Evaluating others: The role of who we are versus what we think traits mean

Three studies explored the relative roles of the self and self-serving defi nitions of social traits in social judgment. In Study 1, participants evalu ated the applications of prospective college admittees more favorably when those applicants shared their own competencies, even after general liking f or these applicants had been controlled statistically. In Study 2, particip ants tended to describe the leadership styles of famous leaders (e.g., Mart in Luther King, Jr.) but not nonleaders as similar to their own. In Study 3 , participants completed measures of self-description, trait definition, an d social judgment. Self-serving trait definitions completely explained the relation between the self and social judgment. Together, these findings sug gest that self-serving trait definitions are not epiphenomenal but rather p lay an important role, independent of the self, in judgments of others.