Self-perception Bias Research Articles

Dark triad traits are associated with a weaker morally-good true self bias in self-perceptions

ABSTRACT We examined whether Dark Triad (DT) traits moderate people’s tendency to associate moral traits with their true self. We hypothesized that people high in DT traits would show a weaker tendency to view moral (vs. immoral) characteristics as central to their identity. Undergraduate participants (N = 345) rated the perceived identity centrality of positive/negative traits in domains of morality/competence, and completed measures of psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism. Positive moral (vs. immoral and positive competence) traits were seen as more identity central overall, but this effect was weaker among participants high in DT traits. Further, all DT traits negatively (positively) predicted the identity centrality of moral (immoral) traits. These findings extend work on true self-perceptions and moral identity in the Dark Triad.

Impact of education, age and gender on investor's sentiment: A survey of practitioners

The field of behavioral finance lacks a homogeneous and structured theoretical framework. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to further systematization in the field by analyzing the impacts of education, gender and age on investor behavior and sentiment.The study is based on online anonymous surveys given to 106 professional investors active in the Spanish market during February 2017. The survey includes control questions, seven questions regarding investors' sentiment to elaborate a confidence index and twenty questions concerning the practitioner's view of behavioral finance.We first identify a gap between the relevance of behavioral finance and the lack of education in the field. We also find a clear misalignment between the investors and their clients' profiles related to their level of confidence. In that regard, the use of the institutional investor confidence index mitigates self-perception bias and is a key element in determining investors’ real profiles.Consistent with prior research, we find that female investors view themselves as more driven by rational analysis and are more risk averse while younger investors are more influenced by cognitive and emotional biases. As a key contribution, we establish a model to determine investors’ sentiment, which shows that female and more experienced practitioners exhibit higher levels of optimism and confidence.

ADHD in Adolescents: Commentary on the Special Issue of Ripple Effects in Self-Perceptions and Social Relationships

Adolescence is a developmental period that affords both risk as well as enormous opportunity. Ripple effects can extend far and wide and speak to the nuance and complexity in understanding and treating ADHD during the adolescent period. The studies in this special issue provide novel and important insights into the lives of adolescents with ADHD, and they collectively point to important areas for both research and clinical attention. Further, each of the studies underscore the importance of soliciting the perspective of adolescents with ADHD. In this commentary, I consider the value of self-report when working with adolescents with ADHD, the possibility of a self-perception bias in youth with ADHD, challenges in assessing social functioning in adolescence, and implications for school-based assessments and interventions. For treatment specifically, I raise the possibility of a modular intervention approach for adolescents with ADHD and shared decision making that solicits and incorporates the adolescent perspective. The voices of adolescents with ADHD may be crucial for understanding how to lower risk, promote resilience, reduce stigma, and improve our assessments and interventions.

Do Adolescents With ADHD Have a Self-Perception Bias for Their ADHD Symptoms and Impairment?

The purpose of this study was to investigate the self-perception bias (SPB) in adolescents with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The SPB was defined as adolescent underestimation of their learning and behavior problems in comparison to parent- or teacher-reports or a standardized achievement test. The sample comprised 74 adolescents, ages 13 to 18 (40 ADHD; 34 comparison). Compared to adolescents without ADHD, adolescents with ADHD underreported their symptoms and impairment when parent-reports, but not teacher-reports were the indicator of performance. Adolescents with ADHD, however, reported more difficulties in all areas of functioning than adolescents without ADHD. In the sample of adolescents with ADHD, self- and parent-reports of learning problems, but not teacher-reports, were significantly associated with adolescent total academic achievement test score. Adolescents with learning problems as measured by the achievement test, and social problems as rated by parents, reported higher levels of these difficulties than adolescents whose functioning was in the average range; however, adolescents with clinical levels of oppositional behaviors, as rated by parents or teachers, did not report elevated levels of these behaviors. Depressive symptoms were associated with a lower SPB. Implications of these findings for psychologists’ use of self-report measures with adolescents with ADHD are discussed.

