A century ago, educational philosopher John Dewey said that the

deepest urge in human nature is the

desire to be important.14 Dewey recognized that people are
inherently motivated to perceive themselves
(and to be perceived by others) as competent, attractive, lucky,
ethical, and important.15 This selfenhancement
is observed in many ways. Individuals tend to rate themselves above
average, believe that
they have a better than average probability of success, and attribute
their successes to personal
motivation or ability while blaming the situation for their mistakes.
People don't see themselves as above
average in all circumstances. Instead, it is most apparent for things
that are important to them and are
relatively common or everyday rather than rare.16
Selfenhancement
has both positive and negative consequences in organizational
settings.17 On the
positive side, individuals tend to experience better mental and physical
health and adjustment when they
amplify their selfconcept.
Overconfidence also generates a cando
attitude (which we discuss later)
that motivates persistence in difficult or risky tasks. On the negative
side, selfenhancement
causes
people to overestimate future returns in investment decisions, use less
conservative accounting practices,