Showing papers in "Self and Identity in 2002"
TL;DR: This paper found no normative change in implicit self-theories from high school through college and relatively stable individual differences during college, and path analyses showed that this effect was mediated by goal orientation and the helpless versus mastery response patterns.
Abstract: This study supported hypotheses derived from Dweck's model about the implications of two implicit self-theories: Entity theorists believe their intelligence is fixed, whereas Incremental theorists believe their intelligence can be increased. Findings showed no normative change in implicit self-theories from high school through college and relatively stable individual differences during college. Entity theorists tended to adopt performance goals, whereas Incremental theorists tended to adopt learning goals. In terms of attributions, affect, and behavioral response to challenge, Entity theorists displayed a helpless response pattern and Incremental theorists displayed a mastery-oriented response pattern. Finally, Entity theorists declined in self-esteem during college whereas Incremental theorists increased self-esteem, and path analyses showed that this effect was mediated by goal orientation and the helpless versus mastery response patterns.
544 citations
TL;DR: The ability of the self to alter its own responses, including thoughts, emotions, impulsive behaviors, and performances, is powerfully adaptive and failures of self-control contribute to most personal and social problems as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The ability of the self to alter its own responses, including thoughts, emotions, impulsive behaviors, and performances, is powerfully adaptive, and failures of selfcontrol contribute to most personal and social problems. A program of laboratory studies suggests that self-control depends on a limited resource, akin to energy or strength. Acts of self-control and, more generally, of choice and volition deplete this resource, thereby impairing the self's ability to function. These effects appear after seemingly minor exertions because the self tries to conserve its remaining resources after any depletion. Rest and positive affect help restore the self's resources.
535 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, three graphical items for the overlap of self and ingroup, self and outgroup, and in and out of ingroup and out group are proposed. And they are validated in four validation studies and one experimental study with different types of groups.
Abstract: Everyday language suggests that spatial metaphors are used to describe one’s relation to a group and the relation between two groups. Building on previous work in the domain of interpersonal relations, three graphical items for the overlap of self and ingroup, self and outgroup, and ingroup and outgroup are proposed. Three survey studies with different types of groups show the convergent validity of these items. Assessments of subjective interpretations of the graphical scales corroborate the correlational evidence. Finally, an experimental study con®rms that the correlations between the three items are sensible indicators of self-categorization as determined by the intergroup context. For describing our relation to a group, we often use the language of spatial metaphors: We enter or leave a group; we distance ourselves from a group or are in the inner circle. Finally, we can be simply in a group, which then becomes an ingroup: The interrelational constructs (Higgins & Chaires, 1980) in and out denoting ingroup and outgroup are spatial metaphors. In many cases, this language ®ts the actual behavior in the social environment, where attitudes between social groups are expressed in spatial arrangements (Campbell, Kruskal, & Wallace, 1966). However, social psychological concepts for one’s relation to a group, such as identi®cation and self-categorization, in general ignore the spatial dimension. The present research shows that one’s relation to a group and the perception of the intergroup context can be assessed with graphical measures that depict spatial relations. We will ®rst review previous approaches in this direction, and then propose a new scale. Convergent and discriminant validity of the scale is demonstrated in four validation studies and one experimental study.
293 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the multidimensional nature of group identity and how different dimensions are uniquely related to ingroup and outgroup evaluations, intergroup bias, and perceived intergroup conflict.
Abstract: This study investigates the multidimensional nature of group identity and how different dimensions are uniquely related to ingroup and outgroup evaluations, intergroup bias, and perceived intergroup conflict. A three-dimensional model of group identity—consisting of a cognitive, evaluative, and affective-ties component—was supported across ascribed, achieved, and face-to-face groups. As predicted, of the three dimensions, affective ties to the ingroup was the best overall predictor of intergroup bias. In support of social identity theory, the impact of the evaluative and cognitive dimensions on group attitudes was significantly moderated by perceptions of conflict. Additionally, as predicted, group identification led to exaggerated positive evaluations of the ingroup, while perceived conflict led to exaggerated negative evaluations of the outgroup. Theoretical implications and future research avenues are discussed.
