| Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools. |
Punishing Hubris: The Perils of Overestimating One's Status in a GroupUniversity of California-Berkeley, anderson{at}haas.berkeley.edu
Columbia University
University of Texas-Austin Individuals engage in status self-enhancement when they form an overly positive perception of their status in a group. We argue that status self-enhancement incurs social costs and, therefore, most individuals perceive their status accurately. In contrast, theories of positive illusions suggest status self-enhancement is beneficial for the individual and that most individuals overestimate their status. We found supportive evidence for our hypotheses in a social relations analysis of laboratory groups, an experiment that manipulated status self-enhancement, and a study of real-world groups. Individuals who engaged in status self-enhancement were liked less by others and paid less for their work. Moreover, individuals tended to perceive their status highly accurately. Mediation analyses showed that status self-enhancers were socially punished because they were seen as disruptive to group processes.
Key Words: status • hierarchy • self-perception • self-enhancement • positive illusions
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 34, No. 1,
90-101 (2008) |
|||
 |
|
|
 |
|
Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
