beneffectance
n. a combination of benevolence and effectiveness. According to the U.S. social psychologist who coined the term, Anthony G. Greenwald (1939– ), people routinely distort memories of their own prior actions so as to enhance their own sense of beneffectance. That is, they engage in motivated distortion of information so as to appear to themselves and others as morally good, well intentioned, competent, and successful. See positive illusion.