PAPERS ON PSYCHOLOGY AND EDUCATION 453 



analysis is one of the less important uses, it may be felt 

 that the introspective nature of the self -estimate should 

 not be pressed as a definite disadvantage. One import- 

 ant reason for so classifying it, however, is given in the 

 paragraph which follows. 



Self-bias of the student is a characteristic which pre- 

 vents the utmost frankness and which undoubtedly, gives 

 colored results. *Two rather careful and important 

 studies of college juniors in this connection are indica- 

 tive. The findings of these separate studies agree in 

 all essential details. They may be summed up as fol- 

 lows : 



1. Error in the judgment of the self is much greater 

 than in the judgment of others. The tendency is for the 

 junior to think he is as he should be. There is a tend- 

 ency for him to think his fellow- junior is not what he 

 should be. He places himself above the ''typical" jun- 

 ior. 



2. In the case of undesirable traits there is a con- 

 stant tendency for the junior to underestimate himself; 

 in the case of desirable traits (beauty excepted) there 

 is the constant tendency for him to overestimate himself. 



3. One who possesses a trait in high degree is a bet- 

 ter judge of that trait than one who possesses such 

 trait in low degree. 



It has been the writer '-s observation that certain in- 

 dividual students who possess certain qualities in ex- 

 cellent degree are willing to place themselves somewhat 

 below the point on the scale where they should be, to 

 avoid being thought of as egotistical. There is always 

 the danger of interpreting individual cases on the basis 

 of group data, rather than to deal with each case sep- 

 arately. The general tendency toward overestimation, 

 however, should not be ignored. We usually think of 

 exaggerated egotism as typical of the adolescent youth, 

 and, to a certain degree, wholesome. If such egotism 

 persists to the end of the college course, as it seems to 

 do, we should begin to inquire as to how far the college 



• Knisrht and Frazen, "Pitfalls in Rating Schemes". Journal Educa- 

 tional Psychology, April, 1922. 



L. C. Cogan and Others, "Experimental Study of Self-Analysis". School 

 apd Society, July 31, 1915. 



