Portrait of the self-enhancer: Well adjusted and well liked or maladjusted and friendless?

2003/01/01 by Shelley E. Taylor, Jennifer S. Lerner, David K. Sherman +2 · 305 citations
Social Sciences · Psychology · #Social and Intergroup Psychology #Personality Traits and Psychology #Behavioral Health and Interventions #Psychology #Mental health #Portrait #Social psychology #Clinical psychology #Developmental psychology #Psychotherapist

paper · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.84.1.165

published in Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 84(1), 165-176 (American Psychological Association)

openalex publication_date 2003/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/08

Abstract

Research has variously portrayed self-enhancement as an indicator of narcissistic defensiveness or as a concomitant of mental health. To address this controversy, the present study used multiple measures of self-enhancement along with multiple measures and judges of mental health, comprehensively assessing their relationship. The results indicated that self-enhancement is positively associated with multiple indicators of mental health and with a more favorable impact on others. Discussion centers on a reconciliation of discrepant portraits of the self-enhancer.

Citations

• Situated Optimism: Specific Outcome Expectancies and Self-Regulation
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• Advances In Experimental Social Psychology
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Cited by

• Pancultural self-enhancement reloaded: A meta-analytic reply to Heine (2005).
• Know thyself: Misperceptions of actual performance undermine achievement motivation, future performance, and subjective well-being.
• Inclusion of theory‐relevant moderators yield the same conclusions as Sedikides, Gaertner, and Vevea (2005): A meta‐analytical reply to Heine, Kitayama, and Hamamura (2007)
• On Pancultural Self-Enhancement
• Self-enhancement [wikipedia]