Perceptions Of Performance In Groups

Starting at a young age I adopted the policy to believe the opposite of what people say about themselves. If someone mentions he's hardworking, I'd start of assuming he wasn't. Obviously, one should keep an open mind and make adjustments in one's perception as one goes along, but my assumption would be opposite. I haven't really changed my mind about this policy. Here is some justification for keeping it:

Personality measures taken at the start of the course showed that more neurotic individuals received lower status ratings at the first measurement stage, but made gains at the second stage. Extraverts, meanwhile, received marginally higher initial ratings but these decreased by time two. The effects were small, possibly because researchers controlled for a wide range of measures including other personality factors, gender, cognitive ability and individual assignment grades, which may soak up what might otherwise be observed. Further analysis confirmed effects were not due to regression to the mean, as variability in ratings was similar across the two time points. Instead, it appeared that the status changes were due to neurotics being seen to contribute more than had been expected, and extroverts less than expected.