Financial Literacy Overconfidence and Consumer Financial Satisfaction: Evidence from the 2018 US National Financial Capability Study

An increasingly prevalent topic on the associations between financial literacy and consumer financial satisfaction has been highlighted in recent years. Utilizing the data from the 2018 US National Financial Capability Study, this study conducts ordered probit regressions to examine the effects of financial literacy on consumer financial satisfaction. To verify the robustness, this study performs a comprehensive check through replacing estimation methods, removing outliers by income, and performing regressions by various consumer cohorts. The results indicate that objective financial literacy has a significantly negative effect on consumer financial satisfaction, while subjective financial literacy has played a crucial role in improving consumer financial satisfaction. Thus, consumers are overconfident in their financial literacy. The results imply that policymakers should formulate policies to cultivate rational investment concepts and raise consumers’ risk awareness, as well as financial institutions should provide services of financial capability assessment to correct consumers’ self-perception bias.

Social criticism moderates the relationship between anxiety and depression 10 years later

BackgroundResearch has consistently documented anxiety and depression as bidirectional risk factors for one another. However, little research investigates the sequential comorbidity of anxiety and depression over lengthy durations, and the influence of contextual variables on this relationship have not been fully empirically investigated. MethodThe current study examined perceived social criticism as a moderator of the relationship between a history of anxiety and a past 12-month depressive episode at least 10 years later (and vice versa) utilizing the National Comorbidity Survey Baseline (N = 8,098) and Re-interview data (N = 5,001). History of anxiety and depressive diagnoses were assigned at Wave 1, past year diagnosis at Wave 2, and perceived social criticism was assessed at Wave 1. ResultsStructural equation modeling indicated that when controlling for a Wave 1 latent depression factor, a positive relationship between Wave 1 latent anxiety and a Wave 2 latent depression emerged for those endorsing higher perceived social criticism from friends and relatives, respectively. Unexpectedly, when controlling for Wave 1 latent anxiety, a negative relationship between Wave 1 latent depression and Wave 2 latent anxiety emerged for those endorsing higher perceived social criticism from friends, but no relationship when moderated by perceived social criticism from relatives. LimitationsPerceived social criticism was self-reported, which may introduce self-perception bias. ConclusionsResults identified perceived social criticism as an important moderator in the sequential comorbidity of anxiety and depression over a long period of time.

Money illusion, financial literacy and implications of self-perceptions

ABSTRACT Understanding inflation is crucial in financial decision-making, however, lack of comprehension pertains to money illusion. Using a survey applied to university students, we study the determinants of money illusion including financial literacy and education. Moreover, we test the implications of individuals’ self-perception of interest and knowledge in financial matters. Our findings show that a higher level of financial knowledge results in lower money illusion levels and education improves financial knowledge. Moreover, there exist self-perception biases; self-perceived levels might not always be in line with the actual ones, and there is a gender effect on self-perceptions.

I can see myself enjoying that: Using imagery perspective to circumvent bias in self-perceptions of interest.

People experience life satisfaction when pursuing activities that genuinely interest them. Unfortunately, cultural stereotypes (e.g., "science is not for girls") and preexisting self-beliefs can bias people's memories, thereby hindering their ability to identify the domains that they actually experience as interesting. The current experiments tested a novel method for circumventing this problem by manipulating visual imagery perspective as people recalled their experiences. Four experiments measured (or manipulated) participants' actual experience of interest as they completed a task; the experiments also measured (or manipulated) participants' self-beliefs about their interest in the domain. The experiments then manipulated imagery perspective as participants recalled their interest in the task. Prior research suggests that imagery from an actor's first-person perspective facilitates a bottom-up processing style, whereas imagery from an external third-person facilitates a top-down processing style (Libby & Eibach, 2011). Consistent with this account, across all 4 experiments, first-person imagery (vs. third-person) caused people's recall to be less biased by the top-down influence of their self-beliefs and better aligned with their past experienced interest. The final experiment demonstrated downstream consequences of these effects on female undergraduates' intentions to pursue future activities in a domain (STEM) that negative stereotypes typically might dissuade them from pursuing. Thus, the present results suggest that first-person imagery can be a useful tool to reduce the influence of biased self-beliefs, while increasing sensitivity to past bottom-up experiences during recall. Further, these results hold practical implications for reducing psychological barriers that can keep underrepresented individuals from pursuing interests in counterstereotypical domains. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Removing the Blinders: Increasing Students’ Awareness of Self-Perception Biases and Real-World Ethical Challenges Through an Educational Intervention

