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Implicit Egotism

Article  in  Current Directions in Psychological Science · April 2005

DOI: 10.1111/j.0963-7214.2005.00344.x

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 CURRENT DIRE CTIONS IN PSYCHO LOGICAL SCIENCE

Implicit Egotism
Brett W. Pelham,1 Mauricio Carvallo,1 and John T. Jones2
1
University at Buffalo, State University of New York, and 2U.S. Military Academy, West Point

ABSTRACT—People gravitate toward people, places, and product of classical conditioning or implicit learning, that is,
things that resemble the self. We refer to this tendency as associative learning that occurs in the absence of conscious
implicit egotism, and we suggest that it reflects an un- awareness. Thus, just as puppies do not know why they salivate,
conscious process that is grounded in people’s favorable people may not always know why they trust a stranger who
self-associations. We review recent archival and experi- sounds vaguely like Garrison Keillor.
mental research that supports this position, highlighting It is now well documented that people possess implicit self-
evidence that rules out alternate explanations and dis- evaluations—that is, unconscious associations about the self.
tinguishes implicit egotism from closely related ideas such It is also well-documented that most implicit self-associations
as mere exposure. Taken together, the evidence suggests are highly favorable. Two decades ago, Nuttin (1985) showed
that implicit egotism is an implicit judgmental con- that people like the letters that appear in their own names much
sequence of people’s positive self-associations. We conclude more than other people like these same letters—a phenomenon
by identifying promising areas for future research. Nuttin called the name-letter effect. Nuttin also showed that
people who preferred the letters in their own names were typi-
KEYWORDS—implicit; egotism; self-esteem
cally unaware of the basis of this preference. Similarly, Beggan
(1992) showed that once people are given an object people
evaluate the object more favorably than they would otherwise—
Researchers have long known that how people view themselves a phenomenon called the mere-ownership effect. Give Ivan a
plays an important role in virtually every aspect of their daily puppy, and he will overestimate the puppy’s worth, presumably
lives, including phenomena as diverse as personal achieve- because the puppy has become an extension of the self.
ment, interpersonal attraction, and even physical well-being. In It is now well established that people possess positive implicit
recent years, however, researchers have argued that people’s associations about themselves. Until very recently, however, it
conscious self-evaluations provide an incomplete view of the was unclear whether people’s implicit self-associations ever
self-concept. Specifically, researchers have argued that people’s predict meaningful social behaviors (but see Dijksterhuis, 2004;
implicit (i.e., unconscious) self-evaluations also influence their Shimizu & Pelham, 2004; Spalding & Hardin, 1999). To address
judgment and behavior (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995; Hetts & this question, we investigated the role of implicit self-associations
Pelham, 2001). Implicit self-evaluations are not beliefs that a in major life decisions. Our primary hypothesis was simple. If
Freudian homunculus has banished to the unconscious. In- Dennis adores the letter D, then it might not be too far-fetched to
stead, such beliefs are probably best conceptualized as part of expect Dennis to gravitate toward cities such as Denver, careers
the cognitive or adaptive unconscious (Kihlstrom, 1987). Pre- such as dentistry, and romantic partners such as Denise. Pelham,
sumably, some implicit self-evaluations consist of beliefs that Mirenberg, and Jones (2002) referred to this unconscious ten-
were once conscious but have become highly automatized. dency to prefer things that resemble the self as implicit egotism.
Other implicit self-evaluations might be unconscious because In a series of articles (Jones, Pelham, Carvallo, & Mirenberg,
they were formed prior to the individual’s acquisition of lan- 2004; Pelham, Mirenberg, & Jones, 2002; Pelham, Carvallo,
guage. Although few researchers have acknowledged the pos- DeHart, & Jones, 2003), we reported the results of numerous
sibility, it may also be that implicit self-evaluations are a archival studies (i.e., studies relying on public records such as
product of defensive processes to which people have little or no birth, marriage, or death records) and experiments suggesting
conscious access. Finally, implicit self-evaluations may be a that implicit egotism influences major life decisions. As sug-
gested by the list in Table 1, which summarizes many of our re-
cent studies, implicit egotism appears to influence a wide variety
of important decisions. In the remainder of this report, we address
Address correspondence to Brett Pelham, Department of Psychology, some of the strengths and limitations of our research on implicit
SUNY, Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260; e-mail: brettpel@buffalo.edu. egotism and then offer some suggestions for future research.