287 citations
TL;DR: Contingencies of self-worth represent the domains in which success or failure leads to increases or decreases in self-esteem, respectively as mentioned in this paper, and they serve an important self-regulatory role; people seek out situations and engage in activities that provide opportunities for them to achieve success and avoid failure.
Abstract: Contingencies of self-worth represent the domains in which success or failure leads to increases or decreases in self-esteem, respectively. Because people seek to protect, maintain, and enhance their self-esteem, contingencies of self-worth serve an important self-regulatory role; people seek out situations and engage in activities that provide opportunities for them to achieve success and avoid failure in domains on which their self-worth is staked. These contingencies also constitute an important psychological vulnerability, however. Successes and failures lead to greater increases and decreases in self-esteem when they occur in domains of contingency. These fluctuations of self-esteem, in turn, are associated with increases in depressive symptoms. Thus, the pursuit of self-esteem, while guiding much of our behavior, comes at considerable cost.
171 citations
TL;DR: The results of a field investigation indicate that people who are highly invested in their self-views (confidently held or personally important) are especially inclined to display a preference for verification of their selfviews as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The results of a field investigation indicate that people who are highly invested in their self-views (confidently held or personally important) are especially inclined to display a preference for verification of their self-views. Specifically, only those participants who were certain of their self-views or perceived them as important preferred roommates who confirmed their self-views. Such preferences were some-what stronger when the self-views were relatively negative. This is the first demonstration of self-verification in a field setting in which relationship partners were randomly assigned to one another.
170 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined whether private selfattention is at odds with empathy and found that self-reflection was positively correlated with perspective taking and empathic concern, while self-esteem was positively associated with empathic concerns and perspective taking, and negatively associated with personal distress.
Abstract: The present study examined whether private self-attention is at odds with empathy. College students (N = 184) completed Trapnell and Campbell's (1999) Rumination-Reflection Questionnaire (RRQ) assessing self-rumination and self-reflection; Davis' (1980, 1983) Interpersonal Reactivity Index assessing empathic concern, perspective taking, and personal distress; and Rosenberg's (1965) Self-Esteem scale. Self-rumination was negatively correlated with perspective taking and positively correlated with personal distress, whereas self-reflection was positively correlated with perspective taking and empathic concern. Further analyses suggested that the relationship between self-reflection and empathic concern may be mediated by perspective taking. Self-esteem was positively correlated with empathic concern and perspective taking, and negatively correlated with personal distress. Relationships between self-rumination, self-reflection, and empathy were independent of selfesteem. Results provide additional support fo...
152 citations
TL;DR: The authors found that performing one self-control task leads to decrements on subsequent efforts at self control, and they compared two possible explanations for these decrements, one being a depletion of energy resources, and the other being self-attribution of failure from the first task.
Abstract: Past work has found that performing one self-control task leads to decrements on subsequent efforts at self-control. The present experiment compared two possible explanations for these decrements, one being a depletion of energy resources, and the other being self-attribution of failure from the first task. Participants performed a Stroop color-word task (an initial self-control exercise) or not, and some received success or failure feedback about their performance. Performing the self-control task led to impaired persistence on a subsequent figure-tracing task, consistent with the energy-depletion model. Success versus failure feedback had no effect, contradicting the self-attribution model.
147 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors describe an emerging perspective on depression as a disorder of self-regulation, and suggest that the concept of brain/behavior system, though insufficient for explaining depression, can be reformulated as self/brain/behaviour system to address both psychological and neurophysiological aspects.
Abstract: This article describes an emerging perspective on depression as a disorder of selfregulation. It is proposed that the concept of brain/behavior system, though insufficient for explaining depression, can be reformulated as self/brain/behavior system to address both psychological and neurophysiological aspects of depression. A set of hypotheses conceptualizing depression (in self/brain/behavior system terms) as a disorder of self-regulation is offered, and evidence in support of those predictions is summarized. Implications of the self-regulation model are discussed and potential advantages of a self-regulation perspective on depression are suggested.
