Assessment, enhancement, and verification determinants of the self-evaluation process.

1993/08/01 by Constantine Sedikides · 6 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · Medicine · #Optimism, Hope, and Well-being #Social and Intergroup Psychology #Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Skills #Psychology #Social psychology #Process (computing) #Cognitive psychology #Applied psychology #Computer science

paper · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.65.2.317

openalex publication_date 1993/08/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02

Abstract

The 3 major self-evaluation motives were compared: self-assessment (people pursue accurate self-knowledge), self-enhancement (people pursue favorable self-knowledge), and self-verification (people pursue highly certain self-knowledge). Ss considered the possession of personality traits that were either positive or negative and either central or peripheral by asking themselves questions that varied in diagnosticity (the extent to which the questions could discriminate between a trait and its alternative) and in confirmation value (the extent to which the questions confirmed possession of a trait). Ss selected higher diagnosticity questions when evaluating themselves on central positive rather than central negative traits and confirmed possession of their central positive rather than central negative traits. The self-enhancement motive emerged as the most powerful determinant of the self-evaluation process, followed by the self-verification motive.

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Cited by

• When modesty prevails: Differential favorability of self-presentation to friends and strangers.
• Pancultural self-enhancement reloaded: A meta-analytic reply to Heine (2005).
• Accountability as a deterrent to self-enhancement: The search for mechanisms.
• On Pancultural Self-Enhancement
• A Multiplicity of Motives: The Case of Self-Improvement
• Self-enhancement [wikipedia]