title: Remind Me Who I Am: Social Interaction Strategies for Maintaining the Threatened Self-Concept.
abstract: After failure, individuals frequently turn to others for support. The current research examined the process through which individuals utilize interpersonal relationships to stabilize threatened self-views. We may seek support to reassure us with warmth and acceptance after a self-threat, or to provide support for threatened self-knowledge. We proposed that although both types of support are likely to repair the affective consequences of a self-threat, only interacting with others who can provide evidence from the individuals' past that reconfirms a threatened self-aspect would help stabilize the self-concept. Two studies demonstrated that, for individuals who have suffered a self-threat, receiving specific evidentiary support for the threatened self-aspect was more effective at restoring confidence in both the specific self-aspect and at recovering self-concept clarity than was receiving emotional support, whether the interaction was imagined (Study 1), or offered in person (Study 2) after the threat.
authors.affiliation: Villanova University, Villanova, PA, USA erica.slotter@villanova.edu.
authors.forename: Erica B
authors.initials: EB
authors.lastname: Slotter
authors.affiliation: Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Wendi L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Gardner
keywords: self-concept clarity; self-threat; social interactions