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Abstract
The need for understanding serves as a theme throughout social and personality psychology. It is reflected in people’s striving toward a shared, social construction of reality (e.g., conformity, uniformity) that runs through so much of the history of theory and research in the field. Stemming from this core motivation, the literature is peppered with illustrations of the preeminence of certainty as a goal (e.g., clarity, consistency, consonance, and related constructs) and the ultimate objective of cultural consensus. Yet, the role of doubt in the form of shaky certainty about the basis for beliefs in attitudes – or doubts about one’s self-esteem or self-concept – has increasingly taken center stage. This review takes the self-competence element (vs. self-liking element) of self-worth judgments as its focus and provides an integration of individual difference approaches and experimental investigations of self-doubt. Long neglected, self-doubt increasingly appears critical for understanding some of the surprising, ironic, and self-defeating cognitive, emotional, and behavioral findings seen in the achievement realm.
... Chronic self-doubt refers to a metacognitive representation of uncertainty about one's abilities (Braslow et al., 2012). Chronic self-doubt is associated with poor psychological wellbeing, such as negative affect, low self-esteem, and a sense of unworthiness (Hermann et al. 2002;Oleson et al., 2000;Wichman & Hermann, 2010). ...
... Chronic self-doubt is associated with poor psychological wellbeing, such as negative affect, low self-esteem, and a sense of unworthiness (Hermann et al. 2002;Oleson et al., 2000;Wichman & Hermann, 2010). To cope with self-doubt, individuals have been observed to adopt various maladaptive strategies such as self-handicapping and subjective over-achievement (Braslow et al., 2012;Jones & Berglas, 1978;Oleson et al., 2000). ...
... Effects of Chronic Self-Doubt Self-doubt refers to an uncertainty or a lack of clarity about one's own abilities (Braslow et al., 2012). Most people experience self-doubt at times. ...
Research has shown negative effects of chronic self-doubt on psychological and performance outcomes. Two experiments were conducted to examine (a) the malleability of the mindset about self-doubt; and (b) whether shifting to a more positive mindset reduces the negative effects of self-doubt. Participants in Experiment 1 were randomly assigned to one of two mindset induction conditions (positive versus negative). A control group was added in Experiment 2, in which we also enhanced the strength and symmetry of the positive and negative mindset inductions. The results from both experiments showed a significant change in self-doubt mindset in the hypothesized direction as a result of the mindset induction. Interestingly, Experiment 2 revealed that priming either positive or negative mindset diminished the negative self-doubt effects on task engagement, relative to the control group. The findings for the negative mindset group were counter to the hypothesis but replicated what was observed in Experiment 1.
... Self-doubt is conceptualized as global uncertainty about one's abilities and potential for success (Arkin & Oleson, 1998;Braslow, Guerrettaz, Arkin, & Oleson, 2012;Oleson, Poehlmann, Yost, Lynch, & Arkin, 2000;Reich & Arkin, 2010;Wichman & Hermann, 2010). It is important to note that by "self-doubt" we refer to uncertainty about one's ability and capacity to succeed, not certainty that one will fail. ...
... It is important to note that by "self-doubt" we refer to uncertainty about one's ability and capacity to succeed, not certainty that one will fail. People with high self-doubt do not necessarily expect to fail; rather, they are uncertain about their likelihood of success and often the basis for their successes (Braslow et al., 2012). In this paper we consider a specific type of self-doubt, the doubt concerning one's intellectual abilities. ...
... The present research was conducted with college students, for whom one of the most relevant types of competence, especially in a laboratory setting, is intellectual ability and doing well academically (see Pilot Study, below). In the remainder of the paper, we use the term selfdoubt to refer to intellectual self-doubt, following Braslow et al. (2012). This is not to say, however, that self-doubt is restricted exclusively to the intellectual domain. ...
This research investigated the hypothesis that intellectual competence is chronically accessible to individuals who question their own intellectual competence, despite their own uncertainty on this dimension, and that they rely on intellectual competence in forming impressions of and thinking about others. In two studies, we show that doubtful individuals are more likely to use traits related to intellectual competence to describe others and these traits more strongly affect their overall impressions of others. These findings support recent approaches to accessibility by showing that a self-relevant trait may be chronically accessible to an individual even in the face of uncertainty regarding one's standing on the trait. The findings also contribute to the understanding of the phenomenology of self-doubt.
... According to Chen et al. (2014), children's internal factors, such as selfdoubt, might mediate this relationship. Self-doubt refers to a subjective lack of confidence in one's abilities or self-worth (Braslow et al., 2012). Self-doubt is a component of selfperception, which includes self-esteem (Davis, 2001;Xu et al., 2021), and is influenced by various family risk factors, such as lack of parental care, which is recognized as one factor (Wang et al., 2024;KavehFarsani et al., 2020). ...
To investigate the predictive impact of parental care deficit on left-behind children’s incidence of depression and the influencing factors involved, our study employed the Parental Care Deficit Questionnaire, the Self-Doubt Scale, the Depressed Mood Scale, and the Friendship Quality Scale. A total of 593 left-behind children, with an average age of 13.8 years, were surveyed. The study found that parental care deficit significantly and positively predicted depression. Self-doubt played a partial mediating role in the relationship between parental care deficit and depression; friendship quality moderated the relationship between parental care deficit and self-doubt. When friendship quality was high, parental care deficit’s effect on self-doubt was enhanced, leading to higher levels of depression. This study uncovers the internal mechanisms through which parental care deficit impacts depression in left-behind children. On one hand, parental care deprivation directly affects left-behind children’s depression; on the other hand, it indirectly affects depression through self-doubt. Finally, friendship quality moderates the association between parental care deficit and self-doubt.
... Lastly, the lily questions its own nature. In modern psychology and studies of personality, such a phenomenon is known as self-doubt, which affects our well-being by challenging the foundations of our self-conception (Braslow et al. 2012;Zhao and Gong 2019;. ...
This paper argues for the thesis that social comparison is, for Kierkegaard, a vice. The first part of this article reconstructs Kierkegaard’s understanding of the nature of social comparison. Here, I bring attention to his anthropological but also political and sociological observations that pertain to social comparison and its links to modernity. The second part reconstructs the moral psychological account of social comparison in Kierkegaard, drawing on some of the available secondary literature. I complement Kierkegaard’s consideration of social comparison in relation to worry and humility with his account of the non-cognitive aspects of its operationality. The third part demonstrates that social comparison is a vice. Therein, drawing on the previous sections of this article, I identify Kierkegaard’s naturalistic argument engaged to present social comparison as a non-moral and non-religious vice (functionalism), pointing toward its intermeshing with the moral religious.
... This doubt becomes a triggering factor to ask either to continue in the formation or to stop it. Doubts regarding one's self-esteem or self-concept, as well as a fragile assurance about the foundations of beliefs and attitudes, have assumed a more prominent position in society (Braslow et al., 2012). Pythagoras shared that his reason for leaving the seminary formation was purely personal that being driven by his self-doubt and personal crisis. ...
