Comparisons in research and reasoning: Toward an integrative theory of social induction

The Illusion of Moral Superiority

“…While individuals are unlikely to perceive this similarity with complete precision, the researcher can. The similarity may be quantified as the correlation between individual self-judgments and the average of all self-judgments in the group ( Hoch, 1987 ; Krueger et al, 2013 ). This correlation “coefficient of similarity” thus describes how typical of the average a particular individual is, and, importantly, a fully rational perceiver may weight their self-judgments by this coefficient to maximize accuracy in their judgments of what the average person is like ( Hoch, 1987 ; Krueger & Chen, 2014 ).…”

“…Self-judgments act as valid cues to what the average person is like—justified by the fact that most people are in the majority most of the time. Indeed, appropriately gauging the prototypicality of one’s own characteristics improves accuracy in judgments of ill-defined others (e.g., Hoch, 1987 ; Krueger & Chen, 2014 ); neglecting this prototypicality may thus amount to a failure of inductive reasoning ( Krueger, Freestone, & MacInnis, 2013 ). Consequently, given that most people consider themselves highly moral, if Jane strongly self-enhances her morality—as the evidence indicates she will—this may also compromise the accuracy of her social perception.…”

Self-enhancement: Conceptualization and Assessment

“…Wylie, 1979). Sometimes, the reification of a numerical discrepancy reveals a profound theoretical position, but it can degenerate into a rhetorical maneuver or a promissory note that rich theory will soon follow (Gigerenzer, 1998;Krueger et al, 2013). To illustrate, consider a case of a theoretically grounded use of difference scores.…”

“…This convention holds that regression of self-perception, S, on reality, T, removes the valid content from self-perception, that the remaining variation can be treated as a measure of bias, and that this bias can be treated as a distinctive personality trait. Residualizing self-judgments reifies the concept of positive (and negative) bias as a trait (Krueger et al, 2013). Reflecting this line of thought, Leising et al (2016) propose that the residuals' "main advantage" is that they will "by definition, be independent of the [predictors, and that they] may thus be independently interpreted" (p. 593).…”

“…Without such cautionary measures, it may seem that a separate trait has been identified particularly when the discrepancy scores show correlations with third variables of interest (e.g., happiness). Such impressions may rather be the reification of a mathematical term as a psychological construct (Krueger, Freestone, & MacInnis, 2013).…”