106 Copyright r 2005 American Psychological Society Volume 14—Number 2

 Brett W. Pelham, Mauricio Carvallo, and John T. Jones

TABLE 1
A Selective Summary of the Most Comprehensive Studies Providing Support for Implicit Egotism

Pelham, B.W., Mirenberg, M.C., & Jones, J.K. (2002):

1. Four most common female first names that resemble Southeastern state names
2. Four most common male first names that resemble Southeastern state names
3. Eight largest U.S. states and surnames resembling these state names
4. Eight largest Canadian cities and surnames resembling these city names
5. Four most common male and female names that resemble the occupations ‘‘dentist’’ and ‘‘lawyer’’
6. All U.S. cities that prominently feature number words in the names (matched with numbers corresponding to
people’s day and month of birth)
Pelham, B.W., Carvallo, M., DeHart, T., & Jones, J.T. (2003):
1. The 30 most common European American surnames and all U.S. cities that include the surname anywhere in
the city name (e.g., Johnson City, Johnsonville, Fort Johnson, etc.)
2. The three most common U.S. surname pairs (e.g., Smith–Johnson) and street names that include these
surnames (each pair was replicated individually in each U.S. state)
3. Three sets of surnames chosen to avoid spurious name–street matches (e.g., Hill–Park) and street names that
included these names or words (each pair also replicated individually in each U.S. state)
Jones, J.T., Pelham, B.W., Carvallo, M., & Mirenberg, M.C. (2004):
1. Matches for first letter of surname in two large counties, covering approximately 150 years
2. Single initial surname matches for parents of every birth occurring in Texas in 1926
3. Systematic surname match studies of four large Southeastern states over about 150 years
4. Nationwide joint telephone listing study of 12 systematically chosen male and female first names
5. Laboratory experiments involving (a) birthday numbers, and (b) first three letters of surname
6. Subliminal conditioning study using participants’ full names as conditioning stimuli

STUDYING IMPLICIT EGOTISM social security cards in one state and died while residing in
another—that is, people who had moved into the states in which
In our initial article (Pelham et al., 2002), we argued that im- they died. An analysis of these interstate immigrants yielded
plicit egotism influences both where people choose to live and clear and consistent evidence for implicit egotism.
what people choose to do for a living. For instance, in Study 1 of Another concern about this study is that the results might
this article, we identified four common female first names that reflect explicit rather than implicit egotism. It would be ex-
strongly resembled the name of a Southeastern state. The names tremely surprising if Virginia failed to notice the resemblance
were Florence, Georgia, Louise, and Virginia, corresponding between her first name and the state name that appeared on her
with the states Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Virginia. We driver’s license. Archival research methods do not always lend
then consulted Social Security Death Index (SSDI) records themselves well to documenting implicit effects. Nonetheless,
(kept since the advent of the Social Security system) to identify we have tried. In other studies summarized in the same article
women who had died while living in each of the four relevant (Pelham et al., 2002), we focused on names that, unlike Georgia
Southeastern states. This design yielded a 4  4 matrix of and Virginia, shared only their first few letters with the states or
name–state combinations, and a total sample size of more than cities to which people with those names gravitated. When Sa-
75,000 women. Women named Florence, Georgia, Louise, and muel Winters moves to Winnipeg, for example, it seems un-
Virginia were all disproportionately likely (on average, 44% likely that he will conclude that the first few letters of his
above chance values) to have resided in the state that closely surname are the reason for his move.
resembled their first name. Watering down a manipulation in this fashion tends to water
down the size of the effect obtained. But to our surprise, implicit
Ruling Out Confounds egotism proved to be sufficiently robust that it survived
This study raised many concerns about possible confounds. One systematic tests involving relatively subtle manipulations. We
concern was the possibility that these women disproportionately were able to show, for example (Pelham et al., 2002; Study 6),
resided in states whose names resembled their own first names that people disproportionately inhabit cities whose names fea-
simply because they had been named after the states in which ture their birthday numbers. Just as people born on February 2
they had been born (and had never moved). Although SSDI (02-02) disproportionately inhabit cities with names such as
records do not indicate where the deceased were born, these Two Harbors, people born on May 5 (05-05) disproportionately
records do indicate the state in which they resided when they inhabit cities with names such as Five Points. This birthday-
applied for social security cards (typically as adults). Using number study also illustrated that implicit egotism is not limi-
these records, we were able to focus on people who got their ted to name-letter preferences. Presumably, any meaningful