117 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the relations among dispositional regulation / control, resiliency, and quality of children's social functioning are examined, both conceptually and empirically, and hypotheses are offered regarding their relations to children' social functioning.
Abstract: The relations among dispositional regulation / control, resiliency, and quality of children's social functioning are examined, both conceptually and empirically. Differences between effortful (voluntarily controlled) and less voluntary (i.e., passive or reactive) modes of control are delineated and hypotheses are offered regarding their relations to children's social functioning. Recent empirical findings are presented that demonstrate the following: (a) effortful regulation and impulsivity (viewed as reflecting low passive control) relate differently to children's adjustment, (b) effortful control and more passive aspects of control (i.e., impulsivity) are both related to resiliency and contribute some unique variance to its prediction, and (c) resiliency relates to type of adjustment problems.
113 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a model and research discussed how people can exert willpower even when the situational pull to give up is strong, showing that exertion of willpower requires one to "cool" or self-distance from the negative arousal of difficult and frustrating situations.
Abstract: The highly valued goals of the self too often turn into failed good intentions. Even when the goals are important and motivation is high, they easily become difficult to achieve in the face of temptations, frustrations and obstacles. The model and research discussed here address how people can exert willpower even when the situational pull to give up is strong. Research on the basic mechanisms and dynamics that enable delay of gratification show that exertion of willpower requires one to “cool” or self-distance from the negative arousal of difficult and frustrating situations. Such attention control helps prevent “hot,” impulsive responses that undermine long-term goal attainment. The attentional control mechanisms assessed in the preschool delay of gratification paradigm are visible in toddlerhood and continue to affect important life outcomes—academic, social, and interpersonal, through adolescence to adulthood. Most importantly, they seem to serve as protective factors against the negative long-term co...
TL;DR: The importance of motivational principles of maintaining self-esteem, distinctiveness, continuity, and efficacy, as well as feelings of purpose and closeness to others, in shaping the perceived centrality of multiple elements of identity among Anglican parish priests was explored in this paper.
Abstract: We tested the importance of motivational principles of maintaining self-esteem, distinctiveness, continuity and efficacy (Breakwell, 1993), as well as feelings of purpose and closeness to others, in shaping the perceived centrality of multiple elements of identity among Anglican parish priests. Participants (N = 149) generated identity elements and rated them for perceived centrality and satisfaction of each principle. Comparing multilevel regression models, satisfaction of the self-esteem principle predicted an estimated 32.5%, the four predictors of Breakwell's model 49.7%, and all six predictors 54.6% of the variance within participants in perceived centrality of the identity elements (all p < .001). We argue that distinctiveness, continuity, and efficacy should be given equal theoretical consideration to self-esteem as motives guiding identity processes (cf. Abrams & Hogg, 1988; Brewer, 1991; Deaux, 1993; Sedikides & Strube, 1997).
TL;DR: In this paper, a proxy theory of emotions is proposed, which suggests that emotions are immediate motivational proxies for the long-run expected adaptive value of relationships and relational strategies, and that emotions motivate action that is likely to improve a person's social prospects, given his or her history and situation.
Abstract: Building on the foundation of commitment theory (Frank, 1988; Nesse, 2001), a new proxy theory of emotions posits that emotions promote adaptive relational action that tends to create and sustain important social relationships. The theory indicates that emotions are immediate motivational proxies for the long-run expected adaptive value of relationships and relational strategies. Emotions motivate action that is likely to improve a person's social prospects, given his or her history and situation. The theory predicts that emotions correspond to cultural implementations of four basic relational models, modulated to reflect the relationships that are important and problematic in each person's specific local network. Proxy theory analyzes twelve social functions of emotions reflecting the state of a person's relationships, his or her relational needs and prospects, and promising relational strategies.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that the self in relation to a significant other is activated, eliciting changes in affect, expectancies, motivations, and behaviors, as well as in the nature of the working self-concept, all reflecting the version of the self one is when with the significant other.
