Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Self-Serving Bias

Self-Serving Bias

Self-serving bias is a cognitive phenomenon in which individuals attribute positive outcomes to internal factors such as their abilities, intelligence, or effort while attributing negative outcomes to external circumstances. This cognitive distortion helps maintain self-esteem but can also impede objective self-assessment.Theoretical Explanations of Self-Serving BiasTwo primary theories explain the self-serving bias: the cognitive explanation and the motivational explanation.The cognitive...

Sources of Self-Esteem III: Social Comparison

Sources of Self-Esteem III: Social Comparison

Social comparison plays a fundamental role in the evaluation of personal success and self-worth. Rather than assessing our achievements in isolation, we interpret their significance relative to personal goals and critically in comparison to the performance of others. A grade of B in a mathematics exam might elicit pride if one's expectation was a C, yet result in disappointment if an A was anticipated or if peers achieved superior results. These comparative evaluations illustrate how both...

Motivational Bias

Motivational Bias

Cognitive bias results from limitations in thinking and information processing, leading to systematic errors in judgment. Conversely, motivational bias stems from personal desires or emotions, causing distortions in perception to align with self-interest. Motivational bias influences how individuals perceive and attribute causes to events, often shaped by personal needs, goals, and self-esteem preservation. This bias can distort judgment, leading to inaccurate assessments of success, failure,...

Stereotype Threat and Self-fulfilling Prophecies

Stereotype Threat and Self-fulfilling Prophecies

When we hold a stereotype about a person, we have expectations that he or she will fulfill that stereotype. A self-fulfilling prophecy is an expectation held by a person that alters his or her behavior in a way that tends to make it true. When we hold stereotypes about a person, we tend to treat the person according to our expectations. This treatment can influence the person to act according to our stereotypic expectations, thus confirming our stereotypic beliefs. Research by Rosenthal and...

The Looking Glass Self

The Looking Glass Self

The concept of the looking-glass self describes how an individual's self-concept is shaped by their perception of how others see them. This psychological theory, first introduced by sociologist Charles Horton Cooley in 1902, posits that self-identity emerges in a social context and is influenced by the judgments—real or imagined—of others.Research suggests that individuals frequently overestimate how positively others perceive them. This is particularly evident in physical self-perception,...

Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification

Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification

Social psychologists have documented that feeling good about ourselves and maintaining positive self-esteem is a powerful motivator of human behavior (Tavris & Aronson, 2008). In the United States, members of the predominant culture typically think very highly of themselves and view themselves as good people who are above average on many desirable traits (Ehrlinger, Gilovich, & Ross, 2005). Often, our behavior, attitudes, and beliefs are affected when we experience a threat to our...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

A Process Account of Dehumanization: Extending the Framework with a Developmental Research Agenda.

Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)·2026

Same author

Ionizing Radiation Actively Reshapes Bone Marrow-Derived Extracellular Vesicle MicroRNA Cargo with the Involvement of hnRNP A2b1.

International journal of molecular sciences·2026

Same author

Happiness Meanders: A cross-cultural dataset on happiness, emotions, and models of selfhood from 48 countries.

Scientific data·2026

Same author

Age as a moderator of gender differences in Five-Factor Model personality traits: A cross-national and cross-sectional study.

Journal of personality and social psychology·2026

Same author

Invasive Arterial Blood Pressure Monitoring to Detect Postintubation Hypotension in Patients Who Receive a Prehospital Emergency Anesthetic for Suspected Traumatic Brain Injury.

Air medical journal·2026

Same author

The effect of very preterm birth on the Five-Factor Model of personality traits: A meta-analysis of individual participant data.

European journal of personality·2026

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 29, 2026

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: August 25, 2023

Economic inequality is linked to biased self-perception.

Steve Loughnan¹, Peter Kuppens, Jüri Allik

¹University of Melbourne. s.loughnan@kent.ac.uk

Psychological Science

|September 28, 2011

Summary

Economic inequality influences self-enhancement bias across cultures. Societies with greater income inequality show higher levels of self-enhancement, challenging individualism/collectivism as the primary driver.

More Related Videos

Using the Race Model Inequality to Quantify Behavioral Multisensory Integration Effects

Using the Race Model Inequality to Quantify Behavioral Multisensory Integration Effects

Published on: May 10, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 29, 2026

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

The Joint Effect of Social Comparison and Social Distance on Evaluation of Intertemporal Choice Outcomes in Event-related Potential Studies

Published on: August 25, 2023

Using the Race Model Inequality to Quantify Behavioral Multisensory Integration Effects

Using the Race Model Inequality to Quantify Behavioral Multisensory Integration Effects

Published on: May 10, 2019

Area of Science:

Social Psychology
Cross-Cultural Psychology
Socioeconomics

Background:

Self-enhancement bias, where individuals perceive themselves as better than average, is a common psychological phenomenon.
Cross-cultural variations in self-enhancement are often attributed to cultural dimensions like individualism versus collectivism.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of socioeconomic factors, specifically economic inequality, in cross-cultural differences in self-enhancement.
To compare the predictive power of economic inequality versus individualism/collectivism in explaining variations in self-enhancement.

Main Methods:

Cross-cultural study involving participants from 15 diverse nations.
Quantitative analysis correlating levels of self-enhancement with national income inequality and individualism/collectivism scores.

Main Results:

Self-enhancement bias was evident in all 15 nations studied.
A significant positive correlation was found between societal income inequality and the magnitude of self-enhancement.
Income inequality emerged as a stronger predictor of cross-cultural differences in self-enhancement than individualism/collectivism.

Conclusions:

Macrosocial economic inequality is a significant factor influencing microsocial self-perception processes.
Economic structures, not just cultural values, shape how individuals evaluate themselves relative to others.