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Self-assessments of task performance can draw on both top-down sources of information (preconceived notions about one's ability at the task) and bottom-up cues (one's concrete experience with the task itself). Past research has suggested that top-down self-views can mislead performance evaluations but has yet to specify the exact psychological mechanisms that produce this influence. Across 4 experiments, the authors tested the hypothesis that self-views influence performance evaluations by first shaping perceptions of bottom-up experiences with the task, which in turn inform performance evaluations. Consistent with this hypothesis, a relevant top-down belief influenced performance estimates only when learned of before, but not after, completing a task (Study 1), and measures of bottom-up experience were found to mediate the link between top-down beliefs about one's abilities and performance evaluations (Studies 2-4). Furthermore, perception of an objectively definable bottom-up cue (i.e., time it takes to solve a problem) was better predicted by a relevant self-view than the actual passage of time. Keywords: self-views, expectations, bottom-up cues, self-assessment, performance evaluation DOI: 10.1037/a0017452

Appraisals about the implications of stressful events that are evaluated as involving a threat to self (negative self-evaluation, negative evaluation from others, rejection by others) have been shown to place youth at risk for the development of mental health problems. This longitudinal study tested a protective-stabilizing interactive model, in which high maternal acceptance was predicted to mitigate the prospective relation between threat to self appraisals and change in adolescents' mental health problems six months later. Participants were 89 adolescents from divorced families ages 10-12 and residential mothers. Adolescents reported on threat to self appraisals from the most stressful event experienced in the past month. Mothers and youth reported on maternal acceptance and mental health problems. Multiple regression analyses provided support for the protective effects of maternal acceptance on adolescents' mental health problems. Intervention implications are discussed. Keywords Adolescent mental health problems * Divorced Families * Threat to self appraisals * Maternal acceptance * Resilience

Objective: A low level of response (LR) to alcohol as measured through alcohol challenges is an early-appearing, genetically influenced characteristic that predicts the risk of heavier drinking and alcohol problems. A less expensive and more easily used measure of LR, the retrospective Self-Rating of the Effects of Alcohol (SRE) questionnaire, also relates to alcohol intake and problems but has not been evaluated for its ability to predict alcohol-related problems 5 years later. Method: At Time 1, 95 18- to 35-year-old (mean age: 25.9 years) subjects who were offspring from families participating at the San Diego site of the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) were administered the SRE and evaluated regarding alcohol, drug, and demographic characteristics using the Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism (SSAGA) interview. Follow-up interviews (Time 2) using the SSAGA were completed an average (SD) of 5.4 (1.34) years later for approximately 80% of the original sample. Results: The retrospective SRE score at Time 1 (the number of drinks for effects the first five times [First 5] of drinking) correlated with Time 2 maximum quantity and frequency, alcohol problems overall, the number of alcohol-dependence items endorsed, and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, diagnosis of alcohol abuse or dependence. The relationships remained robust in hierarchical logistic regression analyses even in the context of age, gender, the number of SRE items endorsed, and alcohol use and problem variables at Time 1. The regressions explained between 21% and 43% of the variance of the outcomes overall, with the First 5 SRE score alone accounting for between 4% and 14%. Conclusions: These findings are consistent with the ability of SRE-based LR scores at Time 1 to predict alcohol-related outcomes over the subsequent 5 years., A LOW LEVEL OF RESPONSE (LR) TO ALCOHOL as measured on an alcohol challenge is an endophenotype associated with an enhanced risk of alcohol-use disorders (AUDs). Consistent with the criteria [...]

A new measure is developed for assessing cultural competence among one family of cultural groups, where it measures respondents' perceptions of spiritual competence at the programmatic level. The results have suggested that the scale is a valid and reliable measure of the values dimension of spiritual competence and with some modification, this instrument can be used in agency settings and perhaps for individual self-assessment as well.

This study examined the relationship between the sense of authenticity and affectivity, which is under the control of the cultural construal of the self. Japanese university students (N = 287) rated themselves on the Sense of Authenticity Scale, the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, and the Scale for Independent and Interdependent Construal of the Self. Analysis indicated that the Sense of Authenticity increased Positive Affect and decreased Negative Affect, regardless of the scores on Independent and Interdependent Self-construal.

Every now and then it is useful to survey the course one has taken in order to chart one's progress--even if only to answer a question made famous by David [...]

