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You don't (want to) know yourself
Why can't we use a video of ourselves to improve the accuracy of our self-perception? One answer could lie in cognitive dissonance - the need for us to hold consistent beliefs about ourselves. People may well be extremely reluctant to revise their self-perceptions, even in the face of powerful objective evidence. A detail in the final experiment supports this idea. Participants seemed able to use the videos to inform their ratings of their "state" anxiety (their anxiety "in the moment") even while leaving their scores for their "trait" anxiety unchanged.
Here is more. Is it an accident that so many people do not enjoy watching videos of themselves, while at the same time believing they are quite splendid?
Posted by Tyler Cowen on June 11, 2009 at 07:17 AM in Science | Permalink
Comments
Can/does this happen with the written word? Do bloggers have more accurate self-awareness because they are recording their thoughts more than others? How does the public element of blogging come into play? We bloggers could write our words in a private diary. I think we all know we would not write the same thing.
Posted by: TIE at Jun 11, 2009 8:09:43 AM
Do you really think most people believe they are splendid? Seems to me most people think they're okay, probably doing the best they can, but far from splendid.
Posted by: K. Williams at Jun 11, 2009 8:16:11 AM
I saw this and sent it to Robin Hanson because it seems to pose a problem for people interested in signalling theory.
The study seems to have the conclusion that a) as senders, we are not privy to the signals that we send out, b) but, as receivers we can interpret the signals, and so c) we only have indirect access to our signals, qua senders, by seeing how other receivers act.
It would be like playing poker, never being able to see your hand, but judging it based upon what others thought your cards were.
Posted by: michael webster at Jun 11, 2009 8:21:11 AM
Can/does this happen with the written word? Do bloggers have more accurate self-awareness because they are recording their thoughts more than others? How does the public element of blogging come into play? We bloggers could write our words in a private diary. I think we all know we would not write the same thing.
It seems to me that the two phenomena are different. You have a self-perception that describes how well and in what manner you use subconscious cues - eye contact, body language, etc. - and the study basically says that you're not willing to revise those self-perceptions. With blogging (or any sort of writing), on the other hand, what you put down is entirely conscious; while similar mechanisms may prevent you from seeing some implications of your writing, writing different things for public and private consumption seems more influenced by ordinary social concerns than self-deception about your writing.
It would be like playing poker, never being able to see your hand, but judging it based upon what others thought your cards were.
I'd think it would be more like playing poker with a set of unrevisable assumptions about what your hand is. It's not like we have no control over our body language; we just have less control and a proportionally higher measure than we'd like to think.
Posted by: Neal at Jun 11, 2009 8:40:26 AM
Do you really think most people believe they are splendid? Seems to me most people think they're okay, probably doing the best they can, but far from splendid.
Yes. I've seen myself on video many times and I didn't / don't believe I was/ am splendid before or after.
Maybe Tyler hangs around with many people who believe they are splendid? Maybe Tyler believes he is splendid?
Posted by: anon at Jun 11, 2009 9:16:14 AM
I recall a study from many years ago that held that people with very accurate opinions of themselves were usually depressed. I'm not sure how the causation was supposed to run.
Athletes use video all the time now to improve their performance. It would be quite a surprise if others couldn't do so if they had good reason.
Posted by: Matt at Jun 11, 2009 9:18:32 AM
I think it depends on your utility function. The study appeared to evaluate your self-perception of being an introvert or extrovert. To me, it's not clear why I have a big incentive to ensure that my self-perception is accurate for this particular personality trait.
Prior to going on the academic job market, my school video taped mock interviews. This proved to be very useful and I think that people used this feedback wisely. Here, it is clear that people have a large incentive to ensure that their self-perception is accurate so that they can make adjustments to their behavior.
