the psychology of self defense: self affirmation theory

0000002163 00000 n HdMk0:`;J!F{a]Y][ E6S~W~$o wd'?A8T xlF@$s{" I"_aj/]mzr# ";`!|AB]7zD,-NAdMB%U}KHp[ZRHy'r-38 m Self-affirmation theory also illuminates the way in which prejudice and stereotyping are forms of self-integrity maintenance. As a manipulation check, we compared the ratings that participants in different conditions made about their value writing activity immediately after completing the writing activity. 144 RAT items have been normed for difficulty [17], and pilot testing indicated that our undergraduate sample population can solve all easy RAT items. Having a flexible sense of self allows individual to offset weaknesses in one domain, by highlighting the strengths in another domain. The present review highlights both connections with other disciplines and lessons for a social psychological understanding of intervention and change. Mean arterial blood pressure was collected to measure cardiovascular reactivity to the laboratory challenge task. This research illuminates both the motivational processes underlying self-integrity maintenance and the implications of such processes for many domains of psychology. It is thought that answering questions about a value domain that they find important will make that value more salient to them, resulting in self-affirmation. Steele, CM (1988) The psychology of self-affirmation: . The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self. [3], Studies have examined the effects of self-affirmation on the academic performance of historically marginalized groups such as African American and Latino American students, who face a multitude of daily threats in the school environment. Self-affirmation theory contends that if individuals reflect on values that are personally relevant to them, they are less likely to experience distress and react defensively when confronted with information that contradicts or threatens their sense of self. Events that threaten self-integrity arouse stress and self-protective defenses that can hamper performance and growth. John M. Levine, Affiliation: 445 0 obj <> endobj 0000008767 00000 n [3] Self-Affirmations can occur by both reflecting on a personally relevant value, belief, or role, as well as engaging in an activity that might evoke a personally relevant value, such as spending time with family if that is personally relevant. Like heart rate, participants showed an overall significant mean arterial pressure increase from baseline (M=79.71, SE=.86) to the RAT problem solving period (M=89.05, SE=1.08) (paired-samples t(69)=12.12, p<.001), but we did not observe significant main effects of self-affirmation (F(1,67)=2.21, p=.14, 2=.03) or chronic stress (F(1,66)=.32, p=.57, 2=.01). ), Contemporary perspectives on the psychology of attitudes (pp. We also assessed the impact of our self-affirmation manipulation on mean arterial blood pressure responses during the RAT problem-solving period. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: JDC. New York: Psychology Press, Sherman, D. A., Nelson, L. D., & Steele, C. M. (2000). 0000007527 00000 n Or, if we're struggling in our career, we might say the affirmation, "I am capable of success." The Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Values Scale[7] is another measures that is administered to participants to induce self-affirmation in the laboratory. In social, 1 to many Americans reevaluating the kind of country they thought they lived in. Reducing the racial achievement gap: A social-psychological intervention. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Moreover, as depicted in Figure 1, this stress buffering effect of self-affirmation improved the problem-solving performance of high stress individuals to a level comparable to individuals low in stress. In virtually all cultures and historical periods, there are socially shared conceptions of what it means to be a person of self-integrity. Participants then write about the value they ranked as most important and how it is meaningful to them for 5 minutes.[6]. 0000008176 00000 n Loch et al. There are two chief methods used to self-affirm participants in experimental studies. sharing sensitive information, make sure youre on a federal Unlike those in a control condition, those in the self-affirmation condition did not show any changes from baseline in their levels of the stress hormone cortisol. The present research examines how a motivational process triggered by a, View 6 excerpts, cites background and methods. Citation: Creswell JD, Dutcher JM, Klein WMP, Harris PR, Levine JM (2013) Self-Affirmation Improves Problem-Solving under Stress. In M. P. Zanna, (Ed. [4] There are six different value domains on the Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Values scale: religion, theoretical, aesthetic, political, social, and economic. 2010. We have much to learn from ancient models of self-improvement that have survived the test of time. In the present study, we test whether a brief self-affirmation can buffer the negative impacts of chronic stress on problem-solving. Cohen, G. L., Garcia, J., Purdie-Vaughns, V., Apfel, N., & Brzustoski, P. (2009). They may attempt to reduce this discomfort by directly resolving the . Preliminary research results suggest that self-affirmation can protect against the negative consequences of stress. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. When self-integrity is threatened, according to self-affirmation theory, people need not defensively rationalize or distort reality. Like other interventions and experiences, self-affirmations can have lasting benefits when they touch off a cycle of adaptive potential, a positive feedback loop between the self-system and the social system that propagates adaptive outcomes over time. Yet the other 70% of the time, this player would have failed. Self-affirmation theory led to a reinterpretation of classic research findings in cognitive dissonance. 