Prisoners See Themselves as Morally Superior to Non-Prisoners

It looks that even individuals who have been incarcerated fall prey to the notion that they are greater than other folks. New analysis from the University of Southampton has located that those in prison think themselves to be kinder, much more moral, more self-controlled, and much more generous than non-prisoners.

According to the study published in the British Journal of Social Psychology, prisoners also didn’t uncover themselves to be less law abiding as people outside the prison walls. In fact, they regarded as themselves equally law abiding.

According to Professor of Social and Personality Psychology and Director of the Centre for Analysis on Self and Identity at the University of Southampton Constantine Sedikides, this is 1 of the most compelling findings in assistance of self-enhancement to date.

Sedikides found it particularly exciting that the prisoners did not self-enhance by obtaining themselves to be superior in power or toughness, but as an alternative on professional-social traits. In effect, they ignored the reality that they have been in prison in order to increase their vision of themselves.

The research necessary 79 prisoners from south England to fill out a survey rating themselves in comparison to both other prisoners and regular members of the local community. The survey covered nine social traits: morality, kindness, trustworthiness, honesty, dependability, compassion, generousness, self-control, and adherence to the law.

Interestingly, the prisoners rated themselves to be superior to most neighborhood members on all traits, with the exception of adherence to the law. On that query, they rated themselves as becoming equal with the regular neighborhood member.

In accordance to Sedikides, these final results show just how sturdy the motivation toward self-enhancement is. It is psychologically critical for folks to think about themselves to be justified, no matter what the reality of their recent scenario is.

Of course, prisoners aren’t the only people who tend to enhance their self picture. Most of us do just that and put up formidable defenses towards any person who doubts us.

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Prisoners See Themselves as Morally Superior to Non-Prisoners