However, the defensive reaction can impede more adaptive ways to solve the problem (like engaging in problem-solving or changing unhealthy behaviors). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 389-400, Hoshino-Browne, E., Zanna, A. S., Spencer, S. J., & Zanna, M. P. (2004). The present review addresses this second avenue and the theory that it proceeds from, self-affirmation theory. Our present study suggests that a brief self-affirmation activity is sufficient to buffer the negative effects of chronic stress on task performance and can improve the ability to problem solve in a flexible manner during high stress periods [3], [32]. Specifically, we did not observe a significant main effect for self-affirmation condition (F(1, 67)=.36 p=.55, 2=.01) or chronic stress (F(1,66)=.09, p=.77, 2=.001). They may attempt to reduce this discomfort by directly resolving the . This study found that self-affirmed participants from individualist cultures saw reductions in cognitive dissonance, whereas self-affirmed participants from collectivist cultures did not experience a reduction in cognitive dissonance. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. 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). The present study builds on previous research showing that self-affirmation has stress protective effects in performance settings [9], [12], [13], [15], providing an initial indication that self-affirmation can buffer the effects of chronic stress on actual problem-solving in performance settings. National Library of Medicine Focus on the positive rather than the negative. Notably, these effects were qualified by a significant chronic stress by self-affirmation interaction, such that self-affirmation improved problem-solving performance in underperforming chronically stressed individuals. The psychology of self-defense: Self-affirmation theory. Acute and chronic stress have been shown to disrupt problem-solving and creativity [1]. New York: Academic Press. The role of the self in physical health. 787-789). [3] That is, if someone perceives threat to one domain, he or she can accommodate this threat by upholding a value in another domain. ISI. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 333-371, Allport, G. W., Vernon, P. E., & Lindzey, G. E. (1960). Simpson J. Metacognition allows you to connect the dots, see the big picture, self-evaluate and self-monitor. the concept that people are motivated to maintain views of themselves as well adapted, moral, competent, stable, and able to control important outcomes. Janine M. Dutcher, Psychology Today 2023 Sussex Publishers, LLC. A great deal of money could be earned and fame accrued. The results demonstrate that self-evaluation significantly captures self-sentiment change between self-affirmation and self-uncertainty whereas the traditional self-integrity scale did. Coping mechanisms are cognitive and behavioral approaches that we use to manage internal and external stressors. Results showed that self-affirmation improved problem-solving performance in underperforming chronically stressed individuals. A one-way ANCOVA confirmed that the self-affirmation group (M=22.97, SD=1.38) rated the value as significantly more important than did the control group (M=15.13, SD=3.69), F(1, 71)=142.6, p<.001, 2=.671, indicating success of the value-affirmation manipulation. 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]. The results were discussed in terms of their support for a resources theory of individual differences in resilience to self-image threats--an extension of self-affirmation theory, their implications for self-esteem functioning, and the continuing debate over self-enhancement versus self-consistency motivation. [4] In order to do this, participants rank a list of values from most important to least important to them. [13] Seventh grade students took part in a two-year study. Thus, when people are given an opportunity to affirm their self-integrity in an alternative domain, the rationalization effect disappears. Thousand Oakes: Sage Publications. Social-psychological research, A key question about achievement motivation is how to maintain it over time and in the face of stress and adversity. The Allport-Vernon-Lindzey Values Scale[7] is another measures that is administered to participants to induce self-affirmation in the laboratory. Houghton Mifflin, Hunt, R. A. Advances in experimental social psychology, 38, 183-242. Sherman, D. K., & Cohen, G. L. (2006). To test our primary hypotheses, we conducted a multiple regression analysis with condition (self-affirmation vs. control), perceived stress over the last month, and their interaction predicting RAT score. High levels of acute and chronic stress are known to impair problem-solving and creativity on a broad range of tasks. It is also worth noting that word count was not correlated with RAT problem-solving performance (r=.14, p=.23), and including word count as a covariate did not appreciably change our primary problem-solving results (word count was not further pursued as a variable of interest). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 77(1), 111, Raghunathan, R., & Trope, Y. It is thought that affirming an important value unrelated to the threat helps individuals to shift their perspective to their broader life context. Bowen NK, Wegmann KM, Webber KC. The ultimate goal of the self is to protect an image of its self-integrity, morality and adequacy. 