A longitudinal investigation showed that self-enhancement by social comparison (assessing whether people perceive themselves more positively than they perceive others) was prospectively related to an increase in self-reported adjustment, controlling for the effects of narcissism. Better adjustment, including higher self-esteem, was not prospectively related to an increase in self-enhancement. The investigation also included a diary period, allowing the assessment of intrasubject covariation between daily reports of self-esteem and daily reports of perceived challenge and daily events (positive or negative). High (compared to low) self-enhancers were less likely to report lower self-esteem under higher challenge and less likely to report higher self-esteem under positive events. Keywords: self-enhancement; adjustment; prospective analysis

In this study, we examined how injunctive cultural norms concerning body image are perceived by women, assessed the degree of body shame that occurs when an individual sees herself as differing from the cultural standard, and measured the extent to which the internalization of this standard as a personal ideal may influence the experience of body-related shame. Female college students (N = 687) completed measures of body shame and two types of body image self-discrepancy--actual:own ideal (AI) and actual:societal ought (ASO). Self-discrepancies were determined by subtracting participants' ideal and ought estimates from their actual body shape perception. AI was found to mediate the relationship between ASO and shame, which suggests that the internalization of body ideals may be an important antecedent to emotional consequences from cultural norms. Keywords Self-discrepancy * Social comparison * Body shame

Three studies that were designed to map the dimensions involved in g (with processing efficiency and reasoning), with an emphasis of the place of self awareness in it involving preschoolers from 3 to 7 years of age. General efficiency and domain-specific processes are accurately projected into self-awareness and the accuracy of self-awareness functions is found to develop with age.

Two related studies investigated sex differences in self- and parental estimates of IQ scores on specific scales derived from standardized and validated IQ tests. In the first study 210 participants were asked to estimate their scores on the 11 WAIS-R subtests as well as their overall general IQ. Results showed males estimated their overall score, plus their total WAIS score, significantly higher than females, with effect sizes around 0.5. Factor analysis showed participants did differentiate between verbal and performance subscale scores on this test. In the second study 117 participants performed a similar task, but this time on the 12 subscales of the Stanford-Binet test. Males estimated their overall score higher than females. Factor analysis also showed 2 clear factors that reflected exactly the verbal and performance subscale scores.

This study examined 2 possible ways of increasing the predictive validity of personality measures: using observer (i.e., supervisor and coworker) ratings and work-specific self-ratings of Big Five personality factors. Results indicated that among general self-ratings of Big Five personality dimensions, Conscientiousness was the best predictor of in-role performance, and Agreeableness and Emotional Stability were the best predictors of organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Observer ratings of personality accounted for incremental variance in job performance (in-role performance and OCB) beyond that accounted for by general self-ratings. However, contrary to our expectations, work-specific (i.e., contextual) self-ratings of personality generally did not account for incremental variance in job performance beyond that accounted for by general self-ratings.

Reflected appraisals of self in roles and statuses were studied by comparing respondents who think other people regard their age, sex, race, occupation, marital status and social class as very important versus those who do not think other people view them primarily in terms of those roles. The study showed that reflected appraisals of self in roles and statuses are negatively related to self-esteem, and this relationship is no stronger for women than for men.

A study was conducted to investigate the moderating effect of identity in the stress process. It was examined in particular whether identity salience and commitment influence the relationship between role-strain and depression, and between strain and self-evaluation. The findings indicated that the extent to which identity meaning exacerbates the effect of strain on self-evaluation and well-being depended on the type of strain, the particular identity characteristic and the outcome variable examined.

The 'better-than-average' effect, the tendency for people to view themselves as above average on positive characteristics but below average on negative characteristics, is an important manifestation of the motive for self-enhancement. The present research examined whether the better-than-average effect occurred in Norway, a country with strong norms for modesty, and whether the same association between unrealistically positive self-appraisals and self-esteem would be observed in Norway and the United States. Seventy-six American and 102 Norwegian participants were asked to rate the favorability and self-descriptiveness of 42 personality traits, and these ratings were used to generate a self-enhancement index. Norwegians showed significantly less self-enhancement bias than did Americans, and Norwegians showed no association between self-esteem and self-enhancement bias. Keywords: self-esteem; self-enhancement; self-evaluations; self-promotion; better-than-average effect

The present research examined when self-evaluation influences creativity. Based on objective self-awareness theory, the authors predicted that feeling able to improve would buffer against the detrimental effects of self-evaluation on creativity. Two experiments manipulated self-evaluation (varying self awareness, Study 1; providing objective performance standards, Study 2) and perceived ability to improve potential failure on the creativity task. Self-evaluation reduced creativity (generating remote associates, finding unusual uses for a knife) in both experiments, but only when people did not expect to improve. When people felt able to improve, self-evaluation did not affect creativity. Connections between self-motives, creativity, and defensiveness are discussed. Keywords: self-evaluation; creativity; self-awareness; expectancies; self-motives

