Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T14:27:44.906Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Is social interaction based on guile or honesty?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 February 2011

Matthew L. Brooks  and
William B. Swann Jr.
Matthew L. Brooks
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712-0187. [email protected]@mail.utexas.eduhttp://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/faculty/swann/
William B. Swann Jr.
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712-0187. [email protected]@mail.utexas.eduhttp://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/faculty/swann/
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Von Hippel & Trivers suggest that people enhance their own self-views as a means of persuading others to adopt similarly inflated perceptions of them. We question the existence of a pervasive desire for self-enhancement, noting that the evidence the authors cite could reflect self-verification strivings or no motive whatsoever. An identity negotiation framework provides a more tenable approach to social interaction.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , February 2011 , pp. 17 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bandura, A. (1982) Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. American Psychologist 37:122–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cassidy, J. (1988) Child–mother attachment and the self in six-year olds. Child Development 59:121–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chambers, J. R. & Windschitl, P. D. (2004) Biases in social comparative judgments: The role of nonmotivated factors in above-average and comparative-optimism effects. Psychological Bulletin 130:813–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Diener, E. & Diener, M. (1995) Cross-cultural correlates of life satisfaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 68:653–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Epley, N. & Whitchurch, E. (2008) Mirror, mirror on the wall: Enhancement in self recognition. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 34:1159–70.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fein, S. & Spencer, S. J. (1997) Prejudice as self-image maintenance: Affirming the self through derogating others. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 73:31–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klar, Y. & Giladi, E. E. (1997) No one in my group can be below the group's average: A robust positivity bias in favor of anonymous peers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 73(5):885–901.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kwang, T. & Swann, W. B. Jr., (2010) Do people embrace praise even when they don't feel worthy? A review of critical tests of self-enhancement versus self-verification. Personality and Social Psychology Review 14:263–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sroufe, L. A. (1989) Relationships, self, and individual adaptation. In: Relationship disturbances in early childhood: A developmental approach, ed. Sameroff, A. J. & Emde, R. N., pp. 70–94. Basic.Google Scholar
Swann, W. B. Jr., (1983) Self-verification: Bringing social reality into harmony with the self. In: Social psychological perspectives on the self, vol. 2, ed. Suls, J. & Greenwald, A. G., pp. 33–66. Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Swann, W. B. Jr., (1987) Identity negotiation: Where two roads meet. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 53:1038–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Swann, W. B. Jr., (in press) Self-verification theory. In: Handbook of theories of social psychology, ed. Van Lang, P., Kruglanski, A. & Higgins, E. T.. Sage.Google Scholar
Swann, W. B. Jr., & Bosson, J. (2008) Identity negotiation: A theory of self and social interaction. In: Handbook of personality psychology: Theory and research, ed. John, O., Robins, R. & Pervin, L., pp. 448–71. Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Swann, W. B. Jr., Chang-Schneider, C. & McClarty, K. (2007) Do our self-views matter? Self-concept and self-esteem in everyday life. American Psychologist 62:84–94.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed