Better to brag: Underestimating the risks of avoiding positive self-disclosures in close relationships.

OBJECTIVE: Capitalization, or disclosing positive news in close relationships, is interpersonally and intrapersonally beneficial and expected by relational partners. Why do some individuals avoid capitalizing? How do close relational partners react when they later discover that positive news was not directly disclosed to them? METHOD: We conducted nine correlational and experimental studies using vignettes and recalled events (N = 2,177). RESULTS: We find that individuals who are concerned about being seen as braggarts tend to avoid capitalizing with their close relationships even when it is likely their partner would ultimately learn of the news. Yet this concern may be relatively unwarranted and these individuals show a forecasting error: They overestimate how negatively their partner would react to disclosure and predict that their partner would react more positively if they discovered the news through external means. However,they neglect to predict that partners who later learn of the news and realize they were not disclosed toward in fact feel devalued. We discuss how this concern with bragging is linked to decreased extraversion, perspective taking, and empathy. CONCLUSIONS: Uniquely in close relationships, being concerned about bragging may elicit negative relational outcomes, by hindering the positive self-disclosures that one's partners expect.

When God is your only friend: Religious beliefs compensate for purpose in life in the socially disconnected.

OBJECTIVE: Social relationships supply purpose to life. How can socially disconnected people, who show lower levels of purpose, compensate for purpose in life? We propose that religious beliefs can compensate for the purpose in life that social relationships would otherwise provide, through providing (a) greater purpose to turn to and (b) divine figures that can substitute for social relationships. METHOD: In three studies, we analyze three nationally representative and longitudinal data sets (N = 19,775) using moderated regression and cross-lagged panel analyses. RESULTS: Consistent with our hypotheses, religious beliefs were of minimal influence on purpose in life for socially connected individuals, who already held higher levels of purpose than socially disconnected individuals. However, for socially disconnected individuals, being highly religious predicted higher levels of purpose in life. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that although people primarily derive purpose from social relationships, socially disconnected individuals may leverage their religious beliefs for purpose and social comfort until they can reconnect.

Positive Illusions? The Accuracy of Academic Self-Appraisals in Adolescents With ADHD.

OBJECTIVE: Children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) overestimate their academic competencies (AC) relative to performance and informant indicators (i.e., positive illusory bias; PIB). Do adolescents with ADHD exhibit this PIB and does it render self-views inaccurate? We examined the magnitude of the AC-PIB in adolescents with and without ADHD, the predictive accuracy of parent and adolescent AC ratings, and whether executive functions (EF) predict the AC-PIB. METHOD: Adolescents (49 ADHD; 47 typically developing) completed math and EF tests, and self-rated their AC. Parents rated their adolescents' AC and EF. RESULTS: Adolescents with ADHD performed more poorly on the math task (vs. comparison group) but had a larger AC-PIB relative to parents' ratings. EFs predicted the PIB within the full sample. Adolescents' AC ratings, regardless of ADHD status, were more predictive of math performance than their parents' AC ratings. CONCLUSION: Adolescents with ADHD appear self-aware in their AC despite a modest PIB; nuanced self-appraisals may depend on EFs.