Implicit Egotism

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Implicit egotism is a tendency for people to be attracted to places, things, and other people that are like them. This tendency is caused by unconscious associations between the self and an object, person, or place (Pelham, Carvallo, & Jones, 2005). Previous studies done by Kocan et.al (2009) and Pelham et.al (2003) validate the concept of implicit egotism and rule out any alternate explanation for its effects. A study done by Jones et al. (2002) distinguishes implicit egotism from other similar concepts such as the mere exposure effect.

The previous research suggests that the self-associations caused by implicit egotism are generally positive but it is possible that negative associations exist as well. This is a gap in the previous research. If it is true that negative associations can be caused by implicit egotism, then it is possible that implicit egotism may also cause people to respond unfavorably in some situations. For example, a person who has low self-esteem or a negative self-concept may respond unfavorably to someone who shares their name initials. This paper will investigate that possibility.

Another gap in the previous research lies in the fact that no research has been done to examine how implicit egotism interacts with personality traits. This study proposes that the effects of implicit egotism may change depending on the personality traits of the person being observed.

Implicit egotism is a generally understudied phenomenon but it may play an important role in peoples’ appraisals and affect major life decisions (Pelham et al., 2002).

Previous research on how implicit egotism may affect resume evaluations is severely lacking but this is a very practical area where current research can be conducted.

The purpose...

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...ould do to ensure that it never affects them. The burden of correcting any unfairness caused by these phenomena is entirely on employers. There are several ways in which future studies could build upon our current research. Since we had an unexpected main effect for neuroticism, this effect needs further investigation. Additionally, there may be effects for other traits of the Big 5 personality model. Future studies could investigate how these other traits affect resume evaluations and how they interact with implicit egotism.

Our study used initial matching to measure implicit egotism because it was a simple method. However, there may be other ways to measure implicit egotism that may reveal more about this phenomenon. Future studies could use any alternate methods of measuring implicit egotism to branch out and increase the reliability of these studies.

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