Americans have over-inflated images about themselves. Psychologists have discerned a cognitive bias termed illusory superiority that most of us share, a tendency to overestimate our qualities and abilities. As a result we are rather judgmental of the morality of others (though not our own). A 2010 Gallup poll found 76% of Americans thought the state of morality in American was declining (implying that theirs was better than everybody else's). And a 2012 Rasmussen poll found that 65% of the public believes that we are too generous with the way we administer welfare.
