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Short Communication

Dispositional bases of self-serving positive evaluations

Gian Vittorio Caprara ⇑, Guido Alessandri, Francesca Colaiaco, Antonio Zuffianò

Psychology Department, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o

 Article history:

Received 21 December 2012

Received in revised form 27 May 2013Accepted 17 July 2013

Available online 7 August 2013

Keywords:

Self-esteem

Optimism

Life satisfaction

Positive orientation

Positive evaluations

Better-than-average effect

a b s t r a c t

Positive orientation (POS) is the name given to the latent dimension common to self-esteem, optimism

and life satisfaction. Earlier findings attest to the trait-like nature of POS and to its unique contribution

to well-adjustment across domains of functioning. The present study investigates the extent to whichPOS accounts for individuals’ tendency to distort their self-assessment in a positive direction. Taking a

class of students (N = 190) at the beginning of their academic year, POS predicted the individuals’ ten-

dency to perform academically better-than-average (BTA) peers. POS accounted for BTA beyond what

is merely due to self-esteem, life satisfaction and optimism.

Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Interest in the positive features of individual functioning has

gained increased attention over recent decades. Despite conflictingpoint of views, there is some agreement with a notion of well-

being as a state in which individuals fully realize their potential,

manage their life successfully, and contribute effectively to their

community (Aspinwall & Staudinger, 2003). This calls for a strong

commitment of both scholars and practitioners to the identifica-

tion of the major determinants and proper indicators of optimal

functioning, and to the design of effective interventions aimed at

enabling people to fully express their potential. Whereas a number

of authors, in various ways and under different labels, have argued

about a general disposition conducive to face experience under a

positive outlook (e.g., ‘‘positive thinking’’, Scheier & Carver,

1993), Caprara et al. (2012) have focused on what is common to

self-esteem, life satisfaction and optimism, and have identified a

trait-like basic disposition, named positive orientation (POS). Sev-eral authors have reported a high degree of correlation (r = .50) be-

tween self-esteem, life satisfaction and optimism (i.e., Cummins &

Nistico, 2002; Lucas, Diener, & Suh, 1996). However, to our knowl-

edge, no study has investigated the extent to which they can be

traced to a common latent dimension, nor the gain that may derive

from examining what they have in common and their distinctive

features. Findings from twin studies (Caprara et al., 2009) have

converged with longitudinal and cross-sectional findings in attest-

ing to the trait-like nature of POS and to its stability (Alessandri,

Caprara, & Tisak, 2012a, 2012b). Cross-cultural studies document

the generalizability of POS factorial structure across countries that

widely differ in terms of cultural models of self, language, culturaland historical roots, and ways of life (Caprara et al., 2012). Positive

associations with several indicators of well-functioning including

health (r = .30), quality of friendships (r = .30), positive affectivity

(r = .60), ego-resiliency (r = .40), the Big-Five traits (openness

r = .36, conscientiousness r = .18, extraversion r = .48, agreeable-

ness r = .34, and emotional stability r = .22) further attest to the

POS construct validity (Alessandri et al., 2012b).

The unique and pervasive contribution of positive POS to well-

adjustment and success has been recently documented by findings

showing that the specific variance of self-esteem, optimism, and

life satisfaction have little or no significant influence on relevant

outcomes like job-performance and organizational citizenships

behaviors (Alessandri et al., 2012c). Whereas one cannot exclude

that other constructs might be traced to POS in addition to self-esteem, life satisfaction, and optimism, previous models which

have included other individual differences that are usually corre-

lated with self-esteem, life satisfaction and optimism (e.g., trust,

emotional stability, positive affectivity and generalized self-effi-

cacy) have shown a worse fit than the posited model. Likewise,

what self-esteem, optimism, and life satisfaction have in common

is a unique basic and pervasive disposition to face, construe, and

assess experience under a positive outlook. Viewing experience

under a general positive outlook distinguishes the trait of POS

from: (a) other traits focusing on habitual behaviors (e.g., person-

ality traits) and (b) from other dispositions regarding specific

goal-oriented tendencies (e.g., hope). It has been reasoned that

0191-8869/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.07.465

⇑ Corresponding author. Address: Psychology Department, Sapienza University of 

Rome, Via dei Marsi 78, 00185 Roma, Italy. Tel.: +39 0649917665; fax: +39

064469115.

