PSY-1 Better-Than-Average Effect: Biases in Social Comparative Judgment
Abstract
Research in which people tend to rate themselves favorably or above average has found the Better-Than-Average-Effect (Alicke & Govorun, 2005; Sedikides & Alicke, 2012). Is there a natural psychological function that promotes self-serving biases? Do these biases distort our perception of how we are and in the comparative judgment of others? According to Festinger’s (1954) Social comparison theory internal motives for the Better-Than-Average-Effect (BTAE) exist. Some self-serving biases include self-protection, self enhancement, and maintaining high levels of self-esteem. To investigate the workings of the Better-Than-Average-Effect I conducted a 2x2x2 mixed factorial Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) on a pool of undergraduate students who were given credit for their time. I found that my hypothesis about participants rating themselves better than others was not supported by this study. On average both before testing and after the general knowledge trivia, even across both levels of difficulty participants rated others better than themselves. I found that when participants have contact or can define the comparison target, BTAE is reduced.
Keywords
Better-Than-Average, Judgment, comparison target
PSY-1 Better-Than-Average Effect: Biases in Social Comparative Judgment
USC UPSTATE
Research in which people tend to rate themselves favorably or above average has found the Better-Than-Average-Effect (Alicke & Govorun, 2005; Sedikides & Alicke, 2012). Is there a natural psychological function that promotes self-serving biases? Do these biases distort our perception of how we are and in the comparative judgment of others? According to Festinger’s (1954) Social comparison theory internal motives for the Better-Than-Average-Effect (BTAE) exist. Some self-serving biases include self-protection, self enhancement, and maintaining high levels of self-esteem. To investigate the workings of the Better-Than-Average-Effect I conducted a 2x2x2 mixed factorial Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) on a pool of undergraduate students who were given credit for their time. I found that my hypothesis about participants rating themselves better than others was not supported by this study. On average both before testing and after the general knowledge trivia, even across both levels of difficulty participants rated others better than themselves. I found that when participants have contact or can define the comparison target, BTAE is reduced.