Abstract: We subscribe to the assumption that the self is fundamentally relational—that is, entangled with significant others—such that key elements of the self are experienced in relation to significant others, even when others are not present. In our socialcognitive model of transference, transference occurs when a mental representation of a significant other is activated by cues in a new person that resemble the other. As a result, the self in relation to this significant other is activated, eliciting changes in affect, expectancies, motivations, and behaviors, as well as in the nature of the working self-concept, all reflecting the version of the self one is when with the significant other. Moreover, when people experience a threat to either a significant other relationship or the self in the context of an encounter with a new person who triggers transference, this sets into motion self-regulatory processes, which play out in relations with the new person. Overall, we argue that the evocation of prior experienc...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the relationship between self-esteem, selfefficacy, and self-handicapping in personally meaningful achievement settings that were high in mundane realism, and found that self-presentational efficacy explained significant variance in self-handedicapping (δ R =.05) over and above the variance explained by general and physical selfesteem.
Abstract: These studies examined the relationship between self-esteem, self-efficacy, and self-handicapping in personally meaningful achievement settings that were high in mundane realism. Study 1 found that athletes' (N = 87) temptation to self-handicap and their self-reported likelihood of self-handicapping were negatively correlated with both general and physical self-esteem. Motives for self-handicapping (self-enhancement vs. self-protection) did not moderate either of these relationships. Study 2 examined claimed self-handicapping prior to students' (N = 142) performance of a graded physical fitness test. In a regression model, self-presentational efficacy explained significant variance in self-handicapping (δ R = .05) over and above the variance explained by general and physical self-esteem (R 2 = .14). These findings have implications for the theoretical conceptualization and prediction of self-handicapping in physical achievement settings.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors suggest that vulnerability depends on the reactivity of cognitive and motivational processes (such as those related to anxiety and impulsivity), along with the person's capacity to voluntarily regulate them.
Abstract: Voluntary self control can be viewed in terms of a set of executive attentional processes that allow the individual to regulate more reactive processes Evidence is presented suggesting that individuals differ in their capacity for voluntary attentional control, with such differences apparent in the regulation of perceptual, conceptual, and response processing These findings suggest that vulnerability depends on the reactivity of cognitive and motivational processes (such as those related to anxiety and impulsivity), along with the person's capacity to voluntarily regulate them Such an approach has important implications for understanding maladaptive cognition and provides new perspectives on prevention and treatment
TL;DR: This article found that those individuals who identified most highly with the identity of being homeless were more self-reliant, used fewer services, made fewer attempts to transition off the street, and had higher self-esteem scores than those with low identification scores.
Abstract: Anecdotal research strongly suggests homeless persons who develop subsistence strategies to survive on the street maintain self-reliance yet are highly unlikely to transition back off the street. The current study empirically tests this assumption. Ninety-seven homeless persons were interviewed, given a spontaneous self-concept description measure, and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale(1979). Combing two self-report scores created an “identification with homelessness” score. As predicted, those individuals who identified most highly with the identity of being homeless: (a) used fewer services (were more self-reliant), (b) made fewer attempts to transition off the street, and (c) had higher self-esteem scores than those with low identification scores. These data and additional data assessing the impact of perceived needs on the aforementioned dependent measures are explored.
TL;DR: In this paper, the intersection of self-awareness and emotional experience is considered, and it is shown that self-focus can have a flexible effect on emotional intensity depending on the standard.
Abstract: People often regulate their feelings by striving for particular emotional states. The self-regulation of emotions should be influenced by self-awareness, which is a primary instigator of self-regulation. Because the outcome of self-regulation depends, in part, on the relevant comparison standards, self-focus will have a flexible effect on emotional intensity depending on the standard. But an earlier view (Scheier C self-focus was then manipulated using a large mirror. Consistent with the self-regulation view, persons with”inhibition” standards were significantly less happy when highly self- focused. Persons with”no regulation” standards, in contrast, were unaffected by high self-focus; the two groups didn’t differ when self-focus was low. Some implications for the intersection of self-awareness and emotional experience are considered.
