Disentangling trait from state components in the assessment of egoistic and moralistic self-enhancement

A latent state-trait model has been used to assess the extent to which egoistic and moralistic self-enhancement represent: (a) stable individual differences and (b) systematic effects of the situation and/or the person-situation interaction. Analyses were conducted on a sample of 187 adults (64% females). Findings revealed that both self-enhancement tendencies mostly capture stable interindividual differences, although significant occasion-specific effects were observed. Egoistic self-enhancement presents a higher proportion of trait variance than moralistic self-enhancement. The egoistic dimension was mostly related with the stable (trait) components of conscientiousness and emotional stability. The moralistic dimension, on the contrary, was mostly related with the transient component of emotional stability. Potential explanations for the observed differences between egoistic and moralistic self-enhancement were discussed and interpreted in terms of their implications for personality assessment. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.