This narrative inquiry aims at how the former seminarians describe their marriage experiences after shifting from seminary life. The research participants are five former seminarians who had been in the seminary formation for five years or more and have been married for five years or more also. The participants, who are former seminarians, shared their life journey about the contribution of the seminary formation to their lives, reasons why they left the seminary formation, reasons why they shifted to married life vocation, influences of seminary formation on them in raising a family, their parenting styles, challenges of their married life, and on how they manage their married life challenges. Each factor produces various themes that are being presented in the results and discussion. The journey of human life is constantly changing, and there are a lot of life experiences that are seemingly interesting.
... 23 In addition, individuals who experience much self-doubt do not necessarily anticipate failure; instead, they are unsure about their chances of succeeding. 24 Finally, the adverse effects of self-doubt may be caused by an underlying implicit notion that ability is fixed rather than adjustable. 15 ...
Self-doubt may negatively affect the development of prelicensure nursing students as they prepare to become practice-ready members of the workforce. Walker and Avant's method of analysis was used to explore generalized self-doubt as well as within the context of a contemporary nursing education framework: Aller's Development of Decision-Making and Self-Efficacy Model (ADD-SEM). Results indicate that several attributes of generalized self-doubt, as a form of low psychological capital, were consistent with this construct of the ADD-SEM and should be considered as nurse educators strive to ensure new nurses are prepared for the complexity of today's health care systems.
... It is normal to experience self-doubt sometimes, but chronic self-doubt is problematic and negatively related to well-being. It is related to enhanced sensitivity to the implications of one's results, which can negatively impact performance by diverting attention from the task and focusing it on the self (Braslow et al., 2012). Self-doubt is thought to trigger self-defensive strategies to cope with challenging tasks, most notably self-handicapping and overachieving. ...
Students face frequent formal and informal tests, both in the academic context and
social life. On each of these occasions, they risk falling short of their own or others’
expectations. Facing failure is a psychological challenge, and people can react with
defensive strategies, which may have negative consequences. Here we investigated
the role of self-esteem as a possible bufer against these defensive strategies. Previous research has demonstrated that, in the face of failure, individuals with discrepant
(fragile: high explicit and low implicit, or damaged: high implicit and low explicit)
self-esteem are more likely to engage in defensive mechanisms than individuals with
consistent implicit and explicit self-esteem. Two studies investigate the relationship
between implicit and explicit self-esteem and two defensive strategies against the
threat of failure: subjective overachievement and retroactive excuses. In Study 1
(N=176 high school students), we fnd an association between fragile self-esteem
and subjective overachievement. In Study 2 (N=101 university students), damaged
self-esteem is related to the increased use of retroactive excuses as a form of selfserving bias. These results add to the growing body of evidence documenting the
maladaptive nature of fragile and damaged self-esteem.
... In other words, depreciation beliefs are very extreme and final (e.g., "I am a complete failure") and with such negative self-evaluation it is understandable how damaging this belief could be for mental health. Individuals who believe that they are a complete failure are more likely to also report greater self-doubt (Balkis & Duru, 2018) and lower self-esteem (Chamberlain & Haaga, 2001), both of which are important for wellbeing outcomes (e.g., Braslow et al., 2012;Henriksen et al., 2017). In sum, self-depreciation is a worthy construct for further study within the context of mental and physical health because it appears to be particularly deleterious. ...
In the research concerning rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) in sport and exercise, irrational beliefs are proposed as a risk factor for health. Concurrent to this, researchers have also indicated that autonomous and controlled motivation, as proposed in organismic integration theory could, together with irrational beliefs, could determine individual health. However, research is yet to align irrational beliefs and motivation, and explore how this alignment relates to mental health. The present two study paper identifies individual subgroups, drawn from data concerning irrational beliefs, motivation, and health (psychological distress, and physical health), in a sample of exercisers (study 1) and student athletes (study 2). We examined the latent profile structure of irrational beliefs and motivation, and how these latent profiles relate to psychological distress (studies 1 and 2), and physical health (study 2). Results indicate a two class profile whereby class 1 is characterised by high irrational beliefs, low self-determined motivation, and poor health outcomes. Class 2 is characterised by low irrational beliefs, high self-determined motivation, and better health outcomes. The findings are discussed in relation to the theoretical implications for REBT and organismic integration theory, and the practical implications for key stakeholders in the health of exercise participants and athletes.
... To be sure, people are often plagued by idiosyncratic selfdoubts (Braslow, Guerrettaz, Arkin, & Oleson, 2012) and there are circumstances in which people as a whole think they are below average. In nonclinical populations, however, such pessimism is most reliably observed in domains that are not terribly selfrelevant (Pedregon, Farley, Davis, Wood, & Clark, 2012), in which the behavior of relevant others is not easily observed (Miller & McFarland, 1991), or in which people's own absolute level of skill is undeniably low (e.g., juggling, improvisation comedy, and computer programming; Kruger, 1999;Moore & Small, 2007). ...
Although decades of research show that people tend to see themselves in the best possible light, we present evidence that people have a surprisingly grim outlook on their social lives. In 11 studies (N = 3,293; including 3 preregistered), we find that most people think that others lead richer and more active social lives than they do themselves. We show that this bias holds across multiple populations (college students, MTurk respondents, shoppers at a local mall, and participants from a large, income-stratified online panel), correlates strongly with well-being, and is particularly acute for social activities (e.g., the number of parties one attends or proximity to the “inner circle” of one’s social sphere). We argue that this pessimistic bias stems from the fact that trendsetters and socialites come most easily to mind as a standard of comparison and show that reducing the availability of extremely social people eliminates this bias. We conclude by discussing implications for research on social comparison and self-enhancement.
... Research suggests that individuals use different types of coping strategies to deal with chronic self-doubt. Selfhandicapping and subjective overachievement (Braslow, Guerrettaz, Arkin, & Oleson, 2012;Jones & Berglas, 1978;Oleson et al., 2000) are two of the most notable 622539S GOXXX10.1177/2158244015622539SAGE OpenZhao andWichman research-article2015 1 Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, USA coping strategies. ...
Past research has typically shown negative effects of self-doubt on performance and psychological well-being. We suggest that these self-doubt effects largely may be due to an underlying assumption that ability is innate and fixed. The present research investigated the main hypothesis that incremental beliefs about ability might ameliorate negative effects of self-doubt. We examined our hypotheses using two lab tasks: verbal reasoning and anagram tasks. Participants’ self-doubt was measured and beliefs about ability were measured after participants read articles advocating either for incremental or entity theories of ability. American College Testing (ACT) scores were obtained to index actual ability level. Consistent with our hypothesis, for participants who believed ability was relatively fixed, higher self-doubt was associated with increased negative affect and lower task performance and engagement. In contrast, for participants who believed that ability was malleable, negative self-doubt effects were ameliorated; self-doubt was even associated with better task performance. These effects were further moderated by participants’ academic ability. These findings suggest that mind-sets about ability moderate self-doubt effects. Self-doubt may have negative effects only when it is interpreted as signaling that ability is immutably low.
