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Know Thyself! Predicting Subjective Well-Being from personality estimation discrepancy and self-insight

Nilsson, August Håkan LU ; Friedrichs, Kira and Kajonius, Petri LU (2023) In Current Psychology 42(28). p.24302-24311
Abstract

Discrepancies in views of the Self are suggested to be negatively related to well-being (Higgins, 1987). In the present study, we used a novel concept, Personality Estimation Discrepancy (PED), to test this classic idea. PED is defined as the computed difference between how one view oneself (Self-Perceived Personality) and a standard Big Five test (IPIP-NEO-30). In a pre-registered (osf.io) UK online study (N = 297; Mage = 37, SD = 14) we analyzed: (1) whether PED would predict Subjective Well-Being (SWB; Harmony in Life, Satisfaction with Life, Positive affect, Negative Affect) and Self-Insight, and (2) whether Self-Insight would mediate the relationship between PED and SWB. The results showed that underestimation of... (More)

Discrepancies in views of the Self are suggested to be negatively related to well-being (Higgins, 1987). In the present study, we used a novel concept, Personality Estimation Discrepancy (PED), to test this classic idea. PED is defined as the computed difference between how one view oneself (Self-Perceived Personality) and a standard Big Five test (IPIP-NEO-30). In a pre-registered (osf.io) UK online study (N = 297; Mage = 37, SD = 14) we analyzed: (1) whether PED would predict Subjective Well-Being (SWB; Harmony in Life, Satisfaction with Life, Positive affect, Negative Affect) and Self-Insight, and (2) whether Self-Insight would mediate the relationship between PED and SWB. The results showed that underestimation of Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability indeed is associated with both high SWB and high Self-Insight. However, these effects mostly disappeared when controlling for the Big Five test scores. Furthermore, Self-Insight largely (42.9%) mediated the relationship between the mis-estimation and SWB. We interpret these finding such that the relationship of mis-estimating one’s personality with SWB and Self-Insight are mostly explained by the Big Five factors, yet the discrepancy is a dependent feature of scoring particularly high or low on certain personality traits.

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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Big five, Personality estimation discrepancy, Self-discrepancy, Self-insight, Subjective well-being
in
Current Psychology
volume
42
issue
28
pages
24302 - 24311
publisher
Springer
external identifiers
  • scopus:85135560694
  • pmid:35967501
ISSN
1046-1310
DOI
10.1007/s12144-022-03396-1
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
7d86df58-1b9c-43c8-a0c4-76cdac6382f3
date added to LUP
2022-09-12 12:11:53
date last changed
2024-06-13 19:15:41
@article{7d86df58-1b9c-43c8-a0c4-76cdac6382f3,
  abstract     = {{<p>Discrepancies in views of the Self are suggested to be negatively related to well-being (Higgins, 1987). In the present study, we used a novel concept, Personality Estimation Discrepancy (PED), to test this classic idea. PED is defined as the computed difference between how one view oneself (Self-Perceived Personality) and a standard Big Five test (IPIP-NEO-30). In a pre-registered (osf.io) UK online study (N = 297; M<sub>age</sub> = 37, SD = 14) we analyzed: (1) whether PED would predict Subjective Well-Being (SWB; Harmony in Life, Satisfaction with Life, Positive affect, Negative Affect) and Self-Insight, and (2) whether Self-Insight would mediate the relationship between PED and SWB. The results showed that underestimation of Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Emotional Stability indeed is associated with both high SWB and high Self-Insight. However, these effects mostly disappeared when controlling for the Big Five test scores. Furthermore, Self-Insight largely (42.9%) mediated the relationship between the mis-estimation and SWB. We interpret these finding such that the relationship of mis-estimating one’s personality with SWB and Self-Insight are mostly explained by the Big Five factors, yet the discrepancy is a dependent feature of scoring particularly high or low on certain personality traits.</p>}},
  author       = {{Nilsson, August Håkan and Friedrichs, Kira and Kajonius, Petri}},
  issn         = {{1046-1310}},
  keywords     = {{Big five; Personality estimation discrepancy; Self-discrepancy; Self-insight; Subjective well-being}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{28}},
  pages        = {{24302--24311}},
  publisher    = {{Springer}},
  series       = {{Current Psychology}},
  title        = {{Know Thyself! Predicting Subjective Well-Being from personality estimation discrepancy and self-insight}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03396-1}},
  doi          = {{10.1007/s12144-022-03396-1}},
  volume       = {{42}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}