State of the nation's egotism: On the rise for a century

www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-05/uom-sot050614.php

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 6-May-2014

Contact: Diane Swanbrow
University of Michigan
State of the nation's egotism: On the rise for a century

ANN ARBOR—Forget the "me" generation. A new analysis of long-term trends in egotism shows there's been a "me" century in America.

The analysis, conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, shows that characteristics related to self-interest, compared to interest in the lives and needs of other people, was low during the 19th century but rose steadily after the turn of the 20th century.

"We found that self-interest tends to peak after economic booms," said William Chopik, a doctoral candidate in psychology at U-M and first author of the paper just published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences. "In the 20th century, it peaked after World War II and again in the 1970s."

Right after the Great Recession of 2008-09, however, self-interest decreased a bit as judged from the State of the Union addresses delivered by Barack Obama.

"It could be that the challenges facing the country increased the nation's sense of togetherness and focus on the needs of others," Chopik said.

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