The DOI matches its Crossref record; 47 of the 47 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Egocentric definitions of traits and abilities in social judgment
Abstract
People possess idiosyncratic, self-serving definitions of traits and abilities. This observation was supported by 6 studies in which people articulated the performances along behavioral criteria (e.g., math Scholastic Achievement Test score) necessary to qualify for relevant traits (e.g., math ability) or made judgments about performances attained by other people. When making judgments of others, high-performing Ss tended to rate target performances less favorably than did low-performing Ss, with these disagreements most pronouced when the target's performance was low
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“and to devalue the source of feedback to challenge its importance (8).”
From Development of self-protective biases in response to social evaluative feedback (2017) · cites this paper as [8]
Citations
Cites
The case for motivated reasoning.
Kunda, Z. (1990) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.480 · Cited by 9,022
Illusion and well‐being: A social psychological perspective on mental health
Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. D. (1988) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.103.2.193 · Cited by 7,814
Unrealistic optimism about future life events
Weinstein, N. D. (1980) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.39.5.806 · Cited by 4,999
Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings of Social Judgment.
Cherniak, C., Nisbett, R. E., & Ross, L. D. (1983) · The Philosophical Review · doi:10.2307/2184495 · Cited by 4,196
The Intuitive Psychologist And His Shortcomings: Distortions in the Attribution Process
Ross, L. (1977) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60357-3 · Cited by 4,170
Norm theory: Comparing reality to its alternatives.
Kahneman, D. J., & Miller, D. T. (1986) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.93.2.136 · Cited by 3,247
The “false consensus effect”: An egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes
Ross, L., Greene, D., & House, P. (1977) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/0022-1031(77)90049-x · Cited by 3,139
Miller, G. A., & Cantor, N. E. (1982) · Social Cognition · doi:10.1521/soco.1982.1.1.83 · Cited by 2,862
Psychological perspectives on the self
Suls, J. M., & Greenwald, A. G. (1982) · Lawrence Erlbaum Associates eBooks · Cited by 2,300
Social Judgment: Assimilation and Contrast Effects in Communication and Attitude Change
Sherif, M., & Hovland, C. I. (1981) · Medical Entomology and Zoology · Cited by 1,843
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Kruger, J., & Dunning, D. (1999) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.77.6.1121 · Cited by 7,731
The psychology of self-defense: Self-affirmation theory
Sherman, D. K., & Cohen, G. L. (2006) · Advances in Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(06)38004-5 · Cited by 1,614
Who knows what about a person? The self–other knowledge asymmetry (SOKA) model.
Vazire, S. (2010) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0017908 · Cited by 1,080
Sedikides, C., & Strube, M. (1997) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60018-0 · Cited by 1,085
John, O. P., & Robins, R. W. (1994) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.66.1.206 · Cited by 1,011
How we know--and sometimes misjudge--what others know: Imputing one's own knowledge to others.
Nickerson, R. S. (1999) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.125.6.737 · Cited by 841
Motivational and emotional aspects of the self
Leary, M. R. (2007) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085658 · Cited by 838
When beliefs yield to evidence: Reducing biased evaluation by affirming the self
Cohen, G. L., Aronson, J., & Steele, C. M. (2000) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672002611011 · Cited by 584
Chambers, J. R., & Windschitl, P. D. (2004) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.130.5.813 · Cited by 547
Shifting standards and stereotype-based judgments.
Biernat, M., & Manis, M. (1994) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.66.1.5 · Cited by 536
Uhlmann, E. L., & Cohen, G. L. (2005) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.0956-7976.2005.01559.x · Cited by 530
Socially Situated Cognition: Cognition in its Social Context
Smith, E. R., & Semin, G. R. (2004) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(04)36002-8 · Cited by 531
Protecting the self through consumption: Status goods as affirmational commodities
Sivanathan, N., & Pettit, N. C. (2010) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.01.006 · Cited by 449
Baumeister, R. F., Dale, K. L., & Sommer, K. L. (1998) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/1467-6494.00043 · Cited by 434
Social Projection of Transient Drive States
Leaf Van Boven, A., & Loewenstein, G. F. (2003) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167203254597 · Cited by 419
Psychological Barriers to Dispute Resolution
Ross, L. D., & Ward, A. C. (1995) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60407-4 · Cited by 385
Narcissism, Identity, And Legitimacy
Brown, A. D. (1997) · Academy of Management Review · doi:10.5465/amr.1997.9708210722 · Cited by 376
Self‐Report Measures of Intelligence: Are They Useful as Proxy IQ Tests?
Paulhus, D. L., Lysy, D. C., & Yik, M. (1998) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/1467-6494.00023 · Cited by 348
"I Am Us": Negative Stereotypes as Collective Threats.