An event-contingent diary methodology was used to study the impact of intergroup and intragroup factors on self-evaluations in naturally occurring groups. Participants reported their contextual group status, group identification, and self-evaluations each time they self-categorized as a group member throughout a 1week period. Indicators of global group status, interdependence, and permeability of group boundaries also were obtained. Multilevel modeling revealed that contextual status and global status interacted to predict self-evaluations. Contextual status had a stronger relationship with self-evaluations for members of global low-status groups than for members of high-status groups. Analyses of intragroup factors revealed that greater group interdependence but not permeability of group boundaries also was associated with higher self-evaluations. The effects of both contextual status and group interdependence were mediated by group identification. Keywords: status; social identity; self-esteem; diary; interdependence

This article presents the first empirical test of Wildavsky's model of self-evaluation by public organizations. We elucidate Wildavsky's arguments and identify six variables that have theoretical effects on self-evaluation. A statistical model that incorporates these variables explains 46 percent of the variation in self-evaluation. The evidence suggests that self-evaluation is positively related to leadership support and employee involvement, and negatively related to the number of organizational sub-units undertaking evaluation at the same time. Refinements to the Wildavsky model are proposed, and conclusions are drawn on the theory and practice of self-evaluation by public organizations.

Byline: Ted H. Shore (1), Armen Tashchian (2) Keywords: self-appraisal; accountability; performance appraisal Abstract: This study investigated the effects of self-appraisal information, normative information, and task performance on performance appraisal ratings. Participants rated a fictitious 'subordinate's' performance on a clerical task (which was either very good or moderately poor) subsequent to receiving self-assessment information (high or low) and normative information (present or absent). Self-appraisals affected performance ratings for poor performers but not for good performers, suggesting that judges are more motivated to please ratees than they are merely to adopt the 'subordinate's' view of their own performance. Furthermore, objective normative information had greater influence than self-appraisals on performance ratings, suggesting that information source credibility has more influence than felt accountability on performance appraisals. Implications of the findings for organizations were discussed. Author Affiliation: (1) Department of Management, HRM, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, CA, 90840 (2) Kennesaw State University, USA Article History: Registration Date: 12/10/2004

A newly developed personality taxonomy suggests that self-esteem, locus of control, generalized self-efficacy, and neuroticism form a broad personality trait termed core self-evaluations. The authors hypothesized that this broad trait is related to motivation and performance. To test this hypothesis, 3 studies were conducted. Study 1 showed that the 4 dispositions loaded on 1 higher order factor. Study 2 demonstrated that the higher order trait was related to task motivation and performance in a laboratory setting. Study 3 showed that the core trait was related to task activity, productivity as measured by sales volume, and the rated performance of insurance agents. Results also revealed that the core self-evaluations trait was related to goal-setting behavior. In addition, when the 4 core traits were investigated as 1 nomological network, they proved to be more consistent predictors of job behaviors than when used in isolation.

The study examined the relations of self-reported physical activity levels and physical fitness scores for two samples of college students assessed in 1987 (n = 261) and in 1997 (n = 243). Significantly greater exercise was reported by the 1997 women than the 1987 women; amount of exercise reported by men did not differ. For both samples, greater exercise was associated with increased fitness for women and men as assessed by the Hall 1986 Physical Fitness Test Profile, comprised of measures on body fat composition; grip strength; muscle endurance, flexibility, resting heart rate; systolic and diastolic blood pressures; and aerobic power. For the 1987 sample men were more fit than women. For the 1997 sample, women were more fit than men. The 1997 women were more fit than the 1987 women; there was no difference on overall fitness measures of the two samples of men.

Comments from twelve teachers who participated in a project to introduce self-assessment and peer-assessment to the classroom are presented and analyzed. The teachers found that getting students involved in formative assessment helped them to learn and was an excellent tool for reviewing materials before a test.

This article examines the self-evaluations of students, ranging from 12 to 15 years of age, in a physical education class. The results of the self-evaluations, which measured self-worth, physical self-worth, and students' motivation, demonstrated that most students' self-perceptions fluctuated over a 3 week period.

