Self-righteousness (also called sanctimoniousness,
sententiousness, and holier-than-thou attitudes) is a feeling or
display of (usually smug) moral superiority derived from a sense
that one's beliefs, actions, or affiliations are of greater
virtue than those of the average person. The term "self-
righteous" is often considered derogatory (see, for example,
journalist and essayist James Fallows' description of self-
righteousness in regards to Nobel Peace Prize winners)
particularly because self-righteous individuals are often
thought to exhibit hypocrisy due to the belief that humans are
imperfect and can therefore never be infallible, an idea similar
to that of the Freudian defense mechanism of reaction formation.
The connection between self-righteousness and hypocrisy predates
Freud's views, however, as evidenced by the 1899 book Good Mrs.
Hypocrite: A Study in Self-Righteousness, by the pseudonymous
author "Rita." See also  |Look up self-righteousness in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.| |Wikiquote has a col