Decomposing a sense of superiority: The differential social impact of self-regard and regard for others

The tendency to self-enhance has been related to a host of beneficial psych ological outcomes (Taylor & Brown, 1988), although some negative social con sequences have also been identified (Colvin et al., 1995, Paulhus, 1998). O ne operationalization of self-enhancement is derived by subtracting the rat er's evaluations of others from his or her self-ratings to yield a measure of the rater's sense of superiority/inferiority, i.e., rater-derived self-e nhancement. The present research assessed the psychological and social corr elates of a person's sense of superiority in groups whose members worked on tasks together for 3 months. A sense of superiority was scored as a compos ite but also separated into its two components, self-regard and regard for others, to determine if these components of a sense of superiority have sep arate relationships to psychological and social processes. A sense of super iority evidenced the same self-rated psychological benefits as had been fou nd in Western research, though it showed both positive and negative social outcomes, as assessed on an eight-factor measure of the target's personalit y rated by his or her other group members. Positive psychological character istics and a stereotypically masculine reputation were associated with high er levels of self-regard; lower levels of self-rated Agreeableness, a stere otypically nonfeminine reputation, and lower liking were associated with lo wer levels of regard for others. Given their different functions, it is pro posed that self-regard and regard for others be separated in future researc h and attention directed toward characterizing the behavioral profiles of t hose high and low in these two measures of basic personality orientation. ( C) 2000 Academic Press.