Objectives. Self-rated function is a new global measure. Previous findings suggest that self-rated function predicts future functional decline and is strongly associated with all-cause mortality. We hypothesized that the strength of the relationship of self-rated function to all-cause mortality was in part due to functional decline, such as would occur with brain infarcts. Methods. Self-ratings of function and health (on a 5-point scale, ranging from excellent to poor) were assessed annually on 630 participants in the Nun Study. Mortality surveillance extended from October 31, 1991 to March 1, 1998, and, among those who died, neuropathological examination determined postmortem evidence of brain infarcts. Cox regression modeling with self-rated function and health as time-dependent covariates and stratification by assessment period were used in these analyses. Results. Self-rated function and health ratings of good, fair, and poor were significantly associated with doubling of the risk of mortality, compared with ratings of very good and excellent. Self-rated function ratings of fair or poor were associated with a threefold increase in the risk of mortality with brain infarcts, but self-rated function and health ratings of fair and poor were comparable in their association with all-cause mortality and mortality without brain infarcts. Discussion. Self-rated function was significantly associated with mortality with brain infarcts, suggesting that brain infarcts may be experienced as functional loss but not recognized or labeled as disease. Our results suggest that self-rated function and health should be explored simultaneously in future research.

Byline: Ted H. Shore (1), Janet S. Adams (2), Armen Tashchian (2) Abstract: This experiment investigated the effects of three factors on performance appraisal ratings: self-appraisal information, appraisal purpose, and feedback target. Two hundred and three subjects rated a subordinate's performance on a clerical task subsequent to receiving either a high or low self-assessment. They were told they would provide performance feedback either to the experimenter (organizational agent) or their subordinate, and their ratings would be used either for an administrative decision or developmental feedback. Performance ratings were significantly higher when subjects received a favorable subordinate self-assessment than when self-assessments were unfavorable. A significant interaction was found between feedback target and the appraisal purpose. Implications for the use of self-appraisals in organizations were discussed. Author Affiliation: (1) Kennesaw State University, Marietta, GA, 30061 (2) Kennesaw State University, USA Article History: Registration Date: 08/09/2004

The body of knowledge in organizational and management research is based, to a large extent, on same-source self-report data. Although several scholars seriously doubt the validity of such findings, this methodology has also been used, without exception, in a specific research area focusing on the relationship between the locus of control of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and firm-level entrepreneurship. In the present study, we try to evaluate the validity of these findings by using multiple sources (i.e., respondents) to obtain data on the independent and criterion variables. We present empirical evidence that the published correlations between the CEO locus of control and firm-level entrepreneurship cannot be interpreted unambiguously due to two, not necessarily mutually exclusive, methodological problems, that is: (1) a fallacy of the wrong level and (2) common method variance. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.), Abstract The body of knowledge in organizational and management research is based, to a large extent, on same-source self-report data. Although several scholars seriously doubt the validity of such findings, [...]

A critical question in self-esteem research is whether people's reactions to success and failure are guided by their global self-esteem level or by their more specific beliefs about their abilities and attributes. To address this issue, the authors led participants to experience success or failure on an alleged test and then assessed their cognitive and emotional reactions to these outcomes. In Experiment 1, specific self-views predicted participants' cognitive reactions to their performance outcomes, whereas global self-esteem predicted participants' emotional reactions to their performance outcomes. In Experiment 2, global self-esteem predicted participants' emotional reactions to their performance outcomes even after participants' beliefs about their more specific abilities and attributes were taken into account. These findings suggest that when it comes to understanding people's emotional reactions to success and failure, the effects of global self-esteem are not reducible to the way people think about their constituent qualities.

A study on the accuracy of self-estimates of height and body weight of college students reveals small absolute estimation errors. Both females and males underestimate weight and overestimate height. Females estimate height more accurately and weight less accurately than males. The knowledge that the estimation would be checked by measurement generates more accurate estimations.

Alternative forms of a self-report measure of Africentrism were tested through four studies. Psychometric analyses demonstrated that the measure's reliability was significantly above a minimum criterion for group comparisons. Moreover, evidence of the measure's construct validity and known-groups validity was found. A 15-item version of the measure was recommended for future testing.

This study investigated the impressions conveyed by enhancing, deprecating, or more balanced self-descriptions, all presented without corroborating evidence. Subjects estimated the honesty, self-knowledge, authenticity, and likability of individuals to whom brief self-descriptive statements were attributed. Although self-enhancers were rated as more likable than self-deprecators, those who presented balanced self-descriptions were rated as significantly more authentic, and significantly more likable, than those who made either deprecating or enhancing statements about themselves. However, multiple regressions indicated that self-deprecators and self-enhancers were disliked for somewhat different reasons. Self-enhancers were liked less than those who described themselves in balanced terms primarily because they were judged less honest. In contrast, self-deprecators were disliked partly because they were perceived as lacking in knowledge about themselves. These results are interpreted in terms of the discounting and augmentation principles of attribution theory.

