Who are you People yearn for positive perception about themselves

Sept. Who are you? People yearn for positive perception about themselves - ANN ARBOR, Mich.—People care about how others view them and will go to great lengths to repair negative perceptions, a new University of Michigan study found. For social acceptance, honesty and kindness—which researchers describe as communion traits—are more important for relationships than intelligence and ambition, both considered agency traits, says Oscar Ybarra, professor of psychology. Agency traits help people attain skills, talent and status. "Social life pressures people to view themselves as possessing high levels of communion traits and to ensure that others have this perception as well," he said. Researchers reviewed responses from 270 college students in the United States and Korea for two studies: one tested self-judgment and the other assessed people's displeasure and motivation to repair their reputations after accusations of not being honest or not being intelligent. In the self-judgment study, respondents rated their traits for age 16, their current age and what could happen at age 30 for various tasks.