Posted by: Vi | Maximizing Utility at Jun 11, 2009 9:19:25 AM
Tyler,
What I have read about high achieving individuals in performance areas (that would include sports, music, actors, and public speakers --- including businessmen) is that they are ruthelessly self-critical, yet confident. They will study their performance on video in depth, and develop a plan for self-improvement and then work that plan.
Most individuals don't delude themselves into thinking they are splendid, but they do believe they are OK, and they don't have this capacity to engage in ruthless self-criticism yet retain their confidence.
Posted by: Peter Boettke at Jun 11, 2009 9:42:25 AM
Does that imply that those with low opinions of themselves will tend to get more out of watching video of themselves?
Posted by: Noah Yetter at Jun 11, 2009 9:52:29 AM
Tyler _is_ splendid.
Posted by: ricardo at Jun 11, 2009 10:31:06 AM
doesn't this occur because the observer doesn't know what they are looking for? whether their actions are correct or incorrect?
i'd be interested to know if overlaying video footage of peoples golf swing for example, with a professional golfers swing, creates the same effect. i suspect the effect would be much less, because it becomes much easier to distinguish between correct and incorrect behaviours.
Posted by: working class at Jun 11, 2009 10:48:21 AM
This is non-optional for my kids generation -- they are videoed all the time, and watch themselves all the time.
What you are quoting here is a historical remark about a generation which will soon be dead.
Posted by: Greg Ransom at Jun 11, 2009 11:12:57 AM
I know someone who videoed himself and discovered he was a compulsive talker. The discovery was good for him, but as noted, not many people seem to have the courage to seek that sort of information.
Posted by: Nancy Lebovitz at Jun 11, 2009 11:44:07 AM
I wrote a screenplay about this very topic a few years back. A man is put into a state of forced amnesia. Set up in a controlled environment he studies the previous year of his life without the knowledge that his subject is himself. Final moral of the story. We're all flawed and we'd probably disapprove of many of our own actions. However, as a third party observer, you can never know exactly why people do what they do. It could very well be that their actions are indeed the correct one.
(You see, the observed 'subject' was being observed cheating on his wife. The man who is participating in the experiment also falls in love with one of the members of the team. That member of the team turns out to be the woman the man/subject had been cheating with. See, terrible action but meant to be. Kinda lame. I know.)
Posted by: TylerPaul at Jun 11, 2009 7:08:28 PM
I recall a study from many years ago that held that people with very accurate opinions of themselves were usually depressed. I'm not sure how the causation was supposed to run.
I have a theory that the probability of a male's success in attracting a woman is 0.8 times the probability with which he believes he will succeed.
Posted by: Brian 2 at Jun 11, 2009 7:18:23 PM
If the people were randomly selected (i.e., untrained), this doesn't surprise me at all. But...
Go to a martial arts dojo, a running track, a professional music rehearsal, a ballet hall, etc., and put some untrained people in with trained people. Show them proper form, let them try, and then show them video of themselves. Most people don't train to move or act in a precise way, and so don't pick up on any subtleties, even when shown video of themselves.
Now show some of the experts there video of themselves. They'll immediately pick out all kinds of minutiae about their own form. For even more fun, transplant some experts into a different situation -- somebody who's been doing martial arts for 30 years into a dance hall, for example -- and observe that she can pick up minutiae there, too.
Regarding the cited study, the data looks fine, but the conclusion is wrong. It's not that people have anything against seeing flaws in their own person. It's that they've never done it before in this way, and watching a brief video is not enough to train anybody how to do anything.
Posted by: Ken at Jun 11, 2009 8:37:55 PM
I don't think most people think they're splendid. I don't think most people even think the're okay, at least in their more honest moments. In opposition to this I offer FDR as that rare person with too much self-confidence. From everything I've read or seen of him, this guy thought he was flat out delightful. And apparently, no one ever took the trouble to disabuse him of this idea.
Posted by: middyfeek at Jun 13, 2009 5:41:14 AM
Posted by: 童裝批發 at Aug 17, 2009 1:10:30 AM
