title: Self-Affirmation Activates the Ventral Striatum: A Possible Reward-Related Mechanism for Self-Affirmation.
abstract: Self-affirmation (reflecting on important personal values) has been shown to have a range of positive effects; however, the neural basis of self-affirmation is not known. Building on studies showing that thinking about self-preferences activates neural reward pathways, we hypothesized that self-affirmation would activate brain reward circuitry during functional MRI (fMRI) studies. In Study 1, with college students, making judgments about important personal values during self-affirmation activated neural reward regions (i.e., ventral striatum), whereas making preference judgments that were not self-relevant did not. Study 2 replicated these results in a community sample, again showing that self-affirmation activated the ventral striatum. These are among the first fMRI studies to identify neural processes during self-affirmation. The findings extend theory by showing that self-affirmation may be rewarding and may provide a first step toward identifying a neural mechanism by which self-affirmation may produce a wide range of beneficial effects.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles jdutcher@ucla.edu.
authors.forename: Janine M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Dutcher
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University.
authors.forename: J David
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Creswell
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University.
authors.forename: Laura E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Pacilio
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Sussex.
authors.forename: Peter R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh.
authors.forename: William M P
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Klein
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Pittsburgh.
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Levine
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Science, University of California, Los Angeles Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology, University of California, Los Angeles.
authors.forename: Julienne E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Bower
authors.affiliation: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholars Program, University of California, San Francisco, and University of California, Berkeley.
authors.forename: Keely A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Muscatell
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of California, Los Angeles.
authors.forename: Naomi I
authors.initials: NI
authors.lastname: Eisenberger
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012201:Reward; D012649:Self Concept; D000068356:Self-Control; D014481:United States; D066328:Ventral Striatum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: neural reward regions; self-affirmation; ventral striatum