Positive illusions or adaptation? A comparison of two theories of self-assessment.

Abstract

Two theoretical perspectives of self-assessment--positive illusions and adaptation--predict quite different consequences of a lack of agreement between self-perceptions and the perceptions of others. The positive illusions perspective suggests that effective, healthy individuals often engage in overly positive self-evaluations and have an inflated view of their own talents and abilities. By contrast, the adaptation perspective emphasizes the importance of understanding others' perceptions and reducing self-other perception discrepancies. Self-other discrepancy data were obtained from 252 managers in the public utility industry and their subordinates. Results indicated that managers who rated their management skills similarly to their subordinates' ratings were perceived as more effective than managers who overestimated their skills. However, inflated self-ratings were associated with greater satisfaction in managers' personal lives. It was concluded that positive illusions had negative consequences in an organizational context while, at the same time, they contributed to personal life satisfaction. The implications of this dual pattern suggest the need for future research to identify the generalizability and limitations of each perspective.