JDChi Excessive Self-Regard Tendency
This skill helps you understand the tendency to overvalue oneself, one's possessions, and one's decisions, which leads to poor judgment.
Core Concept
We all commonly observe the excessive self-regard of man. He mostly mis-appraises himself on the high side, like the 90% of Swedish drivers that judge themselves to be above average. This overvaluation applies to people, possessions, and decisions.
Key Examples
- Endowment effect: Once owned, possessions suddenly become worth more than you'd pay to acquire them
- Lottery behavior: Players love picking their own numbers even though random selection has the same odds
- Hiring bias: Employers over-appraise candidates who resemble themselves
- Tolstoy's observation: Worst criminals don't appraise themselves as all that bad
Consequences
- Poor hiring and partnership decisions
- Overconfidence leading to disasters
- Resistance to feedback and criticism
- Underestimating competitors
Antidotes
- Force objectivity: Write down your self-assessments and compare to evidence
- Use objective criteria: Base decisions on measurable factors, not impressions
- Seek contrary views: Actively ask for honest feedback
- Check records: Compare predictions to actual outcomes
Application
When using this skill, help the user:
- Recognize when self-regard is distorting their judgment
- Make more objective assessments of themselves and others
- Design hiring and evaluation processes that reduce bias
- Understand why others may have inflated self-assessments