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Feeling Good about Ourselves

Unrealistic Self-Evaluations and Their Relation to Self-Esteem in the United States and Norway

The University of Tromsø

Charles R. Seger

Indiana University

The "better-than-average" effect, the tendency for people to view themselves as above average on positive characteristics but belowaverage on negative characteristics, is an important manifestation of the motive for self-enhancement. The present research examined whether the better-than-average effect occurred in Norway, a country with strong norms for modesty, and whether the same association between unrealistically positive self-appraisals and self-esteem would be observed in Norway and the United States. Seventy-six American and 102 Norwegian participants were asked to rate the favorability and self-descriptiveness of 42 personality traits, and these ratings were used to generate a self-enhancement index. Norwegians showed significantly less self-enhancement bias than did Americans, and Norwegians showed no association between self-esteem and self-enhancement bias.

Key Words: self-esteem • self-enhancement • self-evaluations • self-promotion • better-than-average effect

Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, Vol. 35, No. 5, 571-585 (2004)
DOI: 10.1177/0022022104268389


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