PERSONALITY PROCESSES AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES Portrait of the Self-Enhancer: Well Adjusted and Well Liked or

Research has variously portrayed self-enhancement as an indicator of narcissistic defensiveness or as a concomitant of mental health. To address this controversy, the present study used multiple measures of self-enhancement along with multiple measures and judges of mental health, comprehensively assessing their relationship. The results indicated that self-enhancement is positively associated with multiple indicators of mental health and with a more favorable impact on others. Discussion centers on a reconciliation of discrepant portraits of the self-enhancer. The prevalence, benefits, and limitations of self-enhancement have been dominant research topics in personality and social psychology research for the past 2 decades. The empirical litera-ture has painted two quite different portraits of the self-enhancer, however. Taylor and Brown (1988) proposed a theory of positive illusions in which self-enhancement figures prominently. Reviewing a large social–psychological literature, they documented people’s dispro-portionate interest in and recall of positive over negative self