Confident but Clueless?: The Nature and Boundaries of the Link Between Personality Disorder Features and Self-enhancement Open Access
Ashley Lauren Watts (Spring 2018)
Abstract
Although it is well-established that people tend to view themselves through rose-colored glasses, efforts to identify robust individual differences in this tendency have generally left researchers empty-handed. Narcissistic individuals have long been observed to overestimate their attributes and accomplishments, however, suggesting that narcissistic traits might be one risk factor for engaging in self-enhancing and overconfident behaviors. The goal of the present study was to investigate the link between personality and self-enhancement broadly construed. Atlanta community members (N = 138; Mage = 25 years; 62% female; 30% African American, 26% Caucasian; 19% Asian) reported on their own personality and completed a series of laboratory tasks evaluating their tendencies toward self-enhancement and overconfidence. Although many participants tended towards self-enhancement, there were substantial individual differences in this tendency. Certain features of narcissism, namely those associated with leadership and authority, were consistently positively associated with the broad swath of self-enhancement and overconfidence indicators. Other traits, such as extraversion, antagonism, disinhibition, and self-esteem were also related to self-enhancement, although less consistently. In contrast, neuroticism and internalizing symptomology were negatively associated with overconfidence and self-enhancement. Together, the current study has aided in targeting replicable personality traits implicated in self-enhancement and overconfidence, with narcissism being the most salient risk factor for viewing oneself overly positively.
Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Self-knowledge 1
Self-enhancement and overconfidence as universal phenomena 3
Self-enhancement 4
Overconfidence 5
Caveats to self-enhancement and overconfidence as universal phenomena 6
Narcissism, self-enhancement, and overconfidence 7
Remaining questions from the existing literature 10
Individual differences in bias blind spot 10
Narcissism as a monolithic construct 11
Specificity 12
Current study 14
Specific aims and hypotheses 15
Method 19
Participants and procedure 19
Participants 19
Procedure 20
Measures 21
Data analysis 33
Table of Contents
(continued)
Results 34
Aim 1 34
Aim 2 37
Aim 3 44
Discussion 50
Summary of main findings 51
Accounts of the narcissism-self-enhancement link 53
Limitations 56
Future research directions and planned analyses 62
Conclusion 66
References 68
Tables 88
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