people compare? How do people balance upward and downward comparisons? How much does similarity count in comparison? Do people compare with actual targets, or are all comparisons constructed in people's heads? The problem is that there are many measures of social comparison, and they do not agree well with one another, leading to theoretical proliferation lacking a coherent empirical base. These measures may not agree with one another because of difficulties with the measures themselves (Wood, 1991), because they measure different motives for social comparison (cf. Wood & Taylor, 1991), or because they have been used in different contexts. The one thing on which there is general agreement is that social comparison is a wonderfully flexible process that can best be studied under naturalistic

能力の評価過程における情報収集行動について

This study investigated information gathering behavior about one's own abilities. Fifty-five female undergraduates participated in Experiment 1 and the following three hypotheses were examined: 1) both self-enhancement and self-confirmation model predicted that those who were confident in the high level of ability would select information about the high ability level; 2) self-enhancement model predicted that those who were confident in the low level of ability would avoid information about the low ability level while; 3) self-confirmation model predicted that those who were confident in the low level of ability would approach information about the low ability level

Self-esteem, need gratification, and work satisfaction: A test of competing explanations from consistency theory and self-enhancement theory

A sample of 112 administrators provided self-report data used to test two hypotheses derived from Korman's consistency model of work behavior. As predicted, those with high self-esteem experienced significantly greater need gratification than did those with low self-esteem, and self-esteem also significantly positively moderated the relationship between n gratification and work satisfaction. Need gratification was assessed for only those needs that were most salient for each person, thus eliminating a rival interpretation of the findings derived from the self-enhancement model of self-esteem. The moderating effect of self-esteem on the n gratification-work satisfaction relationship was limited to those experiencing low levels of n gratification, indicating a possible “boundary condition” of consistency theory. A problem with the use of moderator variables in behavioral science was also discussed.