A study of the attitudes of parents and their 376 twin pair offspring on the transmission of childhood anxiety revealed parental reports as suggestive of anxiety symptoms in childhood to be heritable. In sharp contrast, self-evaluation reports of the children revealed their perceptions of shared environment factors as the main transmitters of anxiety symptoms.

A study of five-to-six-year-old children revealed their self-assessment reports of anxiety symptoms to be accurate predictors of recurrence of anxious symptoms and adaptive functioning in their late elementary school years. Logistic regression analysis provided insight on the strong correlations between anxiety levels for first and fifth grade children.

A study of alcohol expectancies, coping responses and self-efficacy judgments of 157 collegiate youth from Bowling Green State University revealed all three parameters to be versatile in assessing the degree of self-reported alcohol use by the subjects. The social learning theory principles can be of great utility in assessing the drinking habits of collegiate youth.

An experimental evaluation of signal probability effects in simple verbal self-reports reveals that the manifestation of signal probability effects is independent of point outcomes caused by self-reports and of an inter- and intra-session exploitation of signal probability. An analogy exists between simple self-reports and psychophysical decisions. Signal probability influences self-reports and external stimuli reports in psychophysical experiments equally.

Cotinine analysis of urine in 496 US navy recruits undergoing a smoking replace program confirms the accuracy of self-reports on smoking status. The reports only varied 1% from the actual status. The study does not compare the reports of recruits who were informed about the testing with those uninformed.

Measures to assess internal dialogue or self-statements in socially phobic or anxious clients are now frequently used in clinical and research settings. Such cognitive assessment techniques are rarely considered, however, with regard to psychometric criteria. This article reviews the literature on self-statement assessment of social phobia and social anxiety from the perspective of content, criterion, convergent and discriminant validity. In general, most measures have shown good evidence of validity. Different scoring systems in addition to thought valence appear worthwhile, and multiple measures and assessment occasions should be considered.

This study argues that recent developments in self-verification and positive strivings theory, in combination with self-esteem theory, could enhance social scientists' knowledge and use of the negative and positive dimensions of global self-esteem: An overemphasis on global self-esteem has muted the theoretical, empirical, and substantive nuances, especially a more precise understanding of the development and maintenance of negative self-evaluations. Using longitudinal Youth in Transition data, unidimensional and bidimensional self-esteem models show that global self-esteem may be employed as a bidimensional construct marked by a self-deprecation subscale and a self-confidence subscale. Investigating self-deprecation in its own right is particularly merited. A second-order confirmatory factor analysis also supports a bidimensional view and reveals the relative contribution of self-esteem to the latent self-deprecation and self-confidence constructs. The paper discusses analysis implications for understanding the differential impact of negative and positive self-evaluations on emotional and social well-being.

College students' self-analysis of decisions made in a delayed identity matching-to-sample task revealed bias (B'H) and discriminability (A') as functions of response characteristics. Each matching-to-sample trial contained two, three or four comparison stimuli, two, three or four simultaneously presented sample stimuli and a 1-s retention interval. The study can help determine environmental sources which control verbal self-reports because the findings suggest that analyses of signal-detection theory are capable of enhancing the description of correspondence between self-reports and their referents.

The release from proactive inhibition (RPI) model facilitates the analysis of associated segregation of real, ideal and social self-images. This analysis avails of the results obtained from studying the effect of amendments in self-processing inclinations on the magnitude of release obtained. A transformation from nonsemantic processing to semantic processing effects an 80% release, while an inter-transition between two semantic processing renders a mere 41% release. These results implicate the degree of effectiveness of processing orientations in generating marked encodings and the role of RPI as an index of psychological distance.

Indirect (i.e., structured projective) questioning has been employed frequently in marketing and other social sciences to reduce social desirability bias, that is, systematic error in self-report measures resulting from the desire of respondents to avoid embarrassment and project a favorable image to others. Yet little is known about the validity of indirect questioning in reducing social desirability bias. This article reports on three studies that examine indirect questioning as a technique to reduce social desirability bias on self-report measures. The effects of asking indirect (i.e., structured, projective) questions were compared with direct (i.e., structured, personal) questions. The pattern of results indicates that indirect questioning reduces social desirability bias on variables subject to social influence and has no significant effect on socially neutral variables. The social nature of the differences between direct and indirect questioning groups, and the attribution of an undesirable trait to an out-group but not an in-group target, supports the view that subjects projected their beliefs and evaluations in the indirect response situation. These results are consistent across several product categories and indirect question wordings. (Reprinted by permission of the publisher.)