DISTORTION OF SELF-ASCRIBED CHARACTERISTICS

While a number of studies of attribution theory have reported that Ss may distort the social and physical characteristics which they ascribe to others, few have considered the possibility that individuals may misperceive their own characteristics on the same dimensions along which they misjudge others. A recent experiment reported by Wilson (1968), for example, has shown that Ss consistently ascribe greater height to academic persons of higher status. For the two extreme status manipulations, Wilson found that the same individual was judged to be nearly 3 in. taller when he appeared as a full professor rather than as a visiting student. Perceptual distortions need not, however, be limited to the effects of social attributions on judgments of physical characteristics. Secord (1958) also reports data which demonstrate that physical characteristics may determine the traits ascribed to others, a common finding in studies of stereotyping. The present experiment, then, determined whether the relationships between status and ascribed height, observed in interpersonal perception, will generalize to self-perception. Twenty male Ss estimated their heights and "future success in life" on two 100-point scales labeled at 10-point intervals. Rather than making an absolute estimate, each S indicated the number of men out of 100 that he believed to be shorter and less successful in life than himself. These percentile judgments are shown in the top row of Table 1. To determine whether Ss hold an implicit hypothesis linking height to success, a productmoment correlation was computed between the two measures. An r of .36 (p < .lo, df = 19) was small but of sufficient magnitude to suggest an experimental test of the hypothesis. A second group of 20 males listened to a brief talk designed to raise estimations of their success in life. The speech stressed the financial, occupational, marital and health benefits associated with the acquisition of a college degree and concluded that college graduates might expect to win considerable success in life. Ss then filled out the height-estimation scale as the dependent variable and the success in life measure as the check on the manipulation. A third group of 20 Ss listened to a brief lecture designed to convey the idea that the average college man tended to be substantially taller than the average height for the non-college male population. For these Ss, the success in life measure was scored as the dependent variable and the height estimation as the manipulative check. The effectiveness of the manipulations was checked by comparing the average score of each experimental group on the manipulated scale to the corresponding measure for the nonexperimental Ss. Experimental Ss who were led to expect success in life rated themselves as more successful (p < .OO1) and Ss who listened to the speech concerning the height of college men also rated themselves as taller (p < .001) than the control Ss. The second row of Table 1 shows the average self-ascribed height ratings for Ss who received the success manipulation and the relative success rating for Ss who received height treatment. As hypothesized, Ss who expect success in life attribute significantly greater height to themselves (t = 2.26, p < ,051 than control Ss. The stature treatment, however, did not exert a converse effect on estimations of success in life (t = 1.01).