Through technical rationality, healthcare professionals address instrumental problems by applying the theory and technique arising from scientific knowledge. Nevertheless, the divergent situations of practice characterised by uncertainty, instability, and uniqueness place nurses in a positivist epistemological dilemma. Decision-making under uncertainty is a challenge that nurses face in clinical practice daily. Nurses anticipate critical events based on the interaction between (un)known factors of clinical reasoning, putting uncertainty tolerance into perspective. With undeniable epistemological relevance, few nursing researchers have addressed this issue. Based on the insights garnered from the panel held at the 26th International Nursing Philosophy Conference, this discussion paper examines the inception of uncertainty within nursing reasoning, intertwining introspection, abstraction, and the rich discussions from the conference. Accordingly, the philosophical underpinnings of the perceived experience of uncertainty will be briefly addressed, while framing the decision-making challenges faced by nurses. A compelling dimension of nursing care emerges when we delve into the inception of uncertainty, prompting a deeper examination of the interplay between its perception and consciousness in clinical practice, and the gravitation of uncertainty in the process of empirical reasoning. Navigating uncertainty involves varying individual responses, influenced by tolerance levels. Moral appropriateness is determined by their adaptability rather than solely their positivity or logical consistency, highlighting constancy as a quality demanding alignment with an understanding of challenges.
This conceptual paper explores the seldom-discussed "unspoken rules" or managerial taboos that are often part of a manager's career but are rarely acknowledged openly. These sensitive issues can trigger feelings of guilt, shame, or self-doubt, creating tension between a manager's real identity and the idealized image of an "ideal manager." We propose a conceptual model that links this identity conflict to adverse outcomes, such as decreased productivity and compromised mental and physical health. We argue that the idealized identity is facilitated by several processes in broader management education and learning processes: idealized management skills taught in business schools, popular literature that defines what a "good manager" should be, and high expectations from stakeholders, colleagues, and employees. We recommend transforming management education and training because confronting these managerial taboo topics head-on is necessary to help managers become more resilient and effective and improve their overall well-being.
Problem The effects of a revision program on undergraduate nursing students’ preparedness for their final clinical placement leading to their graduate year are unknown. Aim To explore students’ perceptions of confidence, anxiety, self-doubt, and preparedness for a high-acuity clinical placement following a three-day structured revision program. Method This was a mixed methods study conducted in the final year of the undergraduate nursing degree. Data were collected by survey using a self-developed 10-item instrument with three components of confidence, inhibitors (self-doubt/anxiety), and preparedness (n = 75) and by semi-structured individual interviews and focus group (7 students in total). Independent sample t-tests were used to compare data between components’ scores and demographic characteristics. Interview data were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Students who attended the revision program had significantly higher scores for confidence, inhibitors, and preparation. Higher scores in one or more components were associated with enrolment in the Bachelor of Nursing (BN) versus the Bachelor of Nursing/Bachelor of Midwifery, enrolment in the accelerated pathway of the BN, older age, and previous healthcare experience. Four themes emerged from the qualitative data: anticipatory concerns, confidence, preparedness, and striving to belong. Conclusion The findings have potential implications for adverse learning outcomes and poor student performance because of negative behaviours, lack of preparedness, and belongingness. There is a need to structure curricula, implement instructional support for students with anxiety and self-doubt, and faculty to align pedagogy to best educational practices with student attendance at structured revision sessions before each clinical placement.
The global context in which national development is taking place has changed in important ways, including widening and entrenched inequalities, deglobalisation, weakened democracies, more aggressive dictatorships and the rise of authoritarian strongmen in many countries. Within this changed context, we examine the central role of the democratic citizen and political plasticity in national development. Our arguments are supported by reference to empirical psychological studies, as well as applied challenges in national development. We identify the 10 most important psychological characteristics of the democratic citizen. Achieving these characteristics requires change, which we discuss through the concept of political plasticity, how fast, in what ways, and how much political behaviour can (and cannot) be changed. We point out that in some domains political plasticity is very low and changes extremely slowly. We identify a narrative approach as the best path for nurturing democratic citizens, building on the narrative story-telling tradition that is already indigenous to many non-Western societies. The incorporation of a narrative tradition to strengthen democratic citizenship does not require expensive technology or other material resources.
In this article, we discuss the application of doubt fuzzy set in a pollution sensitive economic production quantity (EPQ) model. Here, we study some doubtful situations like proper, harmful, depressive and confident based on human decision-making behaviour of a lifelong inventory process. Secondly, we construct two-layer supply chain model of profit a maximization problem with backlogging. In fact, in supply chain there exists so many processes uncertainty due to doubts of managerial decision making. These doubts are basically coming from the actual quantity to be ordered and that of backorder quantity in a specific cycle time. Therefore, considering several doubt fuzzy sets in the order quantity, we construct a doubt fuzzy model by taking a case study then solve it with the help of a novel approach. Finally, numerical illustrations, sensitivity analysis, comparative study and graphical explanations are done to justify the proposed work.
We adopt and extend the concept of ‘noncooperative space’ to analyze how (aspirant) black women intellectual activists attempt to sustain their efforts within settings that publicly endorse racial equality, while, in practice, the contexts remain deeply racist. Noncooperative spaces reflect institutional, organizational, and social environments portrayed by powerful white agents as conducive to anti-racism work and promoting racial equality but, indeed, constrain individuals who challenge racism. Our work, which is grounded in intersectionality, draws on an autoethnographic account of racially motivated domestic violence suffered by our lead author. Our analysis suggests that (aspirant) black women intellectual activists must develop courage to sustain their ‘voice’ within noncooperative spaces. However, the three interlinked dimensions of noncooperative spaces—namely, deceiving design, hegemonic actors’ indifference to racism, and (some assimilated gatekeepers’) false equivalence—may gradually erode a black female scholar’s courage. This forces her ‘voice’ to vanish temporarily, or even permanently. Courage is thus fragile and depletable. Yet, courage can be regenerated, resulting in regaining voice. Consequently, we propose courageous collective action by white allies and black and brown individuals who voluntarily and officially cooperate within and across various spaces to achieve racial equality.
This article deals with the novel application of complex neutrosophic set in a production inventory model. First of all, we develop a new set named doubt fuzzy set the real and imaginary parts of which are the membership functions of fuzzy variables. The real part of the set is coined as “true or sure” and that for complex part it is defined as “hesitation or suspect” membership functions or it may be defined as “optimism” and “pessimism” respectively in the psychological view point. Then, we give some definitions of doubt fuzzy set in a rectangular complex plane. Subsequently, we give novel defuzzification method by introducing the concept of power of difficulty / opportunity power which are complementary to each other. Secondly, we develop a backlogging economic production quantity (EPQ) model the demand function of which is disrupted due to the presence of shortages. Assuming the demand function as complex in nature, we develop four types of doubt fuzzy sets namely proper doubt, harmful doubt, depressive doubt and confident doubt respectively and split the model into four sub-models accordingly. Based on new defuzzification method, we have introduced a new solution algorithm named dynamical doubt fuzzy optimization algorithm (DDFOA). By this new approach we have shown that with the application of learning vector by means of opportunity power/ fitness of various test functions the decision maker can achieve and avail the financial benefit as (s)he wishes to adopt. However, the concept of robust intelligent decision making has been discussed extensively through the numerical illustrations. Finally, sensitivity analysis, graphical illustrations are made to justify the proposed approach.
