Lewicki, P. (1983). Self-image bias in person perception. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 45(2), 384-393.

Conducted 3 experiments using a total of 283 male and female high school students. Exp I demonstrated that the more desirable the self-rating on a personality characteristic, the more central that characteristic is in perceiving others. This self-image bias in person perception was hypothesized to reflect the defense mechanism protecting high self-evaluation. In Exp II …

Kelley, W. M., Macrae, C. N., Wyland, C. L., Caglar, S., Inati, S., & Heatherton, T. F. (2002). Finding the self? An event-related fMRI study. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 14(5), 785-794.

Researchers have long debated whether knowledge about the self is unique in terms of its functional anatomic representation within the human brain. In the context of memory function, knowledge about the self is typically remembered better than other types of semantic information. But why does this memorial effect emerge? Extending previous research on this topic …

Gilovich, T., Medvec, V. H., & Savitsky, K. (2000). The spotlight effect in social judgment: An egocentric bias in estimates of the salience of one& #39;s own actions and appearance.

This research provides evidence that people overestimate the extent to which their actions and appearance are noted by others, a phenomenon dubbed the spotlight effect. In Studies 1 and 2, participants who were asked to don a T-shirt depicting either a flattering or potentially embarrassing image overestimated the number of observers who would be able …

Park, J., Choi, I., & Cho, G. (2006). The actor-observer bias in beliefs of interpersonal insights. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 37(6), 630-642.

The present research aimed to test the cultural generality of the asymmetry in perceptions of interpersonal knowledge (i.e., I-know-you-but-you-do-not-know-me phenomenon) and to explore the perceived behavioral variability of self versus other as a determinant of the asymmetry. In Study 1, the authors found that the asymmetry in beliefs of interpersonal insights was present among Koreans, …

Ross, L., Greene, D., & House, P. (1977). The “false consensus effect”: An egocentric bias in social perception and attribution processes. Journal of experimental social psychology, 13(3), 279-301.

Evidence from four studies demonstrates that social observers tend to perceive a “false consensus” with respect to the relative commonness of their own responses. A related bias was shown to exist in the observers’ social inferences. Thus, raters estimated particular responses to be relatively common and relatively unrevealing concerning the actors’ distinguishing personal dispositions when …

Choi, I., & Choi, Y. (2002). Culture and self-concept flexibility. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 28(11), 1508-1517.

Past research has shown that East Asians are more tolerant of apparent contradiction and tend to accept contradictory beliefs more readily than Americans. The present research examined through three studies whether such a dialectical tendency among East Asians also would be found in beliefs about the self. The results showed that in all three studies, …

Kunda, Z., Fong, G. T., Sanitioso, R., & Reber, E. (1993). Directional questions direct self-conceptions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 29(1), 63-86.

Several studies indicate that directional questions influence self-conceptions. For example, subjects asked “are you happy with your social life?” rated themselves as happier than did subjects asked “are you unhappy with your social life?”. This occurs because subjects use a positive-test strategy to test directional hypotheses about themselves: Subjects were more likely to search their …

Geier, A. B., Rozin, P., & Doros, G. (2006). Unit bias: A new heuristic that helps explain the effect of portion size on food intake. Psychological Science, 17(6), 521-525.

People seem to think that a unit of some entity (with certain constraints) is the appropriate and optimal amount. We refer to this heuristic as unit bias. We illustrate unit bias by demonstrating large effects of unit segmentation, a form of portion control, on food intake. Thus, people choose, and presumably eat, much greater weights …

Sternberg, R. J. (2001). Why schools should teach for wisdom: The balance theory of wisdom in educational settings. Educational psychologist, 36(4), 227-245.

This article describes a balance theory of wisdom and applies the theory to the context of schooling. First, the article discusses why intelligence-related skills are an important, but not a sufficient, basis for education. Second, the article briefly reviews alternative theories of wisdom. Third, the article presents a balance theory of wisdom, according to which …

Medvec, V. H., Madey, S. F., & Gilovich, T. (1995). When less is more: Counterfactual thinking and satisfaction among Olympic medalists. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 603-610.

Research on counterfactual thinking has shown that people’s emotional responses to events are influenced by their thoughts about “what might have been.” The authors extend these findings by documenting a familiar occasion in which those who are objectively better off nonetheless feel worse. In particular, an analysis of the emotional reactions of bronze and silver …