2019 Apr;66(3):375-383. doi: 10.1037/cou0000313. 480 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<84EB8E7460E00C4F7DB1E7A100F88209>]/Index[445 79]/Info 444 0 R/Length 149/Prev 655244/Root 446 0 R/Size 524/Type/XRef/W[1 3 1]>>stream Funding: This research was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant #924387 and the Pittsburgh Life Sciences Greenhouse Opportunity Fund. The psychology of self-defense: Self-affirmation theory. The social psychologists Steven Fein and Steven Spencer showed that respondents were less likely to discriminate against a Jewish job candidate if they had previously been provided with a self-affirmation. Findings suggest that for students who face daily, repeated stressors at school, self-affirmation buffers against worsening school performance.[14][15]. Metacognition allows you to connect the dots, see the big picture, self-evaluate and self-monitor. It is thought that affirming an important value unrelated to the threat helps individuals to shift their perspective to their broader life context. [17] These findings suggest that self-affirmation can have a buffering effect on academic achievement for groups who face the most threat. An emerging body of research suggests that self-affirmation may be one such effective stress management approach. ISI. trailer << /Size 239 /Info 205 0 R /Root 214 0 R /Prev 501480 /ID[<25b6ff0975f36615fc50a5b813e1f2e2><25b6ff0975f36615fc50a5b813e1f2e2>] >> startxref 0 %%EOF 214 0 obj << /Type /Catalog /Pages 207 0 R /PageLabels 204 0 R >> endobj 237 0 obj << /S 1621 /L 1714 /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 238 0 R >> stream Future studies should therefore experimentally test whether social evaluation is a necessary condition for self-affirmation problem-solving effects. All of these "rationalizations" actually help us continue to feel good about ourselves, so they are generally good for our well-being. [19], Patients with end stage renal disease participated in a study assessing the effects of self-affirmation on adherence to phosphate binders that facilitate control of phosphate levels. A series of field experiments demonstrated that a self-affirmation, administered for 15 minutes in the context of students classroom activities, improved African American students end-of-term course grades and thus reduced the racial achievement gap by 40%. Self-affirmations can come from many sources. Results showed that self-affirmation improved problem-solving performance in underperforming chronically stressed individuals. In L. Berkowitz (Ed. We show here that our self-affirmation effects are unlikely to be explained by changes in positive affect or task engagement. Next, they wrote about their first ranked value and why it was important to them (self-affirmation condition) or their ninth ranked value and why it might be important to others (control condition) [12]. And, we tend to be overly optimistic about our chances of success, our knowledge, and our competence (Sherman & Cohen, 2006). Numerous studies demonstrate that individuals are less likely to rationalize, deny, or resist threatening information in one domain if their sense of self-integrity is affirmed in another domain. In this introduction to the special issue, we review the literature on self-affirmation theory in educational contexts, providing overviews of the heterogeneity in the effectiveness of affirmation interventions, the methods of implementation, potential moderators, and underling processes. When some aspect of this self-view is challenged, people experience psychological discomfort. The need to find order in a confusing world. The Feeling Self: Self-Esteem Define self-esteem and explain how it is measured by social psychologists. Like Steinbeck, we have wondered why some people are more resilient to the vicissitudes of life than others, that is, why their sense of worth and the psychological states that vary with it (e.g., OVERVIEW The O.J. William M. P. Klein, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. The authors found reduced cognitive dissonance for participants from collectivist cultures who wrote about values important to them and their families, and found reduced cognitive dissonance for participants from individualist cultures who wrote about a value important to just them.[22]. Catecholamines and stress. Affirmation of personal values buffers neuroendocrine and psychological stress responses. Psychological vulnerability and stress: the effects of self-affirmation on sympathetic nervous system responses to naturalistic stressors. In this paper, we update the field on research conducted using self-affirmation theory as a framework. Despite many studies showing that acute and chronic stressors can impair problem-solving [1], [2], [4], we know little about stress management and coping approaches for buffering stress during problem-solving [36]. For some, this has been a positive experience in which the values, customs and institutions they believe in are the, A theorybased intervention known as selfaffirmation provides people with the opportunity to affirm a sense of selfintegrity, a global image of moral and adaptive adequacy, at moments of, Current Directions in Psychological Science, The question of the antecedents of prejudicial responses has a long history that includes contributions of historical, structural, cultural, and psychological factors.

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