Moral vs Agentic Self-Superiority and Self-Esteem: The Role of Trait Properties

People generally believe that they are better than others. This perceived self-superiority is stronger for moral (vs agentic) traits, whereas self-esteem mainly correlates with individual differences in agentic self-superiority beliefs. We replicated these seemingly contradictory findings within a single design in two studies that also examined the role of various properties of moral and agentic traits (controllability, verifiability, frequency of feedback, ambiguity, breadth, being typically human, taken-for-grantedness). The morality-agency difference in perceived self-superiority was partially mediated by the differential controllability, being typically human, and taken-for-grantedness of moral and agentic traits, but the lower verifiability of moral traits suppressed, rather than accounted for, the greater strength of moral self-superiority (Study 2). The stronger correlation between agentic self-superiority beliefs and self-esteem was moderated by differences between the traits’ controllability, verifiability, and being typically human (Study 2). Participants with low self-esteem showed self-superiority beliefs on morality traits only, whereas those with higher self-esteem also showed self-superiority beliefs on agentic traits (Studies 1–2). We discuss implications for a better understanding of the nature, causes, and correlates of perceived self-superiority.