E-mail address: gianvittorio.caprara@uniroma1.it (G.V. Caprara).

Personality and Individual Differences 55 (2013) 864–867

Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect

Personality and Individual Differences

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people would not be able to stand the awareness of their own lim-

itations or cope with the difficulties, adversities and losses in life

unless they were predisposed to believe that they are worthy of re-

gard, that life is worth living, and that the future is promising. Pre-

vious findings have shown that, after removing the shared variance

of self-esteem, optimism, and life satisfaction, the covariation of 

their uniqueness with indicators of well-functioning is negligible

(Alessandri, Caprara, & Tisak, 2012a).As a large body of literature attests to a self-enhancement mo-

tive and namely the individuals’ need to hold a positive view of 

themselves and to its impact on well-functioning and well-being

(Sedikides & Gregg, 2008), we are inclined to posit a kind of self-

care at the core of POS, since it seems unlikely that people convey

a rosy view of their own past and future unless they believe it is

worthwhile. Yet, previous findings suggest that POS may operate

as a potential predisposing to self-enhancement and going beyond

self-esteem. Thus, it is crucial to examine the extent to which POS

and self-esteem are sides of the same coin or distinct, although re-

lated, phenomena. To this end, we believe that to examine the ex-

tent to which POS may account for phenomena that have been

commonly traced to self-protection and self-enhancement, like

the individuals’ tendency towards self-serving positive cognitive

bias (Cummins & Nistico, 2002) and illusory beliefs (Taylor &

Brown, 1988), may be a good start.

Based on these premises, the present study aimed to investigate

the extent to which individuals’ tendency to expect to perform

better-than-average peers can be traced to POS. The so-called bet-

ter-than-average effect (BTA) has been reported among the most

robust expressions of self-enhancement phenomena (e.g., Taylor

& Brown, 1988). Previous studies have already shown that

self-assessments are usually biased in the direction of positively

distorted evaluations (e.g., Alicke & Govorun, 2005) and point to

positive associations of self-esteem with the individual’s tendency

towards positive cognitive distortions (Cummins & Nistico, 2002).

Taking a class of students at the beginning of their academic year,

we sought to provide support for the assumptions that (1) only BTA

(and not real academic outcome) is significantly associated withPOS when subjects are invited to predict their academic perfor-

mance in comparison with their peers; (2) the contributions of 

self-esteem, optimism and life satisfaction to the BTA effect are

negligible once POS is taken into consideration.

2. Methods

 2.1. Participants

Participants were 190 sophomores (72% females) pursuing a de-

gree in Psychology, with a mean age of 21.08 years (SD = 3.64).

 2.2. Procedure

During the first week of the academic year, subjects attending

the course of Personality Psychology were invited to take part in

the study and, after obtaining their consent, to fill in a number of 

questionnaires geared to assessing the variables under examina-

tion: self-esteem, optimism and life satisfaction from which to de-

rive their POS. The participants were also invited to predict their

mark in the final examination and the average mark of their class.

A partial credit was granted for student participation.

 2.3. Measures

 2.3.1. Self-esteem (RSE)

Self-esteem was assessed by using the 10-item Rosenberg(1965) scale (a = .90) which measures the extent to which partici-

pants feel they possess good qualities and have achieved personal

success (e.g., ‘‘I feel that I have a number of good qualities’’). Each

item is scored on a 4-point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree)

to 4 (strongly agree).

 2.3.2. Optimism (LOT-R)

Optimism was assessed by using the 10-item set from the ‘‘Life

Orientation Test’’ (Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994). In particular,the 6 scale items (four items were ‘‘fillers’’) measured the subjects’

expectations regarding their future and their general sense of opti-

mism (a = .77). The participants provided their ratings using a 5-

point scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).

