Lake Wobegon Effect
Alicia Tucker – 55362
PSY 312 – Tests and Measurements in Psychology
1. What is the Lake Wobegon Effect and how does it arise?
In Garrison Keillor’s fictional town of Lake Wobegon, “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” (Gregory, 2011). The Lake Wobegon effect is a natural tendency to overestimate one’s capabilities and see oneself as better than others. Research psychologists refer to this tendency as self-enhancement bias and have found evidence for its existence in many domains. Most of us think we’re funnier, smarter, warmer, more honest, or more conscientious than we really are.
Cross-cultural studies have found a link between the tendency to self-enhance and the degree of individualism …show more content…
People living in countries with relatively low income inequality—Belgium, Japan, and Germany, for example—were less likely to self-enhance. When the researchers statistically controlled for the effects of income inequality, they found no relationship at all between individualism and self-enhancement.
So, in countries where there’s a large disparity between the haves and the have-nots, people are more likely to fall prey to the Lake Wobegon effect, to overestimate their abilities and achievements and believe they are better than most people.
The reasons for this surprising relationship are not yet clear. Professor Loughnan suspects it may have something to do with the competitiveness that can be triggered by economic inequality. If wealth is distributed very unevenly and you want one of the (relatively few) jobs that pays a high salary, it makes sense to eschew modesty and present yourself as superior to others. The meek may inherit the earth, but they won’t have fat wallets when it happens. …show more content…
Based on the initial PES results, clients identify 100 or so potential pleasant events and strive to increase the frequency of these events, monitoring daily mood along the way. Clients who increase the frequency of pleasant events usually show an improvement in mood and other depressive symptoms as evident in their scoring. The Pleasant Events Schedule is a highly useful tool for clinicians who wish to implement a self-monitoring approach to the assessment and treatment of depression. “MachPhillamy and Lewinsohn report favorably on the technical qualities of the PES and discuss a variety of rational, factorial, and empirical subscales.” (Gregory, 2011).
REFERENCES:
Gregory, J. R., Psychological Testing. History, Principles and Applications. 6th Edition. Pearson Education Inc. Allyn & Bacon. Boston,
PSY 312 – Tests and Measurements in Psychology
1. What is the Lake Wobegon Effect and how does it arise?
In Garrison Keillor’s fictional town of Lake Wobegon, “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.” (Gregory, 2011). The Lake Wobegon effect is a natural tendency to overestimate one’s capabilities and see oneself as better than others. Research psychologists refer to this tendency as self-enhancement bias and have found evidence for its existence in many domains. Most of us think we’re funnier, smarter, warmer, more honest, or more conscientious than we really are.
Cross-cultural studies have found a link between the tendency to self-enhance and the degree of individualism …show more content…
People living in countries with relatively low income inequality—Belgium, Japan, and Germany, for example—were less likely to self-enhance. When the researchers statistically controlled for the effects of income inequality, they found no relationship at all between individualism and self-enhancement.
So, in countries where there’s a large disparity between the haves and the have-nots, people are more likely to fall prey to the Lake Wobegon effect, to overestimate their abilities and achievements and believe they are better than most people.
The reasons for this surprising relationship are not yet clear. Professor Loughnan suspects it may have something to do with the competitiveness that can be triggered by economic inequality. If wealth is distributed very unevenly and you want one of the (relatively few) jobs that pays a high salary, it makes sense to eschew modesty and present yourself as superior to others. The meek may inherit the earth, but they won’t have fat wallets when it happens. …show more content…
Based on the initial PES results, clients identify 100 or so potential pleasant events and strive to increase the frequency of these events, monitoring daily mood along the way. Clients who increase the frequency of pleasant events usually show an improvement in mood and other depressive symptoms as evident in their scoring. The Pleasant Events Schedule is a highly useful tool for clinicians who wish to implement a self-monitoring approach to the assessment and treatment of depression. “MachPhillamy and Lewinsohn report favorably on the technical qualities of the PES and discuss a variety of rational, factorial, and empirical subscales.” (Gregory, 2011).
REFERENCES:
Gregory, J. R., Psychological Testing. History, Principles and Applications. 6th Edition. Pearson Education Inc. Allyn & Bacon. Boston,