In an earlier study (Bond, 1979), subjects enhanced both the attractiveness and the competitive skills of a stimulus person (SP) when that SP was described as a future opponent rather than a non-opponent. The present study examined how this process was affected by the raters' competitiveness and by the anonymity of the ratings vis-a-vis the experimenter. Using a self-presentational analysis it was predicted that, under public conditions of rating, both competitive and non-competitive subjects would enhance a future opponent's competitive skills, but only competitive subjects would enhance her attractiveness. These expectations were confirmed. Using an "autistic" framework it was predicted that, under anonymous conditions of rating, subjects would denigrate rather than aggrandize these same characteristics of a future opponent. Results showed that competitive subjects tended to downgrade their future opponent's competitive skills; non-competitive subjects tended to enhance these same skills. No private effects were indicated for the attraction measure. Overall, the findings underscore the importance of considering subjects' self-presentational needs in the experimental setting. By so doing, data can be collected in such a way that the questions under study may be most appropriately assessed.