Problem
Where misperceptions and a lack of understanding of the realities of the Nursing profession exist, this can result in students entering into Nursing degrees without understanding the academic knowledge, behavioural and physical attributes and other inherent requirements necessary to undertake and succeed in their studies and subsequent career.
Question
Can an ‘Assessment for Learning’ approach result in enhanced student understanding of inherent requirements and their relationship to registered nurse attributes?
Methods
This interpretive study analysed students’ written reflections on two Bachelor of Nursing inherent requirement statements using latent content analysis. Purposive sampling of all 165 students enrolled in an introductory professional nursing unit was undertaken with 162 (98.2%) consenting to provide demographic data and have their reflections analysed following completion of their unit.
Findings
Four themes were identified: Eye opening, responding to self-examination, setting goals and effecting change, and affirming beliefs and attributes.
Discussion
Analysis of the students’ reflections on the nursing inherent requirements showed they exhibited enhanced awareness, understanding and acknowledgement of personal areas to be addressed, as well as goal setting and the beginnings of acculturation and movement along the pre-professional identity to professional identity continuum.
Conclusion
An assessment for learning approach enhanced beginning students understanding of requirements inherent in undertaking a Bachelor of Nursing degree, enabling them to set goals for their development as they linked the BNIRs to the attributes required of a registered nurse.
Past research has shown negative effects of chronic self-doubt on psychological and
performance outcomes. Recent correlational evidence suggests that incremental beliefs
about ability ameliorate certain self-doubt effects. The current research examines whether
these correlational findings are robust when subjected to experimental testing. In
Experiment 1 we manipulated beliefs about ability (incremental vs. entity) and
demonstrated that changing beliefs about ability altered responses to self-doubt. For
individuals primed with entity beliefs, higher self-doubt was associated with greater
nervousness and poorer anagram performance; for individuals primed with incremental
beliefs, self-doubt had no significant effects. Experiment 2 was a 2 (manipulated belief:
incremental vs. entity) x 2 (self-doubt: doubt induction vs. control) factorial design. The
result showed that self-doubt induction lowered self-esteem relative to control when
people were primed with entity beliefs, but did not affect self-esteem when incremental
beliefs were primed. However, Experiment 1 results on affect and performance were not
replicated in Experiment 2. Thus, although we provide some causal evidence that inducing
individuals to adopt an ability-is-malleable mindset reduces the negative effects of self-doubt, further experimental work is required to study the moderating role of mindsets for
self-doubt effects.
Materialism is the focus of much research due to its negative consequences for individuals and societies. While recent research indicates that the strength of materialistic value orientations changes with age during adulthood, little is known about the processes that cause these age-related changes. We propose that changes in materialism, as people grow older, are rooted in changes in self-uncertainty. We find evidence for this idea in two studies and across different measures of self-uncertainty. In addition, we show that the changes in materialism cannot be explained by (age-related) differences in socio-demographic variables. Finally, our results indicate that changes in self-uncertainty provide a better account for changes in materialism than age-related changes in self-esteem.
It has been argued that the high achievement of Confucian Asian students is at the cost of their psychological well‐being, since high self‐doubt consistently accompanies their high achievement. However, other researchers cautioned that the attitude toward self‐doubt could be different in Asian versus Western cultures. This study examined the debate with a survey of both American and Chinese college students that measured level of self‐doubt, attitude toward self‐doubt, beliefs about ability, and psychological well‐being outcomes. As hypothesized, Chinese students showed a more positive attitude toward self‐doubt than American students, despite having higher level of self‐doubt. Furthermore, self‐doubt engendered less negative consequences on Chinese students' psychological well‐being, relative to American students. Implications for theories and research on cultural differences in the effects of self‐constructs are discussed.
Within the expanding climate of academic capitalism, the public university faculty’s professional true to self-authenticity is diminishing. For faculty, professional true to self-authenticity is a genuineness embedded within an absolute, natural and core self-expression of academic professionalism. In this current study, a research platform (psycho-social construct and self-appraisal instrument) was developed to assess faculty’s professional true to self-authenticity based on faculty identity, self-aspect of authenticity, durable occupational happiness, autonomy (latitude of academic freedom) and self-competency. Faculty at a public university completed a web-based questionnaire derived from the proposed research platform. Through factor analysis, factor scores were obtained to perform a multiple regression. The result of this data analysis showed the possibility of an inverse relationship between durable happiness and self-competency for public university faculty. Overall, this study offers important researchable directions for future investigations within professional self-authenticity of faculty.
Emerging adulthood (EA) is a critical time for identity exploration and making decisions regarding the future. Although most thrive, some emerging adults struggle with the prominent developmental features of this time. Little is known about factors that may positively influence development during EA. This study examined the mediating impact of mindfulness on the relationship between normative emerging adult processes (identity exploration, experimentation/possibilities, negativity/instability, self-focus, and feeling in-between) and self-doubt, while simultaneously considering the moderating effect of age and gender. Using data from the EA Measured at Multiple Institutions project, reports from 1,293 participants were utilized. Mindfulness mediated the relationship between various aspects of development (negativity/instability, self-focus, and feeling in-between) and self-doubt with age and gender moderating aspects of these relationships. The findings highlight the importance of mindfulness during this important developmental period.
The present research examines how self-concept clarity moderates the impact of feedback about one's self-knowledge. A preliminary study shows that individuals with higher clarity expect the process of defining who they are to be easier than those with lower clarity. Two experiments then test the effect of self-concept clarity on the experience of self-elaboration under conditions of either doubt or confidence. The results suggest that people with higher self-concept clarity show greater differences in self-evaluations based on whether their experience of describing the self is nested within ease and confidence or difficulty and doubt. We suggest that this effect may be a result of the different expectations high- and low-clarity individuals have for the task of describing the self.
The authors argue that individuals regulate perceptions of their relationships in a self-protective way, finding virtue in their partners only when they feel confident that their partners also see virtues in them. In 4 experiments, the authors posed an acute threat to low and high self-esteem individuals’ feelings of self-worth (e.g., guilt about a transgression, fears of being inconsiderate or intellectually inept). They then collected measures of confidence in the partner's positive regard and acceptance (i.e., reflected appraisals) and perceptions of the partner. The results revealed that low self-esteem individuals reacted to self-doubt with heightened doubts about their partners’ regard, which then tarnished impressions of their partners. In contrast, high self-esteem individuals reacted to self-doubts by becoming more convinced of their partners’ continued acceptance, using their relationships as a resource for self-affirmation.
Experienced ease of recall was found to qualify the implications of recalled content. Ss who had to recall 12 examples of assertive (unassertive) behaviors, which was difficult, rated themselves as less assertive (less unassertive) than subjects who had to recall 6 examples, which was easy. In fact, Ss reported higher assertiveness after recalling 12 unassertive rather than 12 assertive behaviors. Thus, self-assessments only reflected the implications of recalled content if recall was easy. The impact of ease of recall was eliminated when its informational value was discredited by a misattribution manipulation. The informative functions of subjective experiences are discussed.