Volume 14—Number 2 107

 Implicit Egotism

self-attribute can serve as a source of implicit egotism. Another able to sample entire states or counties. For example, using
finding that seems likely to reflect implicit preferences comes exhaustive statewide birth records, Jones et al. (2004) were able
from studies of street addresses. Whereas people whose sur- to show that people are disproportionately likely to marry others
name is Street tend to have addresses that include the word who happen to share their first or last initial. (Moreover, in
Street (e.g., Lincoln Street), people whose surname is Lane tend samples in which it has been possible to determine people’s
to have addresses that include the word Lane (e.g., Lincoln ethnicity, we have also been able to control for ethnic matching
Lane; Pelham et al., 2003). (the tendency for people to marry others of their own ethnic
group) by testing our hypothesis within specific ethnic groups
Moderators of Implicit Egotism (e.g., among Latinos only). Although archival studies of inter-
Can archival studies such as these shed any light on the psy- personal attraction raise their own methodological problems, we
chological mechanisms behind implicit egotism? We believe so. have gone to great lengths to rule out alternative explanations,
To the degree that archival studies yield support for meaningful including not only ethnic matching but also age-group matching
moderators of implicit egotism, such studies can suggest, albeit and proximity. For instance, we ruled out the possibility that
indirectly, that implicit egotism is based on self-evaluation. For people married those who were seated near them in high school
example, laboratory research has shown that women show (based on surname) by showing that our findings remained robust
stronger first-name preferences than men do (perhaps because among couples whose ages differed by 5 years or more. Our
many women realize that their first name is the only name they studies have consistently yielded evidence for implicit egotism.
will keep forever). In keeping with this established finding
in the laboratory research, behavioral first-name preferences Assessing Implicit Egotism in the Laboratory
have also proven to be stronger for women than for men (Pelham Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99%
et al., 2002). perspiration. With a little inspiration and a great deal of per-
The distinctiveness of a person’s name also appears to mod- spiration, researchers who rely on archival research methods
erate the strength of implicit egotism. Implicit egotism is more can go a long way toward ruling out alternate explanations for a
pronounced for rare (i.e., more self-defining) than for common particular effect. But as Edison’s contemporary, the methodol-
names. The fact that rare names do a better job of distinguishing ogist R.A. Fisher, might have put it, neither inspiration nor
their owners from other people than common names do suggests perspiration is a match for randomization. The researcher who
that implicit egotism is grounded in identity. By definition, wishes to rule out numerous alternate explanations for a phe-
people with rare names are also exposed to their own names nomenon, while gaining insights into its underlying mechan-
slightly less often than are people with common names (e.g., isms, must occasionally conduct experiments. In our research
Zeke meets other people named Zeke less often than John meets on implicit egotism and interpersonal attraction (Jones et al.,
other people named John). The fact that implicit egotism is 2004), we have done exactly that.
stronger among those with statistically rare names also suggests In one experiment, we introduced participants to a bogus
that implicit egotism is not grounded exclusively in the mere interaction partner whose arbitrarily assigned experimental
exposure effect, that is, the tendency for people to prefer stimuli code number (e.g., 02-28) either did or did not happen to re-
to which they have been exposed more often (see also Jones semble their own birthday number. Participants were more at-
et al., 2002, where this issue is addressed in other ways). tracted to the stranger when his or her code number resembled
their own birthday number. This study suggests that implicit
The Problem of Sampling egotism is not merely a corollary of the principle that people are
One of the limitations of archival research on implicit egotism is attracted to others who are similar to them. After all, partici-
that it is often impossible to sample people randomly in such pants did not think that their interaction partner actually shared
studies. The researcher is usually forced to sample names their birthday. In a second experiment, we found that implicit
systematically. In some studies, we tackled this problem by egotism is most likely to emerge under conditions of self-con-
sampling surnames and city or street names from all 50 U.S. cept threat (i.e., when people have been forced to think about
states (Pelham et al., 2003). For example, by systematically their personal weaknesses). Men who had just experienced a
sampling the same common surname pairs (e.g., Smith– mild self-concept threat (by writing about their personal flaws as
Johnson, Williams–Jones) in all 50 U.S. states, we were able to a potential dating partner) were especially attracted to a woman
document robust name–street matching in six different na- in a ‘‘Yahoo personals’’ ad when her screen name happened to
tionwide samples. Thus, we were able to show, for instance, that contain the first few letters of their surname (e.g., Eric Pelham
the surname pair Smith–Johnson yielded supportive data for 45 would prefer STACEY_PEL to STACEY_SMI). Together with
out of 50 individual U.S. states. past research suggesting that self-concept threats temporarily
Another way in which we have tackled the sampling problem increase people’s positive associations to the self, this study
is by sampling names exhaustively within large geographical suggests that implicit egotism is grounded in self-evaluation
units. In studies of interpersonal attraction, we were sometimes (Beggan, 1992; Jones et al., 2002).

