Psychological Science ›› 2014, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (1): 177-181.

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A Study of Self-Enhancement with the Effect of “Everyone is Better than Average” Mechanism Taken into Consideration

  

  • Received:2012-11-29 Revised:2013-10-10 Online:2014-01-20 Published:2014-01-20

排除“每个人都优于平均水平”机制影响的自我提升研究

薛海彦1,张卫青2,金盛华3   

  1. 1. 北京师范大学心理学院
    2. 中国兵器工业集团兵器人才学院
    3. 北京师范大学
  • 通讯作者: 金盛华

Abstract: Do Chinese self-enhance? This problem has been widely discussed, but no definitive answers. One part study results show that Chinese people are not self-enhancement, and the other part study results show that Chinese people are self-enhancement, two views at loggerheads over; In addition, many of the latter studies are questioned by researchers because of the methods they use, that means what measured by studies use the methods of Better than Average Effect and Self-Serving Attribution Bias is not self-enhancement, but a cognitive bias - "everyone is better than average" (EBTA) mechanism. Results of these studies can serve as evidences that Chinese people are self-improvement only if the effect of EBTA mechanism is excluded. In order to explore Chinese people's self-enhancement motive and its manifestations, this study used the methods of Better than Average Effect, Self-Serving Attribution Bias and Implicit Association Test to measure the self-enhancement of Chinese university students, with the effect of EBTA mechanism taken into consideration. Study 1 used the method of Better than Average Effect. Chinese university students were asked to evaluate themselves or a strange university student in homogeneous groups. Subjects’ self-evaluations were indicators of self-enhancement. Subjects’ evaluations of the strange student were indicators of EBTA mechanism. We got the features of Chinese university students’ explicit self-enhancement after the effect of EBTA mechanism was excluded. The results showed that: if we didn’t consider EBTA mechanism, Chinese university students had Better than Average Effect, they saw themselves as better than 65.4% of people in the homogeneous group; The effect of EBTA mechanism was significant; Chinese university students still had Better than Average Effect after the effect of EBTA mechanism was excluded, they thought themselves were better than 56% of people in the homogeneous group. Study 2 used the method of Self-Serving Attribution Bias. Chinese university students were asked to attribute their/a strange university student’s success and failure on 8 factors. Subjects’ attributions of their success and failure were indicators of self-enhancement. Subjects’ attributions of the strange student’s success and failure were indicators of EBTA mechanism. We got the features of Chinese university students’ explicit self-enhancement after the effect of EBTA mechanism was excluded. The results showed that: if we didn’t consider EBTA mechanism, Chinese university students had Self-Serving Attribution Bias; The effect of EBTA mechanism was significant; Chinese university students still had Self-Serving Attribution Bias after the effect of EBTA mechanism was excluded. Study 3 combined Implicit Association Test and the first two methods. Subjects completed Implicit Association Test, Better than Average Effect test and Self-Serving Attribution Bias test. The results showed that: Chinese university students had implicit self-enhancement; There was positive correlation between implicit self-enhancement and explicit self-enhancement. There weren’t gender or educational differences in both implicit self-enhancement and explicit self-enhancement.

Key words: Self-Enhancement, “Every is Better than Average” Mechanism, Better than Average Effect, Self-Serving Attribution Bias, Implicit Association Test ( IAT )

摘要: 采用优于平均效应、自我服务归因偏向和内隐测验三种方法测量中国大学生的自我提升,并在前两种方法中考虑了EBTA机制的影响,以探讨中国人的自我提升动机及其表现形式。结果发现:EBTA机制影响显著;排除EBTA机制的影响后,大学生依然存在优于平均效应和自我服务归因偏向;大学生存在内隐自我提升值;内隐自我提升值与外显自我提升值之间存在显著正相关。

关键词: 自我提升, 每个人都优于平均水平机制, 优于平均效应, 自我服务归因偏向, 内隐联想测验