In 2 experiments, college student Ss were instructed to choose between a drug that allegedly interfered with performance and a drug that allegedly enhanced performance. This choice was the main dependent measure of the experiment. The drug choice intervened between work on soluble or insoluble problems and a promised retest on similar problems. In Exp I with 68 males and 43 females, all Ss received success feedback after their initial problem-solving attempts, thus creating one condition in which the success appeared to be accidental (noncontingent on performance) and one in which the success appeared to be contingent on appropriate knowledge. Males in the noncontingent-success condition were alone in preferring the performance-inhibiting drug, presumably because they wished to externalize probable failure on the retest. The predicted effect, however, did not hold for female Ss. Exp II, with 87 Ss, replicated the unique preference shown by males after noncontingent success and showed the critical importance of success feedback. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).
Presents an integrative theoretical framework to explain and to predict psychological changes achieved by different modes of treatment. This theory states that psychological procedures, whatever their form, alter the level and strength of self-efficacy. It is hypothesized that expectations of personal efficacy determine whether coping behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it will be sustained in the face of obstacles and aversive experiences. Persistence in activities that are subjectively threatening but in fact relatively safe produces, through experiences of mastery, further enhancement of self-efficacy and corresponding reductions in defensive behavior. In the proposed model, expectations of personal efficacy are derived from 4 principal sources of information: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. Factors influencing the cognitive processing of efficacy information arise from enactive, vicarious, exhortative, and emotive sources. The differential power of diverse therapeutic procedures is analyzed in terms of the postulated cognitive mechanism of operation. Findings are reported from microanalyses of enactive, vicarious, and emotive modes of treatment that support the hypothesized relationship between perceived self-efficacy and behavioral changes. (21/2 p ref)
This chapter tries to accomplish three objectives. Firstly, it defines the four motives and provides a selective review of research that indicates their prevalence. Secondly, it addresses the issue of the operation of four motives together to regulate self-evaluation. This chapter presents a conceptual framework for understanding the interplay of the four motives. This framework serves as a useful heuristic for consideration of potential moderators that govern the expression of the four motives. Finally, this chapter discusses several problems related to the self-evaluation motives that one believes are in need of empirical attention. This chapter serves to justify the claim that four basic self-evaluation motives have been demonstrated convincingly. Finally, the speculations of this chapter are meant to remind researchers that empirical work to date has taken certain aspects of the self-evaluation process for granted or has neglected other important issues.
The impact on self-esteem of activating self-doubt was investi- gated in three studies. Individuals with enduring high self- doubt were expected to be more threatened by an experimental induction of self-doubt (modeled on the ease of retrieval para- digm) than individuals low in enduring self-doubt, and their self-esteem was predicted to decline. The predictions were sup- ported when self-esteem was measured postexperimentally (Experi- ment 1) and when it was measured both pre- and postexperimentally (Experiment 2). There was no comparable loss in self-esteem for individuals low in self-doubt. A third experiment explored the phenomenology of low-self-doubt individuals and replicated the finding that their level of self-esteem was unaffected by the induc- tion designed to produce doubt.
Research on American students has indicated that a subjective overachiever strives to attain outstanding performance but is also chronically plagued by self-doubt. The present investigation compared Chinese college students in Hong Kong and Singapore to their Caucasian American counterparts in an attempt to examine the similarities and differences in subjective overachievement across cultures. Results supported the relevance of the subjective achievement experience in different cultures but also revealed important differences. Compared to American participants, Chinese participants showed more ambivalence about the benefits of failure, and they manifested higher levels of self-doubt as well as the tendency to discount ability under conditions of effort exertion. These cross-cultural differences persisted after controlling for individual differences in self-construals.
A strategy related to self-handicapping in which individuals supply a comparison other with a performance advantage rather than handicap their own performance was investigated in two experiments. In Exp 1, greater other-enhancement was found among men than among women. In addition, men engaged in the most other-enhancement when expecting that their performance would be compared with that of a coparticipant. In Exp 2, the hypothesis that subjects would facilitate their coparticipant's performance primarily under conditions of uncertainty and competition was supported. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Self-concept clarity (SCC) references a structural aspect of the self-concept: the extent to which self-beliefs are clearly and confidently defined, internally consistent, and stable. This article reports the SCC Scale and examines (a) its correlations with self-esteem (SE), the Big Five dimensions, and self-focused attention (Study 1); (b) its criterion validity (Study 2); and (c) its cultural boundaries (Study 3). Low SCC was independently associated with high Neuroticism, low SE, low Conscientiousness, low Agreeableness, chronic self-analysis, low internal state awareness, and a ruminative form of self-focused attention. The SCC Scale predicted unique variance in 2 external criteria: the stability and consistency of self-descriptions. Consistent with theory on Eastern and Western self-construals, Japanese participants exhibited lower levels of SCC and lower correlations between SCC and SE than did Canadian participants. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Research on self-esteem has focused almost exclusively on level of trait self-esteem to the neglect of other potentially more important aspects such as the contingencies on which self-esteem is based. Over a century ago, W. James (1890) argued that self-esteem rises and falls around its typical level in response to successes and failures in domains on which one has staked self-worth. We present a model of global self-esteem that builds on James' insights and emphasizes contingencies of self-worth. This model can help to (a) point the way to understanding how self-esteem is implicated in affect, cognition, and self-regulation of behavior, (b) suggest how and when self-esteem is implicated in social problems; (c) resolve debates about the nature and functioning of self-esteem; (d) resolve paradoxes in related literatures, such as why people who are stigmatized do not necessarily have low self-esteem and why self-esteem does not decline with age; and (e) suggest how self-esteem is causally related to depression. In addition, this perspective raises questions about how contingencies of self-worth are acquired and how they change, whether they are primarily a resource or a vulnerability, and whether some people have noncontingent self-esteem. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) (journal abstract)
In this paper, we offer a clarified account of global self-esteem as consisting of self-competence and self-liking and describe a revised instrument designed to measure the two correlated dimensions. In Study 1, four measurement models representing distinct conceptions of self-esteem are compared to confirm the a priori structure of the instrument. In Study 2, multiple reporters (self, mother, father) are used to provide evidence for convergent and discriminant validity in a multitrait–multimethod context. Advantages of the two-dimensional approach to measurement are discussed.
Research in the area of self-handicapping has consistently demonstrated a robust yet puzzling gender difference in the use of and evaluation of behavioral self-handicaps; women (1) are less likely to use these forms of handicaps, particularly those involving the actual or reported reduction of effort, and (2) evaluate the use of these handicaps by others more negatively than do men. The present research examines several possible explanations for these consistent gender differences and finds that the personal value placed on effort is an important mediator of these effects.
Experienced ease of recall was found to qualify the implications of recalled content. Ss who had to recall 12 examples of assertive (unassertive) behaviors, which was difficult, rated themselves as less assertive (less unassertive) than subjects who had to recall 6 examples, which was easy. In fact, Ss reported higher assertiveness after recalling 12 unassertive rather than 12 assertive behaviors. Thus, self-assessments only reflected the implications of recalled content if recall was easy. The impact of ease of recall was eliminated when its informational value was discredited by a misattribution manipulation. The informative functions of subjective experiences are discussed.
