Lake Wobegon’s guns: Overestimating our gun-related competences
Author(s) / Creator(s)
Stark, Emily
Sachau, Daniel
Abstract / Description
The Lake Wobegon Effect is a general tendency for people to overestimate their own abilities. In this study, the authors conducted a large, nationally-representative survey of U.S. citizens to test whether Americans overestimate their own gun-relevant personality traits, gun safety knowledge, and ability to use a gun in an emergency. The authors also tested how gun control attitudes, political identification, gender, and gun experience affect self-perceptions. Consistent with prior research on the Lake Wobegon Effect, participants overestimated their gun-related competencies. Conservatives, males, and pro-gun advocates self-enhanced somewhat more than their counterparts but this effect was primarily due to increased gun experience among these participants. These findings are important to policymakers in the area of gun use, because overconfidence in one’s gun-related abilities may lead to a reduced perceived need for gun training.
Keyword(s)
self-enhancement bias overconfidence political ideology illusory superiority gun attitudesPersistent Identifier
Date of first publication
2016-02-16
Journal title
Journal of Social and Political Psychology
Volume
4
Issue
1
Page numbers
8–23
Publisher
PsychOpen GOLD
Publication status
publishedVersion
Review status
peerReviewed
Is version of
Citation
Stark, E., & Sachau, D. (2016). Lake Wobegon’s guns: Overestimating our gun-related competences. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 4(1), 8–23. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v4i1.464
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jspp.v4i1.464.pdfAdobe PDF - 470.54KBMD5: 61494d0759105b3b0ab038dabf552ce1
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There are no other versions of this object.
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Stark, Emily
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Author(s) / Creator(s)Sachau, Daniel
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PsychArchives acquisition timestamp2018-11-26T12:44:39Z
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Made available on2018-11-26T12:44:39Z
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Date of first publication2016-02-16
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Abstract / DescriptionThe Lake Wobegon Effect is a general tendency for people to overestimate their own abilities. In this study, the authors conducted a large, nationally-representative survey of U.S. citizens to test whether Americans overestimate their own gun-relevant personality traits, gun safety knowledge, and ability to use a gun in an emergency. The authors also tested how gun control attitudes, political identification, gender, and gun experience affect self-perceptions. Consistent with prior research on the Lake Wobegon Effect, participants overestimated their gun-related competencies. Conservatives, males, and pro-gun advocates self-enhanced somewhat more than their counterparts but this effect was primarily due to increased gun experience among these participants. These findings are important to policymakers in the area of gun use, because overconfidence in one’s gun-related abilities may lead to a reduced perceived need for gun training.en_US
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Publication statuspublishedVersion
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Review statuspeerReviewed
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CitationStark, E., & Sachau, D. (2016). Lake Wobegon’s guns: Overestimating our gun-related competences. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 4(1), 8–23. https://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v4i1.464en_US
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ISSN2195-3325
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Persistent Identifierhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12034/1395
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Persistent Identifierhttps://doi.org/10.23668/psycharchives.1690
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Language of contenteng
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PublisherPsychOpen GOLD
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Is version ofhttps://doi.org/10.5964/jspp.v4i1.464
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Keyword(s)self-enhancement biasen_US
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Keyword(s)overconfidenceen_US
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Keyword(s)political ideologyen_US
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Keyword(s)illusory superiorityen_US
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Keyword(s)gun attitudesen_US
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Dewey Decimal Classification number(s)150
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TitleLake Wobegon’s guns: Overestimating our gun-related competencesen_US
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DRO typearticle
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Issue1
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Journal titleJournal of Social and Political Psychology
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Page numbers8–23
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Volume4
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Visible tag(s)Version of Record