Business ethics educators strive to produce graduates who not only grasp the principles of ethical decision-making, but who can apply that business ethics education when faced with real-world challenges. However, this has proven especially difficult, as good intentions do not always translate into ethical awareness and action. Complementing a behavioral ethics approach with insights from social psychology, we developed an interventional class module with both online and in-class elements aimed at increasing students’ awareness of their own susceptibility to unconscious biases and, consequently, unethical behaviors. We deployed this intervention within a problem-based learning course (137 undergraduate students), in which students completed real-world projects for actual business clients. Our results suggest that although students appeared universally aware of the importance of ethical issues in business and generally espoused intentions to act ethically, those who received the intervention were significantly more likely to recognize their own susceptibility to perpetuating unethical business behavior and to identify ethical issues specific to their real-world projects. These results have important implications for behavioral ethics pedagogy and provide a de-biasing interventional approach for bridging classroom knowledge with real-world skills.

An Evaluation of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for the Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa

Eating disorder (ED) is a serious global epidemic confronting adolescent females. If left untreated, they lead to many physical, psychiatric and social consequences. Their complications may lead to complaints such as insomnia, constipation, and fatigue. Dermatologic signs include alopecia, dermatitis, and lanugo. Postponement of treatment often leads to increased mortality in patients. Using DSM IV classification guidelines, Eating Disorders can be classified as Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN) or Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS). AN is prevalent in single adolescent females since they are often preoccupied with their body shape and weight. This self-perception bias eventually has an effect on personal relationships. No pharmacological treatments have been approved in the US, and as a consequence, psychiatrists have to rely on psychotherapies for treating anorexia nervosa. Modified versions of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) have become popular treatment modalities for inpatient and outpatient psychiatrists. However, there is not ample published clinical research to identify types of significant benefits of each treatment therapy to have a favorable effect on the outcome of the disease. We collected and analyzed here several published randomized clinical studies to assess health gains that ensue from the treatment of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The intention here is not to compare CBT with other psychotherapies, but only to establish the proven short-term and long-term benefits of CBT. We are also interested in investigating whether patients of Anorexia Nervosa who are treated with CBT can retain the gains that result from the treatment.

Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice (KAP) of Dairy Products in Chinese Urban Population and the Effects on Dairy Intake Quality

Insufficient intake of dairy products is a nutritional problem of concern in China. However, the knowledge, attitude, and practice of consuming dairy products in the Chinese population remain unknown. A total of 1739 subjects from eight cities in China participated in this study. A questionnaire was used to measure knowledge of and attitude toward dairy. A semi-food intake frequency questionnaire was used to obtain the frequencies and amount of different kinds of dairy product intake. Calcium and protein intake were investigated within one 24-hour period of dietary recall. The results showed that questions related to lactose intolerance had the highest unknown rate and the lowest accuracy. Males, subjects with a lower education level, lower monthly family income (<3000 yuan), lower monthly family food expenditure (<1000 yuan), and lower personal monthly expenditure on dairy products (<10 yuan) had a significantly lower knowledge score. For attitude, 42.7 percent of subjects had self-perceived insufficient intake of dairy. While 15.2 percent of subjects reported experiencing lactose intolerance symptoms, 29.5 percent did not know the reasons. In practice, the median (25th, 75th) intake of dairy products was 71.4 (0.0, 200.0) g/day. A significantly lower intake of dairy and low-fat or fat-free dairy products was shown in subjects with poor dairy knowledge. For the perception of lactose intolerance, the lowest intake was shown in the “unsure” group. In conclusion, knowledge gaps and self-perception bias regarding dairy products exist in Chinese urban adults and these are associated with the quantity and quality of dairy intake.

Are Students Blind to Their Ethical Blind Spots? An Exploration of Why Ethics Education Should Focus on Self-Perception Biases

Ethics blind spots, which have become a keystone of the emerging behavioral ethics literature, are essentially biases, heuristics, and psychological traps. Though students typically recognize that ethical challenges exist in the world at large, they often fail to see when they are personally prone to ethics blind spots. This creates an obstacle for ethics education—inducing students to act in an ethical manner when faced with real challenges. Grounded in the social psychology literature, we suggest that a meta-bias, the bias blind spot, should be addressed to facilitate student recognition of real-world ethical dilemmas and their own susceptibility to biases. We present a roadmap for an ethics education training module, developed to incorporate both ethics blind spots and self-perception biases. After completing the module, students identified potential ethical challenges in their real-world team projects and reflected on their susceptibility to ethical transgressions. Qualitative student feedback supports the value of this training module beyond traditional ethics education approaches. Lessons for management and ethics educators include (a) the value of timely, in-context ethics interventions and (b) the need for student self-reflection (more so than emphasis on broad ethical principles). Future directions are discussed.

