Feeling "holier than thou": Are self-serving assessments produced by errors in self- or social prediction?

Abstract

People typically believe they are more likely to engage in selfless, kind, and generous behaviors than their peers, a result that is both logically and statistically suspect. However, this oft-documented tendency presents an important ambiguity. Do people feel "holier than thou" because they harbor overly cynical views of their peers (but accurate impressions of themselves) or overly charitable views of themselves (and accurate impressions of their peers)? Four studies suggested it was the latter. Participants consistently overestimated the likelihood that they would act in generous or selfless ways, whereas their predictions of others were considerably more accurate. Two final studies suggest this divergence in accuracy arises, in part, because people are unwilling to consult population base rates when predicting their own behavior but use this diagnostic information more readily when predicting others'. God, I thank thee that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. Luke 18:11, Revised Standard Version On February 7, 1998, at the dawn of what would become only the second presidential impeachment in American history, CBS News conducted a telephone poll asking Americans how interested they were in the steamy details of Bill Clinton's sex life. The results suggested they were not very interested. A scant 7% reported being "fascinated," and 50% reported being "completely disinterested." However, when asked to evaluate the interest of other Americans, 25% thought others were "fascinated" and only 18% thought others were "completely disinterested." Clearly, most people felt their own ambivalence was unique and that the hysteria surround

Right about others, wrong about ourselves? Actual and perceived self‐other differences in resistance to persuasion

“…Recent research investigating people's perceptions of self/other differences in pro-social behaviour may shed some light on the 'reversed' TPE. Epley and Dunning (2000) examined peope's perceptions of their own and others' charitable behaviours and their results revealed that people overestimate the extent to which they will engage in selfless and generous behaviours, but are accurate about the frequency of such behaviours performed by peers. Perhaps therefore, people will also overestimate the extent to which they are influenced by positive media.…”

The Moral Superiority Effect: Self Versus Other Differences in Satisfaction with Being Overpaid

“…On the basis of research literature on the conflict between fairness and self-interest (Messick and Sentis, 1983) and on self-serving biases (Epley and Dunning, 2000;Nisbett and Ross, 1980;Smith and Mackie, 1990), we argue that people believe that they react differently than others to being overpaid. More specifically, we suggest that people think that their own reaction is more moral than the reactions of others when confronted with overpayment.…”

Certainty and overconfidence in future preferences for food

“…Adding the time dimension may add to preference uncertainty, since people seem to have difficulties predicting future consumption (e.g. Epley and Dunning, 2000). Some of the most important reasons why people fail to accurately predict future preferences may be limited ability to imagine future circumstances, causing people to base predictions of the future on current circumstances (Loewenstein et al, 2003) and intentions (Koehler and Poon, 2006), and assume current circumstances will remain (Quoidbach et al, 2013).…”