Cohen, G. L., & Garcia, J. (2005) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.89.4.566 · Cited by 313
Evidence for egocentric comparison in social judgment.
Dunning, D. A., & Hayes, A. F. (1996) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.71.2.213 · Cited by 301
Cross, S. E., Morris, M. L., & Gore, J. S. (2002) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.82.3.399 · Cited by 301
A Newer Look: Motivated Social Cognition and the Schematic Representation of Social Concepts
Dunning, D. (1999) · Psychological Inquiry · doi:10.1207/s15327965pli1001_1 · Cited by 264
Sedikides, C., & Gregg, A. P. (2007) · SAGE Publications Ltd eBooks · doi:10.4135/9781848608221.n5 · Cited by 242
Dunning, D. A. (2007) · Journal of Consumer Psychology · doi:10.1016/s1057-7408(07)70033-5 · Cited by 252
The motivated use of moral principles
Uhlmann, E. L., Pizarro, D. A., Tannenbaum, D., & Ditto, P. H. (2009) · Judgment and Decision Making · doi:10.1017/s1930297500004022 · Cited by 212
Chambers, J. R., Windschitl, P. D., & Suls, J. M. (2003) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167203256870 · Cited by 205
Dunning, D. A., Leuenberger, A., & Sherman, D. A. (1995) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.1.58 · Cited by 200
Chapter 10 Motivated Moral Reasoning
Ditto, P. H., Pizarro, D. A., & Tannenbaum, D. (2009) · The Psychology of learning and motivation/The psychology of learning and motivation · doi:10.1016/s0079-7421(08)00410-6 · Cited by 208
Implicit self-esteem compensation: Automatic threat defense
Rudman, L. A., Dohn, M. C., & Fairchild, K. (2007) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.93.5.798 · Cited by 178
Mirror, Mirror on the wall: enhancement in self-recognition
Epley, N., & Whitchurch, E. (2008) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167208318601 · Cited by 174
Do people trust too much or too little?
Fetchenhauer, D., & Dunning, D. A. (2008) · Journal of Economic Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.joep.2008.04.006 · Cited by 174
Identifying causes of disagreement between self-reports and spouse ratings of personality.
McCrae, R., Stone, S. V., Fagan, P. J., & Costa, P. (1998) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/1467-6494.00013 · Cited by 128
It hurts both ways: How social comparisons harm affective and cognitive trust
Dunn, J., Ruedy, N. E., & Schweitzer, M. E. (2011) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2011.08.001 · Cited by 154
Brescoll, V. L., Uhlmann, E. L., & Newman, G. E. (2013) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0034701 · Cited by 151
Leaf Van Boven, A., Loewenstein, G. F., & Dunning, D. A. (2005) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2004.12.001 · Cited by 150
Lay Theories of Personality: Cornerstones of Meaning in Social Cognition
Plaks, J. E., Levy, S. R., & Dweck, C. S. (2009) · Social and Personality Psychology Compass · doi:10.1111/j.1751-9004.2009.00222.x · Cited by 138
Dunning, D. A. (1995) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672952112007 · Cited by 137
The role of the self in mindblindness in autism
Lombardo, M. V., & Baron‐Cohen, S. (2010) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2010.09.006 · Cited by 153
Interjudge Agreement, Self-Enhancement, and Liking: Cross-Cultural Divergences
Heine, S. J., & Renshaw, K. (2002) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167202288002 · Cited by 136
Evaluating the Accuracy of Pharmacy Students' Self-Assessment Skills
Austin, Z., & Gregory, P. A. M. (2007) · American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education · doi:10.5688/aj710589 · Cited by 129
Decoding Subjective Evaluations: How Stereotypes Provide Shifting Standards
Kobrynowicz, D., & Biernat, M. (1997) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1006/jesp.1997.1338 · Cited by 138
The motivated use of moral principles
Pizarro, D. A. (2006) · PsycEXTRA Dataset · doi:10.1037/e683162011-049 · Cited by 132
The promise and peril of self-affirmation in de-escalation of commitment
Sivanathan, N., Molden, D. C., Galinsky, A. D., & Ku, G. (2008) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1016/j.obhdp.2007.12.004 · Cited by 123
Schmader, T., Major, B., Eccleston, C. P., & McCoy, S. K. (2001) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.80.5.782 · Cited by 123
Deconstructing the better-than-average effect.
Guenther, C. L., & Alicke, M. D. (2010) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0020959 · Cited by 117
Stereotypes and tacit inference.