Although widely invoked as an explanation for psychological phenomena, ego threat has been conceptualized and induced in a variety of ways. Most contemporary research conceptualizes ego threat as a threat to a person's self-image or self-esteem, but experimental operationalizations of ego threat usually confound threats to self-esteem with threats to public image or decreased control over negative events, leading to an inability to distinguish the effects of threats to people's personal egos from threats to public image or threats to feelings of control. This article reviews research on ego threat, discusses experimental manipulations that confound ego threat with other processes, and makes recommendations regarding the use of ego threat as a construct in personality and social psychology.
Stereotype threat is being at risk of confirming, as self-characteristic, a negative stereotype about one's group. Studies 1 and 2 varied the stereotype vulnerability of Black participants taking a difficult verbal test by varying whether or not their performance was ostensibly diagnostic of ability, and thus, whether or not they were at risk of fulfilling the racial stereotype about their intellectual ability. Reflecting the pressure of this vulnerability, Blacks underperformed in relation to Whites in the ability-diagnostic condition but not in the nondiagnostic condition (with Scholastic Aptitude Tests controlled). Study 3 validated that ability-diagnosticity cognitively activated the racial stereotype in these participants and motivated them not to conform to it, or to be judged by it. Study 4 showed that mere salience of the stereotype could impair Blacks' performance even when the test was not ability diagnostic. The role of stereotype vulnerability in the standardized test performance of ability-stigmatized groups is discussed.
A hypothesized need to form and maintain strong, stable interpersonal relationships is evaluated in light of the empirical literature. The need is for frequent, nonaversive interactions within an ongoing relational bond. Consistent with the belongingness hypothesis, people form social attachments readily under most conditions and resist the dissolution of existing bonds. Belongingness appears to have multiple and strong effects on emotional patterns and on cognitive processes. Lack of attachments is linked to a variety of ill effects on health, adjustment, and well-being. Other evidence, such as that concerning satiation, substitution, and behavioral consequences, is likewise consistent with the hypothesized motivation. Several seeming counterexamples turned out not to disconfirm the hypothesis. Existing evidence supports the hypothesis that the need to belong is a powerful, fundamental, and extremely pervasive motivation.
The authors argue that individuals regulate perceptions of their relationships in a self-protective way, finding virtue in their partners only when they feel confident that their partners also see virtues in them. In 4 experiments, the authors posed an acute threat to low and high self-esteem individuals' feelings of self-worth (e.g., guilt about a transgression, fears of being inconsiderate or intellectually inept). They then collected measures of confidence in the partner's positive regard and acceptance (i.e., reflected appraisals) and perceptions of the partner. The results revealed that low self-esteem individuals reacted to self-doubt with heightened doubts about their partners' regard, which then tarnished impressions of their partners. In contrast, high self-esteem individuals reacted to self-doubts by becoming more convinced of their partners' continued acceptance, using their relationships as a resource for self-affirmation.
This important handbook provides a comprehensive, authoritative review of achievement motivation and establishes the concept of competence as an organizing framework for the field. The editors synthesize diverse perspectives on why and how individuals are motivated in school, work, sports, and other settings. Written by leading investigators, chapters reexamine central constructs in achievement motivation; explore the impact of developmental, contextual, and sociocultural factors; and analyze the role of self-regulatory processes. Focusing on the ways in which achievement is motivated by the desire to experience competence and avoid experiencing incompetence, the volume integrates disparate theories and findings and sets forth a coherent agenda for future research.
Three studies tested whether self-doubt stems more from the absence of a strong desired self or the presence of a strong undesired self. Across studies, participants completed individual difference measures and then imagined a desired, neutral, or undesired possible self and completed strength measures for the imagined possible self. As predicted, compared to low self-doubt participants, high self-doubt participants reported less confidence in imagined desired selves and were slower to respond to desired self-consistent terms; however, they did not differ on explicit (confidence) or implicit (response speed) strength measures for imagined neutral or undesired selves. Moreover, the weaker desired selves imagined by high self-doubt participants predicted lower performance (compared to low self-doubt participants) on a final achievement test. Finally, the interactive effect of self-doubt and imagery on performance held after controlling for self-esteem and self-concept clarity but, consistent with predictions, was mediated by strength of the possible self.
The two studies reported in this article examined the psychometric properties of the Self-Handicapping Scale (SHS), an individual difference measure of the tendency to engage in behaviors that strategically protect self-esteem. In the first study, initial analyses indicated that the SHS possessed one major factor and several trivial factors. As a result, an abbreviated form of the scale was created; this short form possesses internal consistency higher than that found in the original scale. Correlational analyses with both versions indicated that high self-handicapping was related reliably to high public self-consciousness, high social anxiety, high other-directedness, high depression, and low self-esteem. These relations were stronger when the short form was used, suggesting its psychometric as well as practical utility. In a second study, the validity of the short form was examined by administering it to a sample of students along with a questionnaire that requested information concerning extenuating circumstances that would limit the students' demonstration of ability on a course exam. The excuses questionnaire was administered after the first exam and immediately prior to the second exam. High self-handicappers claimed more excuses both after the first exam and prior to the second exam. Taken together, these findings suggest the utility of the abbreviated SHS for future research.
Explores the hypothesis that alcohol use and underachievement may serve as strategies to externalize the causation of poor performance and to internalize the causation of good performance. Such a strategy may be prominently used especially by those who have a precarious but not entirely negative sense of self-competence. The etiology of this strategic preference may follow either of two scenarios. The child may attach desperate importance to this competence image because competence is the condition for deserving parental love. Or the child may have been rewarded for accidental attributes or performances that do not predict future success, thus leaving him in a position of one who has reached a status he fears he cannot maintain through his own control. The linkage of alcohol appeal to underachievement strategies is stressed; both are seen as expressions of the same overconcern with competence.
The authors argue that individuals with more negative models of self are involved in less satisfying relationships because they have difficulty believing that they are loved by good partners. Dating and married couples completed measures of self-models, perceptions of the partner’s love, perceptions of the partner, and relationship well-being. The results revealed that individuals troubled by self-doubt underestimated the strength of their partners’ love. Such unwarranted insecurities predicted less positive perceptions of their partners. In conjunction, feeling less loved by a less-valuable partner predicted less satisfaction and less optimism for the future than the partner’s feelings of love and commitment warranted. A dependency regulation model is described, where feeling loved by a good, responsive partner is thought to represent a sense of felt security that diminishes the risks of interdependence and promotes closeness.
Four studies explored whether perceived implicit theories (Dweck, Chiu, & Hong, 1995) of others have the potential to engender self-doubt and influence one's self-attributions. Study 1 showed that people are aware of the attributional implications of evaluators' implicit theories. Study 2 showed that people can use social cues to detect evaluators' implicit theories. In Study 3, participants who believed that significant others endorsed an entity theory of intelligence exhibited greater self-doubt and made attributions for their own outcomes that were more stable (for negative events) and global (for negative and positive events). Finally, in Study 4, a manipulation of evaluators' implicit theories interacted with performance expectations to predict self-doubt about an upcoming evaluative situation. Compared to their counterparts with incremental evaluators, participants with entity evaluators reported greater self-doubt when they expected to do poorly and less self-doubt when they expected to do well. Discussion focuses on social influences on self-construal.
