Economic Inequality Is Linked to Biased Self-Perception
No Thumbnail Available
Authors
Loughnan, Steve
Kuppens, Peter
Allik, Jueri
Balazs, Katalin
de Lemus, Soledad
Dumont, Kitty
Gargurevich, Rafael
Hidegkuti, Istvan
Leinder, Bernhard
Matos, Lennia
Issue Date
2011
Type
Article
Language
en
Keywords
self-perception , self-enhancement , income inequality , culture , self-esteem , sociocultural factors , socioeconomic status
Alternative Title
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.
Description
Published online before print September 23, 2011, doi: 10.1177/0956797611417003
Psychological Science October 2011 vol. 22 no. 10 1254-1258
© The Author(s) 2011
Citation
Loughnan, S., Kuppens, P., Allik, J., Balasz, K., De Lemus, S., Dumont, K.B., Gargurevich, R., Hidegkuti, I., Leidner, B., Matos, L., Park, P., Realo, A., Shi, J., Sojo, V.E., Tong, J., Vaes, J., Verduyn, P., Yeung, V., & Haslam, N. (2011). Economic inequality is linked to biased self-perception. Psychological Science, 22(10), 1254-1258