Journal article
The Influence of Egocentrism and Focalism on People's Optimism in Competitions: When What Affects Us Equally Affects Me More
Journal of personality and social psychology, Vol.85(3), pp.389-408
09/2003
DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.85.3.389
PMID: 14498778
Abstract
Six experiments investigated people's optimism in competitions. The studies involved hypothetical and real competitions (course grades in Experiments 1 and 2, a trivia game in Experiments 3-5, and a poker game in Experiment 6) in which the presence of shared adversities and benefits (factors that would generally hinder or help the absolute performance of all competitors) was manipulated. Shared adversities tended to reduce people's subjective likelihoods of winning, whereas shared benefits tended to increase them. The findings suggest that when people judge their likelihood of winning, their assessments of their own strengths and weaknesses have greater impact than their assessments of their competitors' strengths and weaknesses. We identify egocentrism and focalism as two causes of the bias. The experiments revealed moderators of this bias, but also illustrated its robust nature across a variety of conditions.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The Influence of Egocentrism and Focalism on People's Optimism in Competitions: When What Affects Us Equally Affects Me More
- Creators
- Paul D Windschitl - Department of Psychology, University of IowaJustin Kruger - Department of Psychology, University of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignEricka Nus Simms - Department of Psychology, University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of personality and social psychology, Vol.85(3), pp.389-408
- Publisher
- American Psychological Association
- DOI
- 10.1037/0022-3514.85.3.389
- PMID
- 14498778
- ISSN
- 0022-3514
- eISSN
- 1939-1315
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 09/2003
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences
- Record Identifier
- 9984213391002771
Metrics
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