“I’ve grown so much”: Temporal self-appraisals across the college experience

ABSTRACT

How accurate are retrospective self-views? Though elevated views of the self are ubiquitous, there may be a notable exception: the past self. A diminished past self implies growth and development of the present self. One class of college students was followed across four years. Students rated their personal growth, purpose in life, self-esteem, and life satisfaction at the beginning of their college career and halfway through their college career. Just prior to graduation, they retrospectively rated themselves at those two time points. Compared to their actual assessments, retrospective assessments recalled less personal growth, less life purpose, lower self-esteem (but higher life satisfaction). Thus, the past self was reduced and college careers were falsely recalled as involving greater growth and development.

KEYWORDS:

• eudaimonic
• growth
• purpose
• self-enhancement
• self-esteem
• temporal self-appraisal

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The data described in this article are openly available in the Open Science Framework at https://osf.io/7p2ue/

Open Scholarship

This article has earned the Center for Open science badges for Open Data and Open Materials through Open Practices Disclosure. The data and materials are openly accessible at https://osf.io/7p2ue/

Notes

1. The principal results of change over four years are discussed in a separate manuscript.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jeffrey D. Green

Jeffrey D. Green is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. His research interests include the self, close relationships, and emotions.

Jaclyn M. Moloney

Jackie Moloney is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at the College of William and Mary. Her research interests include moral emotions, the self, and close relationships.

Daryl R. Van Tongeren

Daryl R. Van Tongeren is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Hope College. His research interests include meaning in life, religion, and virtues, including humility and forgiveness.

Keith Campbell

W. Keith Campbell is a Professor of Psychology at the University of Georgia. His research interests revolve around self and personality processes.

Matthew M. Miera

Matthew Miera has a BA in Psychology and Philosophy from Virginia Commonwealth University. He currently works in patient outcomes research for a clinical research organization in Gaithersburg, MD.