TL;DR: Zarate et al. as discussed by the authors test hypotheses concerning a need for distinctiveness and the role of the self in prejudice reduction and show that self-affirmation procedures enhance self-concept, which acts to reduce expressed prejudice.
Abstract: Hypotheses drawn from Tajfel and Turner's (1986) Social Identity Theory and a hypothesized “need for distinctiveness” predict that attention to how two groups differ, as opposed to how they are similar, should reduce prejudice. Previous research, however, indicates that a self-awareness manipulation is needed for prejudice reduction to occur (Zarate et al., 2000). It is possible, however, that the previous self-awareness manipulations acted as self-affirmation procedures, which may complicate any interpretations. Research by Fein and Spencer (1997) based on Self-Affirmation Theory show that self-affirmation procedures enhance self-concept, which acts to reduce expressed prejudice. The present studies test hypotheses concerning a need for distinctiveness and the role of the self in prejudice reduction. Participants were asked to focus on between-group similarities or between-group differences, after which participants performed a self-affirmation task (Experiment 1) or a negative self-awareness task (Exper...
TL;DR: This article found that the intrinsic religious orientation and socially desirable responding suggest that religiously devout individuals are concerned with maintaining a positive self-image in their own eyes (self-deception) and in others' (impression management).
Abstract: The link between intrinsic religious orientation and socially desirable responding suggests that religiously devout individuals are concerned with maintaining a positive self-image in their own eyes (self-deception) and in others' (impression management). Measures of socially desirable responding may, however, penalize intrinsically religious persons for accurate self-reports of conscientiousness. Seventy-four undergraduates completed measures of religious orientation and socially desirable responding, then made either a negative or a positive self-disclosure. Socially desirable responding was again measured. Intrinsic religious orientation was positively correlated with self-deception change in the Negative Disclosure condition. This finding, in combination with corroborative behavioral evidence among high Intrinsic scorers, appeared consistent with a self-protective interpretation, rather than a content bias interpretation, of the intrinsic religious orientation/socially desirable responding relationship.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors view self-attributes as negotiating idiosyncratic life niches, and view self attributes and environmental presses as bargaining chips for changing personal environments in ways that better afford the expression of those self attributes.
Abstract: Viewing selves as negotiating idiosyncratic life niches may be useful in understanding life change. When less resistant self attributes and environmental presses conflict, the self tends to reflect the environment; when more resistant self attributes (e.g., those high in heritability) and environmental presses conflict, the individual will tend to change his or her personal environment in ways that better afford the expression of those self-attributes. Life niches result from attempts to satisfy simultaneous constraints from self-aspects such as abilities, desires, and temperament, and situational presses and affordances. Parallel distributed processing (PDP) networks appear to be a promising way to represent niche construction.
TL;DR: The Medieval concept of the self in Anglo-Saxon England has been studied in this article. But their focus is on self-identity, not self-belonging.
Abstract: (2002). The Medieval Concept of the Self in Anglo-Saxon England. Self and Identity: Vol. 1, No. 1, pp. 77-97.
TL;DR: This article examined the role of relational schemas in interpretations of ambiguous social stimuli and found that participants with low self-esteem responded more quickly to rejection targets when primed with rejection or ambiguous words than with acceptance words; the reactions of high-self-esteem participants were not affected by the primes.
Abstract: People mentally represent complex information in the form of schemas and often interpret ambiguous information in a schema-consistent manner. The present study examined the role of relational schemas in interpretations of ambiguous social stimuli. In a lexical decision task, 97 high- and low-self-esteem participants were primed with one of four types of words-acceptance, rejection, ambiguous, or non-social-and were then presented with four types of target words-acceptance, rejection, neutral, or nonwords. Results indicated that participants with low self-esteem responded more quickly to rejection targets when primed with rejection or ambiguous words than with acceptance words; the reactions of high-self-esteem participants were not affected by the primes. The results suggest that ambiguous social cues prime rejection-related thoughts for low-self-esteem individuals but not for high-self-esteem individuals.