A sample item for optimism is: ‘‘in uncertain times, I usually expect

the best’’.

 2.3.3. Life satisfaction (SWLS)

Participants’ life satisfaction was assessed using the 5-item set

of the ‘‘Satisfaction with Life Scale’’ (Diener, 1984). For each item,

participants rated the extent to which they felt generally satisfied

with life on a 7-point rating scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7

(strongly agree). A sample item for life satisfaction is: ‘‘In most

ways, my life is close to my ideal’’. Alpha coefficient was .83.

 2.3.4. Final evaluation

The final evaluation ranged from 18 (sufficient ) to 30 (excellent ).

 2.3.5. Previous academic achievement 

Participants were asked to report their average score resulting

from previous examinations using the same range from 18 (suffi-

cient ) to 30 (excellent ).

 2.3.6. BTA

Participants were further asked to report (a) their expected

mark and (b) the expected average mark of the class, at the end

of the course by using the same scale from 18 ( sufficient ) to 30

(excellent ). Then, a BTA index was obtained for each subject by sub-tracting the average expected mark of the class from the mark he

or she expected to achieve. We argued that the greater the differ-

ence between self- and other-assessment, the higher the BTA

effect.

 2.4. Data analysis strategy and model evaluation

In order to test our main hypotheses, we used a Structural Equa-

tion Modeling (SEM) approach (Kline, 2010). Parameters were esti-

mated by Maximum-Likelihood (ML) using the M plus 5.1 program

(Muthén & Muthén, 2006). Missing data were handled using Full

Information Maximum-Likelihood (Kline, 2010). Model fit was

evaluated following standard procedure: the sensitive chi-square

(v2

; Kline, 2010) was complemented by the inspection of the Com-parative Fit Index (CFI), Root Mean Square of Approximation

(RMSEA) with 90% confidence interval (CI) and the Root Mean

Square Residuals Standardized (SRMR). A nonsignificant chi-square

is indicative of a perfect fit (Kline, 2010). In terms of alternative fit

indices, we accepted models with RMSEA <.08, SRMR <.06, and CFI

>.90 (Kline, 2010).

3. Results

 3.1. Descriptive statistics

The zero order correlations (Table 1) showed that self-esteem,

optimism and life satisfaction were positively correlated among

each other and moderately and positively correlated with theBTA effect. BTA reported a high positive correlation with previous

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academic achievement, indicating that past experience is related to

this psychological mechanism. BTA also correlated positively with

the final mark.

 3.2. SEM analyses

By assuming a common latent dimension (i.e., POS) lying at the

core of self-esteem, life satisfaction and optimism (Caprara et al.,2012), we used SEM in order to analyze specific effects (of self-es-

teem, optimism and life satisfaction) and the general effect (of POS)

on BTA. In SEM the specific effects referred to the paths stemming

from the error terms. Of importance, error terms in SEM include

both random and specific variance (i.e., the unique variance that

is not explained by the common factor and that is not shared with

the other indicators). In order to separate these two different

sources of variation, we modeled self-esteem, optimism, and life

satisfaction as latent variables measured by a single indicator by

fixing the residual variance of the latter to (1 À q)⁄r2, where q is

scale reliability and r2 is the sample variance (Kline, 2010). In this

way, POS relied on the common variance shared by self-esteem,

optimism, and life satisfaction and, at the same time, the specific

variances of self-esteem, optimism, and life satisfaction due to

their unique factors were distinguished from those error variances

due to random factors (see also Alessandri et al., 2012c). We fur-

ther controlled for sex (due to the high percentage of females in

our sample) and for previous academic achievement. In this way,

we could assess the effect of POS while partialling out the role of 

past academic success in supporting the BTA effect. The model in

which the general effects of POS on BTA and final mark is estimated

(Fig. 1) reported a good fit to the data v2(8) = 12.58, p = .13,

CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = .05 [90% CI: .00, .11], SRMR = .04 as the ex-act-fit hypothesis is not rejected. As expected, POS predicted BTA

