Self-Enhancement: Food for Thought

TLDR

Self‑enhancement is a psychological phenomenon characterized by a tendentiously positive self‑view and is considered a fundamental aspect of human nature. The study aims to distinguish four levels of self‑enhancement—observed effect, ongoing process, personality trait, and underlying motive—and use these distinctions to structure related research. The authors employ an extended analogy to eating to illustrate the four levels of self‑enhancement and make the distinctions intuitive.

Abstract

Self-enhancement denotes a class of psychological phenomena that involve taking a tendentiously positive view of oneself. We distinguish between four levels of self-enhancement-an observed effect, an ongoing process, a personality trait, and an underlying motive-and then use these distinctions to organize the wealth of relevant research. Furthermore, to render these distinctions intuitive, we draw an extended analogy between self-enhancement and the phenomenon of eating. Among the topics we address are (a) manifestations of self-enhancement, both obvious and subtle, and rival interpretations; (b) experimentally documented dynamics of affirming and threatening the ego; and (c) primacy of self-enhancement, considered alongside other intrapsychic phenomena, and across different cultures. Self-enhancement, like eating, is a fundamental part of human nature.