There is no question that biases exist in people’s self-perceptions of their personality. However, it is not known whether people are aware of these self-biases. In two studies: N = 130), I examined whether people have insight into their positive and negative self-biases across a range of traits. I predicted that self-biases result from self-deception: i.e., the intentional distortion of more realistic self-views), and as such, people should have some awareness of their self-biases. As predicted, people with positive biases: i.e., self-perceptions that are more positive than a reputation-based criterion measure) described themselves as positively biased, and people with overly negative self-views described themselves as negatively biased. These findings suggest that people may know more about themselves than they initially admit, and provide support for the existence of everyday self-deception in people’s views of their personality. Implications for the use of self-reports and the study of self-knowledge are discussed.
","abstract_html":"<p>There is no question that biases exist in people’s self-perceptions of their personality. However, it is not known whether people are aware of these self-biases. In two studies: N = 130), I examined whether people have insight into their positive and negative self-biases across a range of traits. I predicted that self-biases result from self-deception: i.e., the intentional distortion of more realistic self-views), and as such, people should have some awareness of their self-biases. As predicted, people with positive biases: i.e., self-perceptions that are more positive than a reputation-based criterion measure) described themselves as positively biased, and people with overly negative self-views described themselves as negatively biased. These findings suggest that people may know more about themselves than they initially admit, and provide support for the existence of everyday self-deception in people’s views of their personality. Implications for the use of self-reports and the study of self-knowledge are discussed.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Bollich, Kathryn Leigh"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"Master of Arts (MA)","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Psychology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Simine Vazire"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012-08-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2012-08-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:13:14Z","subjects":["self-knowledge","bias","individual differences","Psychology"],"languages":["English (en)"],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.7936/K7JW8C0R"],"render_values":[{"text":"https://doi.org/10.7936/K7JW8C0R","href":"https://doi.org/10.7936/K7JW8C0R","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/1032","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Simine Vazire"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Bollich, Kathryn Leigh"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2015-08-07T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Psychology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["Master of Arts (MA)"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["self-knowledge","bias","individual differences","Psychology"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["English (en)"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/1032"]},{"key":"dc:identifier.doi","label":"DOI","values":["https://doi.org/10.7936/K7JW8C0R"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["There is no question that biases exist in people’s self-perceptions of their personality. However, it is not known whether people are aware of these self-biases. In two studies: N = 130), I examined whether people have insight into their positive and negative self-biases across a range of traits. I predicted that self-biases result from self-deception: i.e., the intentional distortion of more realistic self-views), and as such, people should have some awareness of their self-biases. As predicted, people with positive biases: i.e., self-perceptions that are more positive than a reputation-based criterion measure) described themselves as positively biased, and people with overly negative self-views described themselves as negatively biased. These findings suggest that people may know more about themselves than they initially admit, and provide support for the existence of everyday self-deception in people’s views of their personality. Implications for the use of self-reports and the study of self-knowledge are discussed.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Knowing More than We Can Tell: People Are Aware of their Biased Self-Perceptions"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Simine Vazire"],"dc:creator":["Bollich, Kathryn Leigh"],"dc:date.available":["2015-08-07T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["There is no question that biases exist in people’s self-perceptions of their personality. However, it is not known whether people are aware of these self-biases. In two studies: N = 130), I examined whether people have insight into their positive and negative self-biases across a range of traits. I predicted that self-biases result from self-deception: i.e., the intentional distortion of more realistic self-views), and as such, people should have some awareness of their self-biases. As predicted, people with positive biases: i.e., self-perceptions that are more positive than a reputation-based criterion measure) described themselves as positively biased, and people with overly negative self-views described themselves as negatively biased. These findings suggest that people may know more about themselves than they initially admit, and provide support for the existence of everyday self-deception in people’s views of their personality. Implications for the use of self-reports and the study of self-knowledge are discussed.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/etd/1032"],"dc:identifier.doi":["https://doi.org/10.7936/K7JW8C0R"],"dc:language":["English (en)"],"dc:subject":["self-knowledge","bias","individual differences","Psychology"],"dc:title":["Knowing More than We Can Tell: People Are Aware of their Biased Self-Perceptions"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Psychology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["Master of Arts (MA)"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T06:13:14Z"}