TL;DR: In this paper, Chen, Lee-Chai, and Bargh examined the goals powerholders had associated with power and showed that the effects of power depend on the goals that people associate with power.
Abstract: Building on prior work showing that the effects of power depend on the goals that people associate with power (Chen, Lee-Chai, & Bargh, 2001), the present research examined the goals powerholders p...
TL;DR: This paper examined the effects of self-processes on interpersonal behavior and relationships, and offered suggestions for future research, concluding that people's relationships with others are affected by the degree to which people represent other people as part of the self, recognize that their own perceptions are necessarily egocentric, have low versus high self-esteem, and feel compelled to defend symbolic aspects of self.
Abstract: The normal operation of the self has important implications for people's interpersonal interactions and relationships. In particular, people's relationships with others are affected by the degree to which people represent other people as part of the self, recognize that their own perceptions are necessarily egocentric, have low versus high self-esteem, and feel compelled to defend symbolic aspects of the self. This article examines the effects of these self-processes on interpersonal behavior and relationships, and offers suggestions for future research.
TL;DR: This paper examined college students' participation in campus groups and concluded that successful resilience of self is a reflection of balance in life task participation, in which individuals integrate personal self-development with maintaining social connections.
Abstract: Personal well-being and resilience are contingent on the ability to negotiate and successfully pursue personal goals through life tasks and opportunities afforded by one's social environment. Our research addresses these processes by examining college students' participation in campus groups. We investigated simultaneous strivings toward the development of a distinct personal identity and toward social integration. Specifically, we argue that group participation is critical to selfdefinition because its enables personal exploration within the context of a network of stable social relationships. We also demonstrate that individual goals interact with group structure in shaping the nature and extent of group engagement. We conclude that successful resilience of self is a reflection of balance in life task participation, in which individuals integrate personal self-development with maintaining social connections.
TL;DR: This article extended Eisenstadt and Leippe's self-comparison model by examining acceptance and rejection of self-discrepant feedback and the consequences for the broader self-concept.
Abstract: This research extended Eisenstadt and Leippe's (1994) self-comparison model by examining acceptance and rejection of self-discrepant feedback and the consequences for the broader self-concept. According to the model, individuals should be more vulnerable to low-importance feedback. College students received bogus feedback about an important or unimportant, ideal or rejected trait, and rated the self-descriptiveness of that and other traits. Participants evinced greater and faster resistance to high-importance (vs. low-importance) feedback. Participants were especially susceptible to unimportant rejected feedback, but compensated by increasing the positivity of ratings on non-feedback traits. In contrast, participants resisted important rejected feedback, but evinced deflated positivity on other traits. Judgments were asymmetrical: Rejected feedback and nonfeedback traits were judged as less self-descriptive and were rated more quickly than actual or ideal traits, suggestive of defensive avoidance.
TL;DR: This paper investigated the relation of self-presentation style to automobile driving behavior and behavior while meeting a stranger and found that aggressive driving behavior correlated positively with the selfpresentational style of intimidation and negatively with ingratiation and exemplification.
Abstract: The present study investigated the relation of self-presentation style to automobile driving behavior and behavior while meeting a stranger. Eighty-eight female and 51 male undergraduate psychology students completed a 40-item self-presentation style inventory and a 20-item Road Rage Survey. One-hundred and two of these participants were then videotaped walking into a room and introducing themselves to a confederate. Aggressive driving behavior correlated positively with the self-presentational style of intimidation and negatively with ingratiation and exemplification. Nonverbal behavior when meeting a person was related to intimidation, exemplification, and self-promotion, with intimidation and self-promotion associated with not hesitating prior to sitting down, intimidation associated with focusing on the target, and exemplification associated with initiating a handshake.
TL;DR: In this article, Self and Identity: Self-Concept, Self-Regulation, and Psychological Vulnerability, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 103-104.
Abstract: (2002). Self-Concept, Self-Regulation, and Psychological Vulnerability. Self and Identity: Vol. 1, No. 2, pp. 103-104.