Accuracy and bias in self-perception of performance: Narcissism matters in Korea as well

Debates regarding the nature of self-enhancement versus accurate self-assessment have been active among psychologists for decades. More recently, researchers have become interested in the panculturality of self-enhancement. Some researchers argue that self-enhancement is universal and present within all cultures. Others declare self-enhancement to be a Western tendency, with self-diminishment being the norm among East Asians. Importantly, the majority of such studies have not compared self-perceptions against objective external criteria, especially those with East Asians. Furthermore, the link between narcissism and self-enhancement has been largely overlooked within Korean samples. To address such gaps, we utilized scores on an objective test as a criterion to investigate the accuracy of Koreans’ self-assessments of performance, as well as how individual differences in narcissism are related to such assessments. A sample of Korean students (N = 146; 71 women) completed self-report measures of narcissism and self-esteem, and took a listening comprehension quiz. Estimated and actual scores were collected and used to compute self-enhancement scores. Results demonstrated that Koreans’ self-perceptions of performance on the quiz were quite accurate. As has been found in Western cultures, narcissism was related to self-enhancement.

Self-enhancement diminished.

Self-enhancement is a positive bias in self-perception, which may imply error. However, conventional measures of self-enhancement are difference scores that do not distinguish a positive bias from a self-enhancement error, that is, they fail to identify those individuals who hold an irrationally or inaccurately positive view of themselves. We propose 2 new measures to separate error from bias. In the domain of personality judgment, we estimate a defensible bias and an enhancement error from individuals' actual and perceived similarity with others. In the domain of performance, we adapt a decision-theoretic framework to distinguish those who falsely believe to be better than average from those who actually are better. We illustrate the properties of these measures in 3 empirical studies and computer simulations. Implausibly high majorities of people consider themselves to be above average on various dimensions.

Annual Conference 2014 paper: An exploratory case study of three children with ADHD and social difficulties: Child and parent responses to an educational intervention designed to facilitate self-regulation and deep learning

We tested the feasibility of an educational intervention for ADHD and social difficulties, with three boys, ages 8, 9, and 10. A novel approach was used: exploratory talk and deep learning educational techniques were combined in a three-part psychoeducation, collaborative group work, and homework intervention. These techniques have been shown to increase metacognition and self-regulation in academic learning for typically developing children, but have not been combined and tested with social skills learning or ADHD children.Engagement levels varied by case, and corresponded to socio-economic status (SES), interest in the homework activity, and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) scores. Key themes were ‘just want to play’, ‘don’t see problems’, and ‘stress and frustration of parents’. Socially problematic subthemes dominated the boys’ talk, supporting literature on social difficulties, positive self-perception bias and pragmatic language difficulties in ADHD. Results suggest future research should take into account individual differences on SDQ scores and adopting a play-based format.

Accuracy and bias in self-perceptions of responsive behavior: implications for security in romantic relationships.

The current research examined self-perception of responsive behavior as a process through which perceivers who highly value romantic partners generate security that they are valued by those partners. People hold naive theories that their responsive behavior elicits positive sentiments from others, such as satisfaction, positive regard, and commitment, and they believe their unresponsive behavior elicits negative sentiments. Accordingly, 2 dyadic behavioral observation studies, one involving conflict interactions (Study 1) and one involving support interactions (Study 2), suggested that people who value partners achieve security that they are valued by their partners through both accurate and biased self-perceptions of responsive behavior. Perceivers who valued partners accurately perceived their more responsive behavior enacted toward partners, which bolstered their confidence that they were valued by partners (accurate self-perception). In addition, perceivers who valued partners had biased and exaggerated perceptions of their own responsive behavior, which also bolstered their perceptions of being valued by partners (biased self-perception). Examination of memories of responsive behavior 2 weeks and 6 months following interactions (Study 2) suggested that perceivers' memories of their own responsive behavior derived from a mix of accuracy and bias, which predicted changes in relationship security over time. These findings underscore the importance of perceivers' representations of their responsive behavior, both accurate and biased, as determinants of their own relationship security.

