Study finds self-praise may lead to depression

You may want to think twice the next time you complain about getting a B on a test.

According to Young-Hoon Kim, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Psychology Department, most people — including college students, professors and 94 percent of high-school seniors — believe they are better than the average person, a mindset that is not only statistically incorrect but also distorts self-perception and can ultimately result in depression.

Kim performed a study recently published by the American Psychological Association comparing the self-assessments of 295 U.S. college students and 2,780 Hong Kong high-school students. He found that students with unrealistic self-perceptions performed worse in school, had lower motivation and experienced more depression than those who accurately assessed their academic performance, even if they were low-performing.

Kim found that his results were consistent with differences between American and Asian cultures. “In America, we try to give positive performance feedback even if children are not qualified, [hoping they] might be motivated to work harder,” he said. “In Asia, you get negative performance feedback even if you did well.”

The results led Kim to believe that honesty is the best policy when it comes to academic feedback. “Getting a higher score doesn’t lead to more motivation,” Kim said.

It wouldn’t be enough for just one professor to start grading more stringently, since a C would mean different things from different professors, Kim said. He added that this cannot be changed “on [just] an individual level.”

While the results of the study may have important implications for the way professors grade students and how we compare ourselves to our peers, the field of positive psychology contests Kim’s findings. According to James Pawelski, Director of Education at the Positive Psychology Center, learned optimism is an idea within the field of positive psychology. This suggests that students who believe they are below average would likely not do as well academically than if they were more positive. “There are interesting empirical differences between Western and Eastern cultures — it’s not a one size fits all,” Pawelski added.

“I think positive psychology would say that students who believe it’s possible for them to succeed by working hard have good self-efficacy and can achieve something,” Pawelski said. “In general, with that approach — whether they believe they are starting out below average or not — I think they are more likely to come out ahead in the long run.”

Kim is doing additional studies in different high schools and middle schools to corroborate his findings before looking for ways to implement the changes he suggests. “We have to change [education policy] from the top down, from children to college kids,” he said.

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