How I see me depends on how I see we: the role of attachment style in social comparison.
The self-concept is a social, flexible construct that shifts in response to the salience of a relationship partner. Three related experiments found that the tendency to pursue closeness in relationships (as measured by attachment style) served as a moderator of the shift. Specifically, individuals who avoid closeness in relationships became less similar to salient friends via contrast effects, whereas those who pursued closeness in relationships became more similar to salient friends via assimilation effects. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the nature of the self-concept and the importance of friendships.
Gabriel
Shira
S
Psychology Department, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA. sgabriel@buffalo.edu
Carvallo
Mauricio
M
Dean
Kristy K
KK
Tippin
Brooke
B
Renaud
Jeanette
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D005260:Female; D033062:Friends / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009518:New York; D009769:Object Attachment; D012649:Self Concept; D012938:Social Perception