In the chapter we saw a study by Trzesniewski et al. (2008) on trends in narcissism scores over time. They also reported data on self-enhancement, which is the tendency to hold unrealistically positive views of oneself. The measure of self-enhancement (SelfEn) was obtained by asking students to respond on a 1-10 scale rating their intelligence relative to others. The researchers then calculated the difference between the rating predicted from SAT scores and the rating the student gave. The data are presented below. Positive scores represent self-enhancement.
|
Year
|
1976
|
1977
|
1978
|
1979
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1980
|
1981
|
1982
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1983
|
1984
|
1985
|
1986
|
1987
|
1988
|
1989
|
1990
|
|
SelfEn
|
2.06
|
2.03
|
.00
|
2.01
|
.07
|
.06
|
.04
|
.03
|
.03
|
.03
|
.03
|
.07
|
.06
|
.03
|
.03
|
|
Year
|
1991
|
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
2001
|
2002
|
2003
|
2004
|
2005 2006
|
|
SelfEn
|
.04
|
.01
|
2.01
|
2.02
|
.02
|
.05
|
.00
|
.01
|
2.01
|
2.02
|
2.06
|
2.08
|
2.10
|
2.11
|
2.08 2.08
|
(a) From these data can we say something about what changes have taken place in selfenhancement scores of college students over the years?
(b) With several hundred thousand students in the combined sample, the authors of the original study actually based their analyses on individual scores rather than yearly means to make the same computation. They found a correlation of 2.03, which differs considerably from your result. Why is this not surprising?
(c) Which is the correct correlation for this question (yours or the authors'), or are they both correct?