Managing Self Image

Social Comparison

The act of comparing ourselves to others.

Upward Social Comparison

Comparing ourselves to someone better off to motivate improvements.

Downward Social Comparison

Comparing ourselves to someone worse off to boost self-esteem.

Self-serving Attributions

Explanations that protect our self-image.

Self-serving Bias

The tendency to take personal credit for successes and blame external forces for failures.

Self-handicapping

Creating obstacles to provide an external excuse for poor performance.

Better Than Average Effect (Dunning-Krueger Effect)

Individuals overestimate their abilities compared to others.

Unrealistic Optimism

Overestimate positive outcomes and underestimate negative ones.

Exaggerating Strengths/Minimizing Weaknesses

Valuing our abilities while downplaying our deficiencies.

Who engages in self-enhancing strategies?

People with high self-esteem.

When do we engage in self-enhancement strategies? (situation factors)

When our self esteem is threatened.

Example of upward social comparison

a student struggling in SOP 3004 looking at a top performing student and studying their habits

example of downward social comparison

doing bad on an exam and remembering a friend who failed the test entirely

example of self serving bias

a basketball player crediting their hard work when winning but blaming the referee for a loss

example of self handicapping

a student went out the night before an exam, when failed they can say “Well I didn’t even study,” instead of admitting they struggled

example of better than average effect

someone with little to no singing skills insisting their better than most contestants on American Idol

example of unrealistic optimism

someone who smokes daily believing they’ll never get lung cancer

example of exaggerating strengths/ minimizing weaknesses

a person who is bad at sports but good at academics says, “Physical ability doesn’t matter—intelligence is what really counts.”

Example of who most likely might engage in self enhancing strategies

a confident CEO takes credit for a company’s success but blames the economy when profits decline.

example of when someone might engage in self enhancement strategies?

blaming the teacher for failing instead of our lack of studying