Reconceptualizing Individual Differences in Self-Enhancement Bias: An Interpersonal Approach.

Self-enhancement bias has been studied from 2 perspectives: L. Festinger’s (1954) social comparison theory (self-enhancers perceive themselves more positively than they perceive others) and G. W. Allport’s (1937) self-insight theory (self-enhancers perceive themselves more positively than they are perceived by others). These 2 perspectives are theoretically and empirically distinct, and the failure to recognize their differences has led to a protracted debate. A new interpersonal approach to self-enhancement decomposes self-perception into 3 components: perceiver effect, target effect, and unique self-perception. Both theoretical derivations and an illustrative study suggest that this resulting measure of self-enhancement is less confounded by unwanted components of interpersonal perception than previous social comparison and self-insight measures. Findings help reconcile conflicting views about whether self-enhancement is adaptive or maladaptive. Is self-evaluation inherently biased and, if so, does this bias promote adjustment? This question has led to a protracted debate between those who believe that psychologically healthy individu-als perceive themselves accurately and those who believe that it is more adaptive to have overly positive, self-enhancing illusions. So