Dunning, D. A., & Sherman, D. A. (1997) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.73.3.459 · Cited by 119
Cervone, D. (1997) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1997.tb00542.x · Cited by 117
Motivated Expectations of Positive Feedback in Social Interactions
Hepper, E. G., Hart, C. M., Gregg, A. P., & Sedikides, C. (2011) · The Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1080/00224545.2010.503722 · Cited by 112
The primacy of self‐referent information in perceptions of social consensus
Clement, R. W., & Krueger, J. I. (2000) · British Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1348/014466600164471 · Cited by 115
Development of self-protective biases in response to social evaluative feedback
Rodman, A. M., Powers, K. E., & Somerville, L. H. (2017) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1712398114 · Cited by 110
Quaquebeke, N. V., van Knippenberg, D., & Brodbeck, F. C. (2011) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2011.02.011 · Cited by 116
Simultaneous assimilation and contrast effects in judgments of self and others.
Biernat, M., Manis, M., & Kobrynowicz, D. (1997) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.73.2.254 · Cited by 100
Measuring cognitive ability with the overclaiming technique
Paulhus, D. (2004) · Intelligence · doi:10.1016/j.intell.2004.02.001 · Cited by 87
Molden, D. C., & Higgins, E. T. (2012) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199734689.013.0020 · Cited by 86
Hayes, A. F., & Dunning, D. A. (1997) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.72.3.664 · Cited by 82
Immunizing the Self: Self-Concept Stabilization Through Reality-Adaptive Self-Definitions
Greve, W., & Wentura, D. (2003) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167202238370 · Cited by 80
Leaf Van Boven, A., Loewenstein, G. F., Dunning, D. A., & Nordgren, L. F. (2013) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-407188-9.00003-x · Cited by 89
Schul, Y., & Vinokur, A. D. (2000) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672002610008 · Cited by 70
On the Motives Underlying Social Cognition
Dunning, D. A. (2001) · doi:10.1002/9780470998519.ch16 · Cited by 67
Idiosyncratic trait definitions: Implications for self-description and social judgment.
Dunning, D. A., & McElwee, R. O. (1995) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.68.5.936 · Cited by 66
Neural Population Decoding Reveals the Intrinsic Positivity of the Self
Chavez, R. S., Heatherton, T. F., & Wagner, D. D. (2016) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhw302 · Cited by 68
Self-deception as pseudo-rational regulation of belief
Michel, C., & Newen, A. (2010) · Consciousness and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.concog.2010.06.019 · Cited by 61
Is the Self-Concept a Habitual Referent in Judgments of Similarity?
Catrambone, R., Beike, D. R., & Niedenthal, P. M. (1996) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.1996.tb00349.x · Cited by 61
The shifting standards model: Implications of stereotype accuracy for social judgment.
Biernat, M. (2004) · American Psychological Association eBooks · doi:10.1037/10495-004 · Cited by 61
Greitemeyer, T. (2013) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2013.09.004 · Cited by 55
Self-conscious emotions: Where self and emotion meet.
Tracy, J. L., & Robins, R. W. (2007) · Cited by 52
Self-Enhancement, Generality of Self-Evaluation, and Affectivity in Israel and Singapore
Kurman, J., & Sriram, N. (1997) · Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology · doi:10.1177/0022022197284003 · Cited by 53
On using what we know about ourselves in thinking about others: Not so fast
Karyłowski, J. J., & Mroziński, B. (2018) · Self and Identity · doi:10.1080/15298868.2017.1414716 · Cited by 50
Lieberman, M. D. (2005) · NeuroImage · doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.07.028 · Cited by 46
Typicality and Graded Membership in Dimensional Adjectives
Verheyen, S., & Égré, P. (2018) · Cognitive Science · doi:10.1111/cogs.12649 · Cited by 44
Subjectivity in gradable adjectives: The case oftallandheavy
Verheyen, S., Dewil, S., & Égré, P. (2018) · Mind & Language · doi:10.1111/mila.12184 · Cited by 46
Critcher, C. R., & Dunning, D. A. (2009) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/a0015670 · Cited by 42
The Social Context of Cognition
Smith, E. R., & Conrey, F. R. (2001) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511816826.024 · Cited by 39
Self-esteem regulation after success and failure to attain unconsciously activated goals
Bongers, K. C. A., Dijksterhuis, A., & Spears, R. (2009) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2008.12.007 · Cited by 39
Too Good to Be True CEOs and Financial Reporting Fraud.
