Self-Enhancement Bias and the Physical Activity of Older Adults

By Richard Shank

Researchers in Canada recently reported that a positive self outlook plays multiple roles in the health and wellness of older adults. Specifically, they examined the ways older adults utilized a self-enhancement bias in their assessments of their ability to perform physical activities.

Self-enhancement bias is a phenomenon where most people, when asked to compare themselves with the average person, rate themselves as better-than-average. Psychologists believe this bias suggests that most people view themselves in unrealistically positive ways. However, these researchers were interested in whether these so called unrealistic self-assessments played a positive or adaptive role in the aging process.

In this study, a total of 232 older adults in the Province of Manitoba (Canada) were interviewed as participants in the Successful Aging Study (SAS). The SAS study participants were recruited from a larger long-term study called Aging in Manitoba (AIM). SAS study participants were asked questions related to their life satisfaction, their perceived control over life events, and their ability to perform physical activities compared to the average adult their age. In addition, each participant wore an activity recording device for 24 hours. This device was designed to measure how much energy the person expended during the typical day.

Their research suggests that self-enhancement can be an asset in promoting psychological and physical health. People who rate themselves as above average are more likely to display high levels of life-satisfaction, optimism, and more positive beliefs about their ability to control important outcomes in their life.

This research suggests that programs which promote the positive self-evaluations of older adults will have further positive influences on the older adult’s ability to adapt to the ongoing changes that they will face as they get older. In addition, this research implies that these adaptations can be made in a way that does not negatively influence their satisfaction with life.

Source: Bailis, D., Chipperfield, J., Raymond, P. et al. 2008. Exploring the commonalities between adaptive resources and self-enhancement in older adults’ comparative judgments of physical activity. Journal of Aging and Health 20: 899-919.

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