Chapter 2: Self-Enhancing Self-Presentation: Interpersonal, Relational, and Organizational Implications

Most individuals have an unduly high estimation of themselves. They privately believe in their intrinsic merit: they are competent, likeable, moral, attractive. In short, they are “worth it” (as a certain L’Oreal commercial would put it). And they are worth it a bit more than their doppelgänger. This is indeed the essence of self-enhancement. People regard themselves more favorably than they view others, than others view them, or than objective criteria ascertain (Alicke & Sedikides, 2011).

Privately holding self-enhancing beliefs is associated with higher levels of psychological health (Alicke & Sedikides, 2009; Dufner et al., 2012; Dufner, Reitz, & Zander, in press; O’Mara, Gaertner, Sedikides, Zhou, & Liu, 2012). But what happens when these beliefs are expressed in public or when an audience infers them? Is the self-enhancer better off or in trouble? And what are the consequences for others? We are concerned with self-enhancing self-presentation (SESP) and its social (i.e., interpersonal, relational, organizational) benefits and costs. As an exemplar of one form of SESP with complex relationships to benefits and costs, we deal with narcissism in depth in the latter part of the chapter.