Comparative neuropsychology of adult obsessive‐compulsive disorder and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder: Implications for a novel executive overload model of OCD

Research implicates frontostriatal pathophysiology in both attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Nevertheless, ADHD is characterized with frontostriatal hypoactivity and OCD with hyperactivity. Furthermore, both disorders seem to lie on opposite ends of a clinical impulsive-compulsive continuum. While never having directly been compared, and despite these differences, OCD and ADHD appear to share similar neuropsychological impairments especially in executive functions. This study aimed at comparing adults with OCD and adults with ADHD on neuropsychological measures and behavioural impulsivity and OC measures. Thirty OCD, 30 ADHD, and 30 matched healthy control (HC) participants were administered a comprehensive neuropsychological battery and completed several questionnaires. The groups were compared on all neuropsychological and clinical measures and correlations between neuropsychological and clinical symptoms were computed. The ADHD and OCD groups performed more poorly than HC on all neuropsychological domains and most domain subtests. The ADHD group reported significantly higher impulsivity than the OCD group. OCD patients did not differ from HC on behavioural impulsivity. A unique dissociation was found between impulsivity and response inhibition where both clinical groups showed similar response inhibition deficit, but differed significantly on impulsivity. Moreover, a negative association between OC symptoms and response inhibition and a bias in self-perception of impulsivity was found only in the OCD group. We propose an executive overload model of OCD that views neuropsychological impairments in OCD as an epiphenomenon, according to which continuous attempts to control automatic processes are associated with obsessive thoughts overflow that causes an overload on the executive system.

Biased Self-Perception of Social Skills in Anxious Children: The Role of State Anxiety

The role of state and trait anxiety on observer ratings of social skill and negatively biased self-perception of social skill was examined. Participants were aged between 7 and 13 years (M = 9.65; SD = 1.77; N = 102), 47 had a current anxiety diagnosis and 55 were non-anxious controls. Participants were randomly allocated to a high or low anxiety condition and asked to complete social tasks. Task instructions were adjusted across conditions to manipulate participants' state anxiety. Observers rated anxious participants as having poorer social skills than non-anxious controls but there was no evidence that anxious participants exhibited a negative self-perception bias, relative to controls. However, as participants' ratings of state anxiety increased, their perception of their performance became more negatively biased. The results suggest that anxious children may exhibit real impairments in social skill and that high levels of state anxiety can lead to biased judgements of social skills in anxious and non-anxious children.

Economic Inequality Is Linked to Biased Self-Perception

People’s self-perception biases often lead them to see themselves as better than the average person (a phenomenon known as self-enhancement). This bias varies across cultures, and variations are typically explained using cultural variables, such as individualism versus collectivism. We propose that socioeconomic differences among societies—specifically, relative levels of economic inequality—play an important but unrecognized role in how people evaluate themselves. Evidence for self-enhancement was found in 15 diverse nations, but the magnitude of the bias varied. Greater self-enhancement was found in societies with more income inequality, and income inequality predicted cross-cultural differences in self-enhancement better than did individualism/collectivism. These results indicate that macrosocial differences in the distribution of economic goods are linked to microsocial processes of perceiving the self.

Handedness is modulated by sex and self-perception

The distribution of handedness is different for men and women. Less pronounced right- or left-handedness in men is well established and often attributed to direct effects of genetic factors. Many studies observing this sex difference assessed handedness via questionnaire. It may therefore be influenced by a sex-specific bias in self-perception. Permanent inadequate self-perceptions are key characteristics of hypochondriasis. The study therefore tested 1017 participants (614 females) on two standard questionnaires to assess handedness and hypochondriasis: the Edinburgh Inventory and the Whiteley Index. Effects of sex, hypochondriac traits and the direction of handedness (left-handers; right-handers) on the degree of handedness (DH; the strength of lateralisation) were tested with multivariate linear regression. In confirmation of previous results, the DH is lower (less pronounced) in right-handed males than right-handed females, but is similar across sexes in left-handers. Regression analyses showed that for right-handers, male sex and higher hypochondriac traits are independent predictors of lower DH. For left-handers, main effects of sex and hypochondriac traits are not significant whereas a significant interaction of these two factors indicates that in left-handed men higher hypochondriac traits are associated with a differentially stronger shift towards lower DH compared to left-handed women. In conclusion, the DH is modulated by sex-specific effects of self-perception for left-handers but not right-handers. The implications of this finding on current theories of the inheritance of handedness are discussed. The assessment of hypochondriac traits might be useful to control response bias in questionnaire-based studies of human handedness.