Self-image resilience and dissonance: the role of affirmational resources.
It was predicted that high self-esteem Ss (HSEs) would rationalize an esteem-threatening decision less than low self-esteem Ss (LSEs), because HSEs presumably had more favorable self-concepts with which to affirm, and thus repair, their overall sense of self-integrity. This prediction was supported in 2 experiments within the "free-choice" dissonance paradigm--one that manipulated self-esteem through personality feedback and the other that varied it through selection of HSEs and LSEs, but only when Ss were made to focus on their self-concepts. A 3rd experiment countered an alternative explanation of the results in terms of mood effects that may have accompanied the experimental manipulations. The results were discussed in terms of the following: (a) their support for a resources theory of individual differences in resilience to self-image threats--an extension of self-affirmation theory, (b) their implications for self-esteem functioning, and (c) their implications for the continuing debate over self-enhancement versus self-consistency motivation.
Steele
C M
CM
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, California 94305-2130.
Spencer
S J
SJ
Lynch
M
M
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D004213:Dissociative Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D005246:Feedback; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010553:Personality Development; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012649:Self Concept; D012944:Social Support