108 Volume 14—Number 2

 Brett W. Pelham, Mauricio Carvallo, and John T. Jones

FROM IMPLICIT EGOTISM TO IMPLICIT SELF-

EVALUATION

We believe that we have established beyond a reasonable doubt

that implicit egotism influences important decisions. Thus, we
believe that future research should attempt to identify mean-
ingful boundary conditions (i.e., predictable limitations) of
implicit egotism. Along these lines, some questions that seem
ripe for investigation involve close relationships, culture, and
implicit self-esteem.
Do name-letter preferences apply exclusively to the self, or do
the names of people to whom one is close also affect one’s
preferences? Do such preferences grow stronger as relation-
ships grow closer? If Bill truly loves Virginia, will he be highly
interested in moving to Virginia, just as she might be? Given
recent developments in the psychology of culture, it might also
be profitable to assess cultural influences on implicit egotism.
One might expect that in collectivistic cultures (i.e., ones that
celebrate collective as opposed to individual identities), name-
letter preferences would be exaggerated for collective aspects of
the self (e.g., surnames might have a greater effect than fore-
names). We are currently planning studies to test this idea. We
have also begun to address the implications of implicit egotism
for more mundane decisions. Specifically, we (Brendl, Chatto-
padhyay, Pelham, & Carvallo, in press) recently found that
people prefer products (e.g., teas, crackers, chocolate candies)
Fig. 1. Stimulus person from subliminal conditioning study (Jones, J.T., whose names share one or more letters with their own names.
Pelham, B.W., Carvallo, M., & Mirenberg, M.C., 2004). Participants If unconscious self-evaluations influence both mundane and
evaluated this woman after the number on her jersey (16 or 24) had or had important daily decisions, it is important to understand the
not been subliminally paired with their own names.
origins and nature of these implicit self-evaluations—that is, to
understand implicit self-esteem. Do negative social interactions
early in life cause some people to develop low implicit self-
In a third experiment on interpersonal attraction (Jones et al., esteem? Apparently they do. In three separate studies, DeHart,
2004, Study 7), we found the most direct evidence yet for the Pelham, and Tennen (in press) asked parents, their adult chil-
underpinnings of implicit egotism. Male and female partici- dren, or both to report on parent–child interactions in the family
pants evaluated an attractive young woman on the basis of her when the children were growing up. Both the children’s and
photograph. The woman was depicted wearing a jersey that their parents’ reports of how nurturing the parents had been
prominently featured either the number 16 or the number 24 were associated with the adult children’s levels of implicit self-
(see Fig. 1). Prior to evaluating the woman, participants took esteem. This association still held true after controlling for
part in 30 trials of a computerized decision-making task in participants’ levels of explicit self-esteem. Studies such as
which they made simple judgments about strings of random these raise the question of whether we have observed consistent
letters. At the beginning of each judgment trial, a row of Xs evidence for implicit egotism merely because most people are
appeared briefly in the center of the computer monitor, to focus fortunate enough to possess positive implicit associations to the
participants’ attention. This task was actually a subliminal self. It is possible that our typical findings would be reversed
conditioning task: The row of Xs was always followed (for 14 ms) among people who possess truly negative self-associations (i.e.,
by either the number 16 or the number 24. One of these two for those with very low levels of implicit self-esteem). Such
numbers (16 or 24) was always followed by the individual findings might have implications not only for theories of self-
participant’s own full name (for 14 ms), and the other number regulation but also for clinical theories of the etiology of de-
was always followed by one of several gender-matched control pression and self-destructive behaviors. Of course, broad
names. Participants liked the woman more, and evaluated her speculations such as these await empirical scrutiny. However,
more favorably, when her jersey number had been subliminally we hope that our research on implicit egotism will inspire re-
paired with their own names. Implicit egotism appears to be searchers to take a closer look at the nature of implicit self-
implicit. esteem. A complete understanding of the self-concept may