People feel, think, and act differently when doubt rather than confidence is accessible. A traditional perspective on the accessibility of doubt holds that multiple sources of doubt activation should lead to increased levels of uncertainty. In contrast, we find that under some conditions two sequential sources of doubt activation result in decreased levels of uncertainty. We suggest that this follows from a meta-cognitive process in which people come to “doubt their doubt.” In Study 1, individuals with chronically accessible uncertainty who were further exposed to an uncertainty manipulation paradoxically reported reduced uncertainty. In Study 2, participants were first primed with doubt or certainty and then exposed to a manipulation associated with either confidence (i.e., head nodding) or doubt (head shaking). Supporting the idea that people can either trust or doubt their own doubts, head nodding (vs. shaking) accentuated (vs. attenuated) the impact of the initial doubt vs. certainty manipulation. These findings advance the literature on meta-cognition, self-doubt, and embodiment, and may have clinical applications.
• As the title suggests, this book examines the psychology of interpersonal relations. In the context of this book, the term "interpersonal relations" denotes relations between a few, usually between two, people. How one person thinks and feels about another person, how he perceives him and what he does to him, what he expects him to do or think, how he reacts to the actions of the other--these are some of the phenomena that will be treated. Our concern will be with "surface" matters, the events that occur in everyday life on a conscious level, rather than with the unconscious processes studied by psychoanalysis in "depth" psychology. These intuitively understood and "obvious" human relations can, as we shall see, be just as challenging and psychologically significant as the deeper and stranger phenomena. The discussion will center on the person as the basic unit to be investigated. That is to say, the two-person group and its properties as a superindividual unit will not be the focus of attention. Of course, in dealing with the person as a member of a dyad, he cannot be described as a lone subject in an impersonal environment, but must be represented as standing in relation to and interacting with another person. The chapter topics included in this book include: Perceiving the Other Person; The Other Person as Perceiver; The Naive Analysis of Action; Desire and Pleasure; Environmental Effects; Sentiment; Ought and Value; Request and Command; Benefit and Harm; and Reaction to the Lot of the Other Person. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
• As the title suggests, this book examines the psychology of interpersonal relations. In the context of this book, the term "interpersonal relations" denotes relations between a few, usually between two, people. How one person thinks and feels about another person, how he perceives him and what he does to him, what he expects him to do or think, how he reacts to the actions of the other--these are some of the phenomena that will be treated. Our concern will be with "surface" matters, the events that occur in everyday life on a conscious level, rather than with the unconscious processes studied by psychoanalysis in "depth" psychology. These intuitively understood and "obvious" human relations can, as we shall see, be just as challenging and psychologically significant as the deeper and stranger phenomena. The discussion will center on the person as the basic unit to be investigated. That is to say, the two-person group and its properties as a superindividual unit will not be the focus of attention. Of course, in dealing with the person as a member of a dyad, he cannot be described as a lone subject in an impersonal environment, but must be represented as standing in relation to and interacting with another person. The chapter topics included in this book include: Perceiving the Other Person; The Other Person as Perceiver; The Naive Analysis of Action; Desire and Pleasure; Environmental Effects; Sentiment; Ought and Value; Request and Command; Benefit and Harm; and Reaction to the Lot of the Other Person. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Pre-emptive effort downplaying (PED) occurs when people publicly downplay their effort expenditure on test preparation prior to taking a test for the sake of managing the social evaluation of the self in the face of a challenging performance task. Thirty Asian Americans and 29 European Americans had two opportunities to publicly report their effort expenditure on a practice exercise. They also completed measures of self-evaluations and concern for performance before working on the practice exercise, and the self-evaluation measure again at the completion of the actual test. Only European Americans showed PED. Additionally, concern for performance was positively associated with and mediated cultural variations in PED. The implications of these results are discussed.
We discuss the construct of doubt about one’s competence and suggest that doubt can have myriad consequences (e.g., self-handicapping, defensive pessimism). We focus on the effect of self-doubt when it is combined with a concern with performance and assert that this combination leads to the phenomenon of subjective overachievement. In two studies, we present a new 17-item Subjective Overachievement Scale (SOS), which includes two independent subscales measuring individual differences in self-doubt and concern with performance. The first study, consisting of two large samples (Ns = 2,311 and 1,703), provides evidence that the scale has high internal consistency and a clear two-factor structure. Additionally, the subscales have adequate test-retest reliability (Ns = 67 and 115). A second study reveals that the SOS has good convergent and discriminant validity. Both subscales are unrelated to social desirability but exhibit the predicted patterns of associations with other related constructs. The Concern with Performance Subscale is correlated with achievement motivation, whereas the Self-Doubt Subscale is correlated with scales assessing negative affectivity (e.g., self-esteem, social anxiety) and other self-related strategies associated with concerns about one’s competence (e.g., self-handicapping, defensive pessimism, impostor phenomenon). The SOS, which combines the two subscales, appears to tap a unique strategy that individuals may use to deal with doubts about their own competence.
Three studies tested the hypothesis that people may turn to materialism when they face uncertainties in modern life. Study 1 showed that anomie and self-doubt are significant predictors of materialistic orientations; other plausible antecedents have less predictive value. In Study 2, participants experiencing chronic self-doubt showed a higher level of materialism if they were primed to experience doubt and insecurity. In Study 3, participants with chronic perceptions of anomie showed a higher level of materialism if they were primed with the concept of normlessness. Together, these three studies show that some people turn to materialism when they experience uncertainty within the self (self-doubt) or perceive uncertainty relating to society (anomie). © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
This study examined parental rearing styles and objective confidence in relation to impostor phenome-non (feelings of phoniness experienced by individuals who have achieved some level of success, Clance & Imes, 1978) and self-handicapping tendencies (creation of an impediment to performance as an excuse for possible failure, Jones & Berglas, 1978). Participants (N = 115) completed measures of impostorism, self-handicapping, parental bonding (for each parent) and Esoteric Analogies test with confidence judg-ments. Impostor feelings were predicted by paternal overprotection and lack of paternal care. Self-handi-capping scores were predicted by lack of maternal care. A significant relationship was found between impostorism and self-handicapping. Supporting the nature of the impostor phenomenon, impostors showed a ''gap'' between assessment of their performance and actual task-related achievements.
Three experiments examined how people perceive a social comparison target when a dimension important to identity is threatened and a relatively unfavorable social comparison is anticipated. All 3 experiments show that people will perceive or exaggerate advantages in a target, that make the target inappropriate for social comparison, when they anticipate a comparison with the target and are uncertain of the outcome. Experiments 2 and 3 show that reports of some target advantages are moderated by individual differences in self-esteem, such that people with low self-esteem are more likely than people with high self-esteem to perceive that a comparison target enjoys subtle, subjective advantages. Finally, Experiment 3 shows that the report of overt target advantages reflects actual perceptions on the part of the perceiver, and are not merely self-presentational claims intended to manage audience attributions.
