EFFECTS OF VISUAL PERSPECTIVE AND NARCISSISM ON SELF-PERCEPTION - IS SEEING BELIEVING

Would people still see themselves through rose-colored glasses if they had the same perspective as others do? We contrast predictions from n arcissism theory with cognitive-informational accounts of self-percept ion bias. Study I showed that narcissists enjoy situations in which th ey can view themselves from an external perspective, and report that s uch situations boost their self-confidence. In Study 2, subjects evalu ated their performance in a group task from the normal visual perspect ive of the self and from a ''reversed'' perspective (manipulated via v ideotape). Narcissists overestimated their performance, and reversing visual perspective did not reduce this self-enhancement bias. Instead, we Sound a pet-son-situation interaction: Narcissists became even mor e positively biased in the reversed-perspective condition, whereas non narcissists showed even less bins. Thus, allowing narcissistic individ uals to observe themselves on videotape further increased their self-a dmiration, just as the mythical Narcissus admired his reflection in th e pond.