Perceiving One's Own Traits and Others': The Multifaceted Self

Four experiments supported the hypothesis that people see themselves as having rich, multifaceted, and adaptive personalities that result in the perceptions that they possess more traits than other people and are less predictable than other people. Experiment 1 showed that people perceived themselve...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 1988-01, Vol.54 (1), p.13-20
Main Authors: Sande, Gerald N, Goethals, George R, Radloff, Christine E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Personality
Personality Traits
Personality. Affectivity
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Self image
Self-Perception
Social Perception
Social research
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Summary:Four experiments supported the hypothesis that people see themselves as having rich, multifaceted, and adaptive personalities that result in the perceptions that they possess more traits than other people and are less predictable than other people. Experiment 1 showed that people perceived themselves as having more of opposing pairs of traits than they perceived others as having when they rated both self and an acquaintance on each trait in the pair separately, (e.g., serious and carefree). When the ratings were made on bipolar scales (e.g., serious vs. carefree), the self was rated as closer to the midpoint than was the acquaintance. Experiment 2 showed that the latter result reflects people's belief that they possess both traits in opposing pairs. Subjects in Experiment 2 also rated their behavior as less predictable than that of others. Experiment 3 replicated Experiment 2 and showed that people perceive that they have both members of pairs of opposing traits independent of the social desirability and observability of the traits. Experiment 4 indicated that familiar and liked persons are perceived to have more traits than unfamiliar and disliked persons.
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.54.1.13