Optimism, personality, and coping styles may alter the effects of stressful events through appraisal and stress reduction. The 1999 Kosovo crisis offered an opportunity to test this proposition under real-life, traumatic stress conditions. Dispositional optimism, personality, and coping contributions were predicted based on geographical distance and degree of reported stress for 3 groups: Kosovar refugees, Albanian citizens helping the refugees in Albania, and Albanian immigrants living in the United States. Results showed Kosovars significantly higher on all stress measures, and on maladjustment. Reduced optimism and reduced control coping were related to higher levels of maladjustment. Pessimism and escape coping showed no relation to psychological adjustment. Resilience was related to a combination of higher optimism, extraversion, openness to experience, conscientiousness, and control coping, paired with lower neuroticism.
Research has consistently found that men engage in more behavioral self-handicapping than do women. We first review evidence suggesting that these gender differences result from women placing more importance on displaying effort than do men. We then present the results of two studies seeking to develop measures of beliefs about effort that might explain these gender differences in behavioral self-handicapping. Women, across a wide range of measures, placed more importance on effort than did men. However, only a new measure of more personalized effort beliefs, dubbed the Worker scale, uniquely explained gender differences in dispositional tendency to behaviorally self-handicap. The Worker scale also predicted academic performance, consistent with the notion that these effort beliefs would predict engagement in actual behavioral self-handicaps that undermine performance.
We propose that self-uncertainty moderates responsiveness to perceived variations (e.g., breaches or provisions) in procedural justice. Specifically, we tested the hypothesis that high (compared to low) self-uncertainty individuals are more responsive to variations in procedural justice, because they use procedural information to infer their organizational acceptance, respect, or social standing. In six experiments, high (compared to low) self-uncertainty individuals responded with affective, cognitive, and behavioral intensity to perceived variations in procedural justice. In particular, they felt worse, judged the procedure as unfair, and were unwilling to cooperate when they were deprived (as opposed to granted) voice. However, this pattern was cancelled out when these individuals engaged in a self-affirming activity. The findings establish the self in general, and self-uncertainty in particular, as a crucial moderator of responses to procedural information.
The present research examined the relationship between beliefs about one’s own death and materialism. Correlational analyses revealed that concerns about one’s own death and personal insecurity were positively related to each other and with materialism. Moreover, structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that personal insecurity partially mediated the relationship between concerns about one’s own death and materialism. We discuss the implications of personal insecurity as an antecedent of materialism and the importance of including it as a potential mediator in future investigations of materialism. We also illuminate potential counseling implications of our findings.
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There are few topics so fascinating both to the research investigator and the research subject as the self-image. It is distinctively characteristic of the human animal that he is able to stand outside himself and to describe, judge, and evaluate the person he is. He is at once the observer and the observed, the judge and the judged, the evaluator and the evaluated. Since the self is probably the most important thing in the world to him, the question of what he is like and how he feels about himself engrosses him deeply. This is especially true during the adolescent stage of development.
A seminal case study by Festinger found, paradoxically, that evidence that disconfirmed religious beliefs increased individuals' tendency to proselytize to others. Although this finding is renowned, surprisingly, it has never been subjected to experimental scrutiny and is open to multiple interpretations. We examined a general form of the question first posed by Festinger, namely, how does shaken confidence influence advocacy? Across three experiments, people whose confidence in closely held beliefs was undermined engaged in more advocacy of their beliefs (as measured by both advocacy effort and intention to advocate) than did people whose confidence was not undermined. The effect was attenuated when individuals affirmed their beliefs, and was moderated by both importance of the belief and open-mindedness of a message recipient. These findings not only have implications for the results of Festinger's seminal study, but also offer new insights into people's motives for advocating their beliefs.
In two closely related experiments, college student subjects were instructed to choose between a drug that allegedly interfered with performance and a drug that allegedly enhanced performance. This choice was the main dependent measure of the experiment. The drug choice intervened between work on soluble or insoluble problems and a promised retest on similar problems. In Experiment 1, all subjects received success feedback after their initial problem-solving attempts, thus creating one condition in which the success appeared to be accidental (noncontingent on performance) and one in which the success appeared to be contingent on appropriate knowledge. Males in the noncontingent-success condition were alone in preferring the performance-inhibiting drug, presumably because they wished to externalize probable failure on the retest. The predicted effect, however, did not hold for female subjects. Experiment 2 replicated the unique preference shown by males after noncontingent success and showed the critical importance of success feedback.
The present article presents an integrative theoretical framework to explain and to predict psychological changes achieved by different modes of treatment. This theory states that psychological procedures, whatever their form, alter the level and strength of self-efficacy. It is hypothesized that expectations of per- sonal efficacy determine whether coping behavior will be initiated, how much effort will be expended, and how long it will be sustained in the face of ob- stacles and aversive experiences. Persistence in activities that are subjectively threatening but in fact relatively safe produces, through experiences of mastery, further enhancement of self-efficacy and corresponding reductions in defensive behavior. In the proposed model, expectations of personal efficacy are derived from four principal sources of information: performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states. The more de- pendable the experiential sources, the greater are the changes in perceived self- efficacy. A number of factors are identified as influencing the cognitive processing of efficacy information arising from enactive, vicarious, exhortative, and emotive sources. The differential power of diverse therapeutic procedures is analyzed in terms of the postulated cognitive mechanism of operation. Findings are reported from microanalyses of enactive, vicarious, and emotive modes of treatment that support the hypothesized relationship between perceived self-efficacy and be- havioral changes. Possible directions for further research are discussed.
We discuss the construct of doubt about one's competence and suggest that doubt can have myriad consequences (e.g., self-handicapping, defensive pessimism). We focus on the effect of self-doubt when it is combined with a concern with performance and assert that this combination leads to the phenomenon of subjective overachievement. In two studies, we present a new 17-item Subjective Overachievement Scale (SOS), which includes two independent subscales measuring individual differences in self-doubt and concern with performance. The first study, consisting of two large samples (Ns = 2,311 and 1,703), provides evidence that the scale has high internal consistency and a clear two-factor structure. Additionally, the subscales have adequate test-retest reliability (Ns = 67 and 115). A second study reveals that the SOS has good convergent and discriminant validity. Both subscales are unrelated to social desirability but exhibit the predicted patterns of associations with other related constructs. The Concern with Performance Subscale is correlated with achievement motivation, whereas the Self-Doubt Subscale is correlated with scales assessing negative affectivity (e.g., self-esteem, social anxiety) and other self-related strategies associated with concerns about one's competence (e.g., self-handicapping, defensive pessimism, impostor phenomenon). The SOS, which combines the two subscales, appears to tap a unique strategy that individuals may use to deal with doubts about their own competence.
A series of interrelated hypotheses has been presented to account for data on informal social communication collected in the course of a number of studies. The data come from field studies and from laboratory experiments specifically designed to test the hypotheses. Three sources of pressures to communicate have been considered: (1) communication arising from pressures toward uniformity in a group (2) communications arising from forces to locomote in a social structure [and] (3) communications arising from the existence of emotional states.
Social Beings: A Core Motives Approach to Social Psychology
- S T Fiske
Fiske, S. T. (2004). Social Beings: A Core Motives Approach to Social Psychology. New York: Wiley.