Title
Economic inequality is linked to biased self-perception
Document Type
Journal article
Source Publication
Psychological Science
Publication Date
10-1-2011
Volume
22
Issue
10
First Page
1254
Last Page
1258
Publisher
Sage Publications, Inc.
Keywords
self-perception, self-enhancement, income inequality, culture, self-esteem, sociocultural factors, socioeconomic status
Abstract
People’s self-perception biases often lead them to see themselves as better than the average person (a phenomenon known as self-enhancement). This bias varies across cultures, and variations are typically explained using cultural variables, such as individualism versus collectivism. We propose that socioeconomic differences among societies—specifically, relative levels of economic inequality—play an important but unrecognized role in how people evaluate themselves. Evidence for self-enhancement was found in 15 diverse nations, but the magnitude of the bias varied. Greater self-enhancement was found in societies with more income inequality, and income inequality predicted cross-cultural differences in self-enhancement better than did individualism/collectivism. These results indicate that macrosocial differences in the distribution of economic goods are linked to microsocial processes of perceiving the self.
DOI
10.1177/0956797611417003
Print ISSN
09567976
E-ISSN
14679280
Publisher Statement
Copyright © 2011 Sage Publications Ltd
Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.
Full-text Version
Publisher’s Version
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Loughnan, S., Kuppens, P., Allik, J., Balazs, K., De Lemus, S., Dumont, K,…Haslam, N. (2011). Economic inequality is linked to biased self-perception. Psychological Science, 22(10), 1254-1258. doi: 10.1177/0956797611417003
