Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Enhancement in Self-Recognition

Epley, Nicholas; Whitchurch, Erin

doi:10.1177/0146167208318601

Cited by 136 publications

(156 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…Whereas Sigmund Freud (1915Freud ( /1961aFreud ( , 1923Freud ( /1961bFreud ( , 1926Freud ( /1961c and Anna Freud (1936/1946 believed that the ego defenses were invoked to repress sexual and aggressive urges, the social-psychological use of self-protection and self-enhancement motives applies to any self-related interest, including perceptions of own faces, abilities, social and physical traits, moral standing, beliefs, and values (Dunning, 1999;Epley & Whitchurch, 2008;. Social and personality psychologists have, therefore, expanded considerably the scope of interests to which the self-enhancement and self-protection motives apply.…”

Section: Implicit Versus Explicit Aspectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-enhancement and self-protection: What they are and what they do

Alicke

Sedikides

2009

European Review of Social Psychology

672

450

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We define self-enhancement and self-protection as interests that individuals have in advancing one or more self-domains or defending against negative self-views. We review ways in which people pursue self-enhancement and self-protection, discuss the role of these motivational constructs in scientific explanations, argue for their importance in maintaining psychological and physical well-being, and consider the conditions in which they are likely to operate. At various points, we address the perennial "cognitionmotivation" debate. We argue that, despite the conceptual and practical difficulties that

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Section: Implicit Versus Explicit Aspectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-enhancement and self-protection: What they are and what they do

Alicke

Sedikides

2009

European Review of Social Psychology

672

450

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“…Decreasing homogeneity in facial skin coloration in both sexes leads to the perception of being older, less healthy, and less attractive (10). An important reason for the use of cosmetics in women is to appear to have spotless, flawless skin and an overall young and healthy appearance (90).…”

Section: Facial Beauty: Smooth Skinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been reported that when people are evaluating their own level of attractiveness, they have a self-serving bias, and often find themselves more attractive than they are evaluated by others (10,11). Studies indicate that people find themselves, on average, 10% more attractive than they actually are (10).…”

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confidence: 99%

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The neurobiology and evolutionary foundations of the perception of beauty

Eşel¹

2017

Dusunen Adam

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The neurobiology and evolutionary foundations of the perception of beauty Beauty in human beings can be defined as physical attractiveness to the opposite sex. Although the perception of attractiveness varies between cultures and individuals to a certain extent, it is established that most of the criteria for attractiveness are common among many cultures. According to evolutionary psychologists, facial and body-related features that people find attractive reflect the adaptations determined by sexual selection, which is one of the driving forces of evolution. These adaptations evolved to explore the mate value and reproductive success of a potential partner. Being attractive provides many social advantages to a person, and it is known that people make some positive attributions about other characteristics of such a person as well. Among humans, features such as facial beauty, youth, body shape, behaviors, voice tone, and ornamentation are important factors in the evaluation of attractiveness of the opposite sex.Keywords: Attractiveness, evolutionary psychology, mate selection, neurobiology ÖZET Güzellik algılamasının nörobiyolojisi ve evrimsel temelleriİnsanda güzellik kavramı karşı cins tarafından fiziksel olarak çekici bulunma niteliği olarak tanımlanabilir. Kültüre ve kişiye göre güzellik algılaması bir miktar değişken olsa da çoğu kültürde güzellik ölçütlerinin önemli bir bölümünün ortak olduğu ortaya konulmaktadır. Evrimci psikologlara göre insanların karşı cinste güzel bulduğu yüz ve bedenle ilişkili özellikler daha çok evrimin itici güçlerinden birisi olan cinsel seçilimin şekillendirdiği adaptasyonları yansıtmaktadır. Bu adaptasyonlar potansiyel bir eşin eş olarak değerinin ve üreme başarısının araştırılmasına yönelik olarak gelişmişlerdir. Güzel olmanın sosyal yaşamda kişiye sağladığı birçok faydalar olduğu gibi, bu kişilere diğer insanlarca başka kişisel özellikler bakımından da olumlu atıflar yapıldığı bilinmektedir.İnsanlarda karşı cinsin güzelliğinin değerlendirilmesinde bakılan kişinin yüz güzelliği, genç görünümü, beden şekli, davranışları, ses tonu ve süslenmesi gibi etkenler önemli bulunmaktadır.

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“…Patterns such as this can be seen in the planning fallacy, where people tend to be overconfident in the time it will take them to complete tasks, but their estimates nonetheless remain highly correlated with their completion times (Buehler, Griffin, & Ross, 1994). Further, when individuals are asked to identify pictures of themselves from an array of photos morphed to be more or less attractive, on average they choose a photo that is morphed 20% more attractive, rather than photos morphed to a greater degree (Epley & Whitchurch, 2008). Thus, the self-limiting nature of overconfidence should ensure that confidence remains a signal with a substantial amount of 'truth value', reconciling the social hypothesis of overconfidence with signalling theory.…”

Section: Honest Signalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An investigation of the adaptive functions of overconfidence

Murphy¹

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The research presented in this thesis explores the question of whether overconfidence provides adaptive benefits. Chapter 1 presents the arguments for three adaptive accounts of overconfidence; that it leads to mental health benefits, increased motivation, and positive social outcomes. It then outlines the forms of measurement needed to properly test these adaptive accounts, and reviews the extant literature. Chapter 2 reports a longitudinal study that tested the effects of two forms of overconfidence (athletic and intellectual) on each of the three adaptive outcomes. Results from this study were mixed, with both forms of overconfidence showing positive cross-sectional associations with mental health outcomes, but largely null effects over time. Overconfidence in sporting ability was strongly associated with increased effort and improvement in sport over time, as well as increased popularity. In contrast, intellectual overconfidence had largely null effects on effort, improvement, or social success over time. Together, the results from Chapter 2 provide evidence that at least one form of overconfidence conferred adaptive benefits to motivation and social success, while results on mental health were more ambiguous. Importantly, this study found no evidence for the oft-cited possibility that overconfidence leads to deleterious outcomes over time.Chapter 3 extends the investigation of the adaptive functions of overconfidence on social success, testing whether overconfidence helps to win potential romantic partners rather than just friends. In Study 1, overconfident people were perceived as more confident in their dating profiles, and this perceived confidence predicted increased romantic desirability.Study 2 revealed that overconfident people also tend to be perceived as arrogant, however, which counteracted the positive effects of perceived confidence. Study 3 supported the idea that overconfidence might confer an advantage in intrasexual competition, as people were less likely to compete with overconfident individuals due to their perceived confidence and arrogance. Study 4 showed that overconfident raters were themselves more likely to choose 3 to compete for romantic partners. In Study 5, agent-based modeling incorporating the coefficients from these prior studies suggested that overconfidence facilitates mate acquisition in the presence of intrasexual competition. Together, the results of Chapters 2 and 3 suggests that overconfidence has social benefits in at least some settings, and that these are likely due to the increased perceptions of confidence that it creates.Chapter 4 provides a discussion of the findings, and in particular explores potential reasons for the different effects of intellectual and athletic overconfidence in Chapter 2, and the different pattern of findings with athletic overconfidence in Chapter 2 and the primarily intellectual measure of overconfidence used in Chapter 3. Future directions of research that could disambiguate the possible explanations are suggested, and further wo...

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Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Enhancement in Self-Recognition

Cited by 136 publications

References 46 publications

Self-enhancement and self-protection: What they are and what they do

Self-enhancement and self-protection: What they are and what they do

The neurobiology and evolutionary foundations of the perception of beauty

An investigation of the adaptive functions of overconfidence

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