213 0 obj << /Linearized 1 /O 215 /H [ 949 1237 ] /L 505870 /E 21823 /N 60 /T 501491 >> endobj xref 213 26 0000000016 00000 n After completing individual difference measures, participants were debriefed, compensated, and excused. FOIA We measured self-affirmed and nonaffirmed participants' electrophysiological responses to making errors on a task. It is possible that there may have been significant differences in how participants ranked their #1 value across study conditions, which could indicate a failure of randomization. Self-affirmation theory (SAT; Sherman & Cohen, 2006) is a socialpsychological theory that can inform this topic. Moreover, the self-affirmation chronic stress interaction for the #1 ranked value was not significant (2(8)=3.03, p=.93). The psychology of self-defense: Self-affirmation theory. Examination of how video games can also increase players' willingness to internalize important but threatening self-information suggests that while players who value video game success as part of their identity may reap benefits from video game play after a self-threat, those who do not value such success may experience more harmful effects. Hbd`ad`ddtL) 4ONLN1462 a!CG2bX0v/b`fdH**4204p/,L(QX`hii_Z VVPZZTXZ`dacbd rRR0,E^` rD In her article on the stereotype inoculation model, Nilanjana Dasgupta (this issue) makes a powerful case that numbers shape the psychology of women and minorities in fields related to science, A persistent puzzle emerges from a review of the psychological research literature on how people defend the self from potentially threatening information and events: People can be adamantly, Smith, J. Allegra (B. Error bars reflect standard errors of the mean. All descriptive statistics, ANCOVA, and multiple regression analyses were conducted using SPSS 19.0 (IBM, Armonk, New York). Explore techniques to work through sadness. 0000002344 00000 n The psychology of self-defense: Self-affirmation theory. Rather, individuals are motivated to maintain global self-integrity, a general perception of their goodness, virtue, and efficacy. ), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. However, an intervention known as self-affirmation can curb these negative outcomes. 846-851. We also diminish the importance of things we have failed at or things we're not very good at. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Self-affirmation theory proposes that individuals are driven to protect their self-integrity. ), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol . Culture, dissonance, and self-affirmation. Such self-affirmations, by fulfilling the need to protect self-integrity in the face of threat, can enable people to deal with threatening events and information without resorting to defensive bias. 0000007527 00000 n 0000002988 00000 n Ethnicity (Caucasian vs. all others) and gender (male vs. female) did not moderate any of the primary study results (see Tables 1 and 2). [20], Individualist and collectivist cultures place different levels of importance on belonging to in-groups, and it is thought that this may vary the effects of self-affirmation. It is theorized that engaging in activities that promote the values, beliefs, and roles that are central to an individual's identity can promote self-integrity. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 38: . In social, 1 to many Americans reevaluating the kind of country they thought they lived in. Research and theorizing inspired by self-affirmation theory has led to theoretical advances in social psychology, with wide-ranging implications for many instances of human functioning and frailty. This study uses self-affirmation theory to draw predictions about the effect of Facebook profile self-presentation on two psychological outcomes: users' state self-esteem and their performance in a cognitive task. Benefits from self-affirmation are thought to primarily occur when the perceived threat is in an area of importance to the individual. In L. Berkowitz, (Ed. 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. Wrote the paper: JDC JMD WMPK PRH JML. A., Ickes W., Blackstone T. (1995). doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115137. 'D7%XD G@^0e^e^`6o?a_? Cook JE, Purdie-Vaughns V, Garcia J, Cohen GL. (2006). When one's integrity is threatened, self-affirmations can minimize the implications of the threat for the self, even when those affirmations are in a domain other than the self-threat (Sherman & Cohen, 2006). 3. The site is secure. In the first step of the mediation analysis, self-affirmation increased positive affect (as described above). 183-242). 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. Education Bookcast. Investigating attitudes cross-culturally: A case of cognitive dissonance among East Asians and North Americans. It is important to note that the task used in the present study (RAT) is a common measure of creativity performance and insight [18], [33], and hence our study suggests that self-affirmation may increase creativity and insight in stressed individuals [16], [34]. 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%. Affirmed yet unaware: exploring the role of awareness in the process of self-affirmation. Participants then completed a state mood adjective checklist assessing state positive mood (5 items: proud, content, joyful, love, and grateful; study =.84) and state negative mood (3 items: sad, angry, scared; study =.65) (PANAS-X; [22], [23]). Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. The theory of self-affirmation is a psychological theory that was first proposed by Claude Steele (1988) with the premise that people are motivated to maintain the integrity of the self. official website and that any information you provide is encrypted This dataset is available upon request (creswell@cmu.edu). Participants also reported how much chronic stress they endured over the past month. 0000013411 00000 n The present research examines how a motivational process triggered by a, View 6 excerpts, cites background and methods. Personal, behavioral, and environmental risk and protective factors for adolescent overweight. It will be important for future studies to consider the mechanisms linking self-affirmation with improved problem solving. A great deal of money could be earned and fame accrued. 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. [2] Promoting one's values can affirm the individual and reduce the perceived threat. [3] To date, increasing positive emotions and self-esteem have been investigated as mechanisms of self-affirmation, but the findings are mixed. PLoS ONE 8(5): When the head protects the heart: Empathic accuracy in dating relationships. 