Volume 14—Number 2 109

 Implicit Egotism

hinge, in part, on a better understanding why Jack loves both Dijksterhuis, A. (2004). I like myself but I don’t know why: Enhancing
Jackie and Jacksonville. implicit self-esteem by subliminal evaluative conditioning.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 345–355.
Greenwald, A.G., & Banaji, M.R. (1995). Implicit social cognition:
Attitudes, self-esteem, and stereotypes. Psychological Review,
Recommended Reading
102, 4–27.
Fazio, R.H., & Olson, M.A. (2003). Implicit measures in social cog-
nition research: Their meaning and uses. Annual Review of Psy- Hetts, J.J., & Pelham, B.W. (2001). A case for the non-conscious self-
chology, 54, 297–327. concept. In G. Moskowitz (Ed.), Cognitive social psychology: The
Princeton Symposium on the Legacy and Future of Social Cogni-
Koole, S.L., & Pelham, B.W. (2003). On the nature of implicit self-
tion (pp. 105–123). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
esteem: The case of the name letter effect. In S. Spencer, S. Fein,
& M. Zanna (Eds.), Motivated social perception: The Ontario Jones, J.T., Pelham, B.W., Carvallo, M., & Mirenberg, M.C. (2004).
Symposium on Personality and Social Psychology (Vol. 9, pp. 93– How do I love thee? Let me count the Js: Implicit egotism and
116). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. interpersonal attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psy-
chology, 87, 665–683.
Wilson, T.D., & Dunn, E.W. (2004). Self-knowledge: Its limits, value
and potential for improvement. Annual Review of Psychology, 55, Jones, J.T., Pelham, B.W., Mirenberg, M.C., & Hetts, J.J. (2002). Name
493–518. letter preferences are not merely mere exposure: Implicit egotism
as self-regulation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 38,
170–177.
Kihlstrom, J.F. (1987). The cognitive unconscious. Science, 237, 1445–
1452.
Acknowledgments—We thank the many friends and col-
Nuttin, J.M. (1985). Narcissism beyond Gestalt and awareness: The
leagues who have encouraged us to pursue this research. name letter effect. European Journal of Social Psychology, 15,
353–361.
Pelham, B.W., Carvallo, M., DeHart, T., & Jones, J.T. (2003). Assessing
the validity of implicit egotism: A reply to Gallucci. Journal of
REFERENCES Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 800–807.
Pelham, B.W., Mirenberg, M.C., & Jones, J.K. (2002). Why Susie sells
Beggan, J.K. (1992). On the social nature of nonsocial perception: The seashells by the seashore: Implicit egotism and major life deci-
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chology, 62, 229–237. Shimizu, M., & Pelham, B.W. (2004). The unconscious cost of good
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