排除“每个人都优于平均水平”机制影响的自我提升研究

A Study of Self- Enhancement with the Effect of “Everyone is Better than Average”Mechanism Taken into Consideration

采用优于平均效应、自我服务归因偏向和内隐测验三种方法测量中国大学生的自我提升,并在前两种方法中考虑"每个人都优于平均水平"机制(everyone is better than average,EBTA),探讨中国人的自我提升动机及其表现形式。结果发现:自我提升中存在EBTA机制;排除EBTA机制后,优于平均效应和自我服务归因偏向依然存在;大学生存在内隐自我提升;内隐自我提升值与外显自我提升值显著正相关。

Self enhancement is the motivated constituent of a self system. Many empirical studies proved that westerners have self enhancement. But do the Chinese self enhance？ This problem has been widely discussed, but no definitive answers. The results of some studies show that the Chinese people do not enhance themselves, but the results of other studies show that the Chinese do. In ad dition, many of the latter studies are questioned by researchers because of the methods they used they used the methods of Better than Average Effect, and Self Serving Attribution Bias is not self enhancement, but a cognitive bias. The self enhancement obtained by the Better than Average Effect contains two elements ： one is the motive to view oneself positively, which is the true self enhancement ; the other one is the cognitive trend in which people cant fully consider the characteristics of the group, which is called the Everyone is Better than Average （EBTA） mechanism. The results of these studies using the method of the Better than Average Effect can serve as evidence that Chinese people are self enhancing only if the effect of EBTA mechanism is excluded. In order to explore Chinese people self enhancement motive and its manifestations, this study used the methods of the Better than Average Effect, the Self Serving At tribution Bias and the Implicit Association Test to measure the self enhancement of Chinese university students, with the effect of EB TA mechanism taken into consideration. Study 1 used the method of the Better than Average Effect. Students were asked to evaluate themselves or a stranger university student in homogeneous groups on 10 positive traits and 10 negative traits. Subjects＇self evaluations were indicators of self enhance ment. Subjects＇evaluations of the stranger student were indicators of EBTA mechanism. We obtained the features of Chinese university students＇explicit selfenhancement after the effect of EBTA mechanism was excluded. The results showed that： if we didnl consider EBTA mechanism, Chinese university students had the Better than Average Effect, they saw themselves as better than 65.4% of the people in the homogeneous group. The effect of EBTA mechanism was significant; Chinese university students still had the Better than Average Effect after the effect of EBTA mechanism was excluded, they thought themselves were better than 56% of people in the homo geneous group. Study 2 used the method of Self Serving Attribution Bias. Students were asked to attribute their success and failure or a strange u niversity student success and failure on 4 external factors and 4 internal factors. Subjects＇attributions of their success and failure were indicators of self enhancement. Subjects attributions of the strange student success and failure were indicators of EBTA mechanism. We obtained the features of Chinese university students explicit self enhancement after the effect of EBTA mechanism was excluded. The results showed that： if we didnt consider EBTA mechanism, Chinese university students had Self Serving Attribution Bias. The effect of EBTA mechanism was significant ; Chinese university students still had Self Serving Attribution Bias after the effect of EBTA mechanism was excluded. Study 3 combined the lmplicit Association Test and the above two methods. Subjects completed the Implicit Association Test, the Better than Average Effect test and the Self Serving Attribution Bias test. The results showed that Chinese university students had im plicit self enhancement ; there was a positive correlation between implicit self enhancement and explicit self enhancement. In con clusion, Chinese university students＇selfenhancement contains the EBTA mechanism. Using the method of the Better than Average Effect and the Self Serving Attribution Bias, Chinese university students behave in a self enhancing way, which means they view themselves more positively than others. After deducting EBTA from the original self enhancement, pure self enhancement still exists in Chinese university students. From 1AT, we found implicit self enhancement in Chinese university students, and the implicit self enhancement was positively correlated with the explicit self enhancement.