FAULTY SELF ASSESSMENT

Faulty self assessment

Faulty self assessment

Introduction

Self-knowledge is of considerable advantage to an individual. It allows a person to know and understand his own personality and his behaviours and traits (Benjamins, 1989). It is important that people create an accurate reflection of themselves as it offers many benefits to them (Bhalla & Proffitt, 2000). Knowing and understanding one's own strengths and weaknesses, allows an individual to make better choices and decisions and utilize their time in better ways for a constructive and productive life(Constantine et.al, 2003).

Similarly, being aware of their weaknesses, people can take measures and adopt practices that may reduce the potential risks and threats associated with their weaknesses. Simultaneously, they can make an effort to get rid of their weaknesses and flaws.

Although the subject of self-knowledge has been an area of focus for a very long time, recent studies and researches indicate that the failure of people at achieving accurate and true self-insight (Benjamin, 1989). Results show that individuals often do not assess themselves fairly and often come up with flawed findings about their abilities and personalities.

This paper aims at discussing the concept of faulty self-assessment and the various factors that contribute to it. The paper takes into account the works of various experts and the arguments that have been used to formulate this paper.

Discussion

Individuals often perceive themselves in ways that are very different from reality. One of the most common examples of this misperception is how people assess their proficiencies and competencies that may not reflect their actual performances at all (Creem & Proffitt, 1999). This indicates a very weak relationship between an individual's perceptions and insight of his own self and his actual reality.

Overconfidence is another factor that individuals tend to reflect on their self evaluation of their knowledge and proficiencies (Carter, 2007). This often leads to judgments that are too optimistic and far from actuality. Similarly, people are often too positive about favourable occurrences and changes in their lives, whilst downplaying the chances of adverse circumstances and situations. All this, consequently, suggests that people have very little ability to assess and evaluate themselves accurately for knowledge and insight.

However, this does not imply that there is no concept of self-knowledge or that individuals can never judge themselves effectively. On the contrary, it is the fact that despite the significance of gaining a true insight about one's own self and the amount of time and number of opportunities one has to carry it out successfully, self-assessment often returns with erroneous findings, which makes it even more astonishing and surprising(Hillsdale & Erlbaum, 2002).

From the research work done in this subject, it is safe to conclude that self-assessment is a complex process with a number of factors that hinder its progress, and hence, it is not surprising that individuals only succeed in judging themselves in meagrely accurate ways.

The information environment plays a significant role in influencing the outcomes of the self-evaluation of an individual and is often the cause of inaccuracies that occur as a result (Wilson & Dunn, ...