445 0 obj <> endobj - "The Psychology of Selfdefense: SelfAffirmation Theory" Skip to search form Skip to main content Skip to account menu. In order to create performance pressure, the evaluator provided evaluative feedback three times during the 30 RAT trials (I need you to try harder). Go to citation Crossref Google Scholar. 0000014002 00000 n Timely affirmations have been shown to improve education, health, and relationship outcomes, with benefits that sometimes persist for months and years. Feeling chronically stressed produces similar performance impairments. The sample had similar levels of chronic stress (M=16.6, SD=7.1, Range=134) to normed US samples of individuals under 25 years of age (M=16.8) [21]. They then completed 30 difficult remote associate problem-solving items under time pressure in front of an evaluator. For the individuals who did not complete the self-affirmation task, low-stress participants performed significantly better than high-stress participants. 2006 Sep 1;313(5791):1307-10. doi: 10.1126/science.1128317. The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). All predictor variables were mean-centered prior to being entered in multiple regression equations. Two key questions lie at the core of my research: "Given that a problem exists, what are its underlying processes?" Reconceptualizing Self-Affirmation With the Trigger and Channel Framework: Lessons From the Health Domain. As shown in Table 4 and noted above, approximately half the self-affirmation condition participants wrote about relations with friends and family, whereas control condition participants wrote about a heterogeneous set of values. Affirmation of personal values buffers neuroendocrine and psychological stress responses. In G. Haddock & G. R. Maio (Eds. However, if their needs for self-integrity are met in another domain, they have less need to resort to negative stereotypes. hb```@( O@'c"{%I8p!Yk5Y KDB9a\kveKL9TpV27;)P#aUTf+N0# q *7CUf suP[6May"/#LeCWARDq+EB]o^&YIXE_H,6sA&{!"+k"R&t?$1F@c@K. However, Steele and colleagues demonstrated that these effects arise, in part, from the motivation to maintain self-integrity. New York: Norton. Psychological Science, 16, 846-851. Eighty students from two urban universities in Pittsburgh participated for course credit or $20. Self-affirmation effects on heart rate during the baseline, RAT performance, and recovery periods. San Diego, CA: Academic . 2010. Panel A depicts the results for participants low in chronic stress, and Panel B depicts the results for participants high in chronic stress, as determined by median split. Examination of how video games can also increase players' willingness to internalize important but threatening self-information suggests that while players who value video game success as part of their identity may reap benefits from video game play after a self-threat, those who do not value such success may experience more harmful effects. 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 Salivary cortisol as a function of time and aYrmation status. Defense mechanisms are fountain documented in psychology, and though there are more than 15, we consider 13 of the most common defending mechanisms. [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. Engaging in such actions when facing threat serves to remind individuals of the broad, principal values by which they define themselves and their lives. Copyright: 2013 Creswell et al. Choose the statements that are most meaningful to you.. Participants then completed individual difference measures, including the 10-item Perceived Stress Scale [26] to assess perceived stress over the last month (all items were summed to form a composite index of chronic stress, study =.87). Participants were informed that a trained evaluator would administer the performance task. Why Do People Believe in Conspiracy Theories? [4], One of the most common ways to induce self-affirmation is to have participants write about a personally relevant value. The present study provides the first evidence that self-affirmation can protect against the deleterious effects of stress on problem-solving performance. 0000004722 00000 n Given this broad age range and the marginally significantly association between age and overall RAT performance (r=.21, p=.07), we controlled for age in all analyses. 0000002796 00000 n Previously, such effects had been viewed as evidence of a basic motivation for psychological consistency; people want to see their attitudes as consistent with their actions. Steele, C. M. (1988). Claude Steele originally popularized self-affirmation theory in the late 1980s,[1][2] and it remains a well-studied theory in social psychological research.[3][4]. For full functionality of this site, please enable JavaScript. It is possible that the stress buffering effects of self-affirmation on problem-solving performance that we obtained are specific to evaluative performance settings, since all of our participants completed difficult RAT items under time pressure in front of a critical evaluator. Importantly, there was no main effect for either self-affirmation condition (2(8)=6.36, p=.61) or chronic stress level (2(8)=6.50, p=.59) on the #1 ranked value. One of the most important implications of contemporary research on self-affirmation theory involves its demonstration that seemingly small interventions can have large effects, if they are attuned to psychological processes of self-integrity maintenance. This site needs JavaScript to work properly. Thus we did not find supporting evidence for positive affect as a mediator for the self-affirmation main effect or the chronic stress self-affirmation interaction on problem-solving performance. Self-affirmation theory is based on the idea that we are motivated to maintain our self-worth in the face of threats (Sherman & Cohen, 2006). Loch et al. Self-affirmation theory also illuminates the way in which prejudice and stereotyping are forms of self-integrity maintenance. Some studies have observed increases in self-esteem following self-affirmation,[27] whereas other have found no effect on self-esteem.