(but not real academic performance), even controlling for the sig-

nificant effect of previous academic success on BTA. To evaluate

whether the specific effects of self-esteem, optimism and life satis-

faction have incremental validity over the general effect of POS, we

examined the modification indices for the regression coefficients of 

these specific effects. Bonferroni’s correction was used in order to

control for Type I error by dividing the nominal p-value of .05 by

6 (i.e., the number of modification indices examined). The cor-

rected p-value was .008 with the corresponding critical v2 value

of 17.37. As none of the modification indices of the specific effects

from self-esteem, life satisfaction and optimism to BTA and final

mark was greater than this critical value, we conclude that they

were not significantly related to BTA and to academic performance.

4. Discussion

As various scholars suggest, a slight to moderate degree of dis-

tortion in one’s perception of the self and of the world is needed for

proper psychological functioning (Baumeister, 1989; Cummins &

Nistico, 2002). We believe that most of the positive distortions that

people have of themselves rest upon a basic predisposition that en-

gages affect no less than cognition in enabling people to cope effec-

tively with life. This predisposition operates as an adaptive/

protective device to face the challenges of life and to promote

individuals’ development. The above findings corroborate this rea-

soning to a considerable extent. POS covaried with people’s ten-

dency to evaluate themselves better than their average peers, but

it is not associated with real academic performance. Also, self-es-

 Table 1

Descriptive statistics and correlations among the variables.

Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Sex – – 1

RSE 3.15 0.54 À.02 1

LOT-R 3.52 0.66 À.12 .60** 1

SWLS 4.65 1.21 .16* .46** .39** 1

BTA 1.06 2.17 À.06 .34** .32** .23* 1

PAA 25.48 2.18 .12À

.01À

.02À

.01 .48**

1FM 27.13 3.65 .09 À.01 À.03 .06 .33** .52** 1

Note: SD = Standard deviation. PAA = previous academic achievement. FM = final

mark. Sex was code 0 = male, 1 = female.*  p < .05.**  p < .01.

Fig. 1. POS and BTA. Note. All the reported parameters are standardized. Dotted lines represent non-statistically significant parameters ( p > .05). FM = final mark;PAA = previous academic achievement. ⁄ p < .05.

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teem, optimism and life satisfaction were associated with the indi-

viduals’ tendency to give an assessment of themselves better than

their average peers, but these associations were negligible once

POS was taken into account. Moreover, our findings suggest that

POS and self-enhancement are distinct, although correlated,

expressions of the self.

Further research is needed to clarify when self-esteem, life sat-

isfaction and optimism appear during development, and when POSemerges. In this regard, we may just guess that POS predisposes to

self-concern and self-protection, and that self-regard stays at the

core of POS as self-awareness precedes the capacity to reflect upon

one’s life and to anticipate the future. Also, self-regard is strictly

contingent and necessary to self-awareness. People would not be

able to withstand the consciousness of their limitations and fragil-

ities unless they had a sense of their own worth and that life is

worth living. Future studies should clarify how and when different

feelings about self, life and the future ultimately coalesce under a

unique pervasive mode of appraising, viewing and construing able

to affect how individuals approach actions and experiences. We

acknowledge some limitations of the present study. First of all,

we recognize that future studies using a SEM approach should in-

crease the number of subjects in the analysis in order to obtain

more reliable results. In addition, although we used a complex sta-

tistical methodology, we are aware that our study, which is based

on ‘‘field’’ data cannot allow definitive conclusions about causality

(Kline, 2010). Despite these limitations, we believe that this study

can offer an significant contribution to the literature by pointing to

the value of POS to understand self-serving positive distortions.

Viewing POS as a disposition opens new avenues to both re-

search and practice in order to promote human potential and

strengths. Indeed, recent findings suggest that POS and its major

expressions, although stable, are malleable to change (Caprara,

Alessandri, & Barbaranelli, 2009). Likewise, further investigation

is needed to appreciate the beneficial effect of a slight to moderate

degree of embellishment of one’s life and experience, no less than

the risk that may accompany over-confidence and excessive self-

indulgence.

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