Anderson, J. R., & Tirrell, M. E. (2004) · Consulting psychology journal · doi:10.1037/1061-4087.56.1.35 · Cited by 39
The Progress Bias in Goal Pursuit: When One Step Forward Seems Larger than One Step Back
Campbell, M. C., & Warren, C. (2014) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1086/679307 · Cited by 38
Beauregard, K. S., & Dunning, D. A. (2001) · Motivation and Emotion · doi:10.1023/a:1010665926045 · Cited by 38
Illusion, Disillusion, and the Buffering Effect of Groups
Heath, C., & Jourden, F. J. (1997) · Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes · doi:10.1006/obhd.1997.2676 · Cited by 35
Virtual Fitting Room Effect: Moderating Role of Body Mass Index
Yang, S., Xiong, G., Mao, H., & Ma, M. (2023) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.1177/00222437231154871 · Cited by 39
Social Judgment as Implicit Social Comparison
Dunning, D. A. (2000) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-4237-7_17 · Cited by 38
Stereotypes and the Confirmability of Trait Concepts
Biernat, M., & Ma, J. E. (2005) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167204271712 · Cited by 36
Identity accumulation, others' acceptance, job-search self-efficacy, and stress
Lang, J. C., & Lee, C. H. (2005) · Journal of Organizational Behavior · doi:10.1002/job.309 · Cited by 34
Liang, S., He, Y., Chang, Y., Dong, X., & Zhu, D. (2018) · Journal of Consumer Behaviour · doi:10.1002/cb.1723 · Cited by 36
Hofer, G., Mraulak, V., Grinschgl, S., & Neubauer, A. C. (2022) · Journal of Intelligence · doi:10.3390/jintelligence10010010 · Cited by 40
Relativistic origins of emotional reactions to events happening to others and to ourselves
Smith, R. H., Eyre, H. L., Powell, C. A. J., & Kim, S. H. (2006) · British Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1348/014466605x40987 · Cited by 34
Individual differences in the leader categorization to openness to influence relationship
Quaquebeke, N. V., van Knippenberg, D., & Eckloff, T. (2011) · Group Processes & Intergroup Relations · doi:10.1177/1368430210391311 · Cited by 33
Who Wants To Be ... Erudite? Everyone! Evidence For Automatic Adaptation Of Trait Definitions
Wentura, D., & Greve, W. (2004) · Social Cognition · doi:10.1521/soco.22.1.30.30981 · Cited by 32
Jaspan, O., Wysocka, A., Sanchez, C. J., & Schweitzer, A. D. (2021) · Academic Radiology · doi:10.1016/j.acra.2020.12.006 · Cited by 37
Wentura, D., & Greve, W. (2005) · Self and Identity · doi:10.1080/13576500444000263 · Cited by 31
Kurman, J. (2002) · Cross-Cultural Research · doi:10.1177/1069397102036001004 · Cited by 31
Validating Measures of Leader Authenticity
Randolph-Seng, B., & Gardner, W. L. (2012) · Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies · doi:10.1177/1548051812464780 · Cited by 30
Beauregard, K. S., & Dunning, D. A. (1998) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.74.3.606 · Cited by 149
Austin, Z., Gregory, P. A. M., & Galli, M. (2008) · Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy · doi:10.1016/j.sapharm.2007.03.002 · Cited by 31
Overconfidence, stability and investments
Dessí, R., & Zhao, X. (2017) · Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization · doi:10.1016/j.jebo.2017.11.030 · Cited by 30
Holding a Mirror Up to the Self
Toma, C., Corneille, O., & Yzerbyt, V. Y. (2012) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/0146167212449022 · Cited by 29
Defining and Measuring Self-Concept Change
Gore, J. S., & Cross, S. E. (2011) · Psychological Studies · doi:10.1007/s12646-011-0067-0 · Cited by 28
Walsh, W. A., & Banaji, M. R. (1997) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1997.tb48256.x · Cited by 29
Story, A. L., & Dunning, D. A. (1998) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1006/jesp.1998.1362 · Cited by 28
The Reasonable Person Standard: Psychological and Legal Perspectives
Alicke, M. D., & Weigel, S. (2021) · Annual Review of Law and Social Science · doi:10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-111620-020400 · Cited by 25
The Devil You (Don't) Know: Interpersonal Ambiguity and Inference Making in Competitive Contexts
Norton, D. A., Lamberton, C. P., & Reczek, R. W. (2013) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1086/669562 · Cited by 22
Metadata
- Authors
- Dunning, D., & Cohen, G. L.
- Affiliations
- Cornell University (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 1992-09
- Volume
- 63
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 341-355
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2157137842
- Cited by
- 196
- References
- 45
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 10
- FWCI
- 12.71
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Education, Achievement, and Giftedness
- Keywords
- self-serving bias, trait definitions, social judgment, self-perception, performance evaluation, idiosyncrasy, mathematical ability, mathematics achievement
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review