The Desire for a Consistent Self Flashcards
Self Verification Theory
- Motive to confirm our existing self-views
- Leads to wanting others to view us the way we see ourselves
2 Functions of Self Verification
1) Epistemic: Fulfills need for coherence
2) Pragmatic: Ensures smooth social interactions
Explain: Epistemic: Fulfills need for coherence
Stable self-views provide people with a powerful sense of predictability and control to experience
Explain: Pragmatic: Ensures smooth social interactions
- Stable self-views foster consistent and predictable behaviour
*Predictable behaviour allows others to know what to expect from one another, thus fostering smooth social interactions
*Others respond to us predictably which further stabilizes behaviour
How Do People Self-Verify? (2 ways)
1) Creating social environments
2) Cognitive biases
Explain: Creating social environments
- Displaying identity cues
2.Selective interaction 3.Interpersonal prompts
Explain: Cognitive biases
- Selective attention
2.Selective memory
3.Selective interpretation
Displaying Identity Cues
- The use of symbols, appearance, or communication styles to signal to one’s self-concept to others
*Increases the likelihood of getting feedback consistent with our self-views
Selective Interaction
- People prefer to interact with others that see them in a way that is consistent with the way they see themselves
- Even if it’s negative
STUDY: Do people prefer to interact with people that like them or that
see them the way they see themselves? HIGH VS LOW SELF ESTEEM RESULTS
Suggests that people prefer to interact with others that verify their self-views vs. people that like them, but see them differently than they see themselves
Low self esteem = interact with people with -tive self views of themselves
High self esteem = interact with people with +tive self views of themselves
STUDY: Real-World Evidence for Selective Interaction - Spouses & Roommates RESULTS
- Spouses report greatest relationship intimacy when their partner shares their self-views, even if these self-views are negative
*People tend to withdraw from relationships where their partner doesn’t verify their self-views
* Even if person has positive self-esteem, but their partner has extremely positive view of them
- Roommates also prefer roommates that share their self-views, even if negative
Interpersonal Prompts - People behave in ways that
elicits self-verifying feedback
Examples of eliciting self-verifying feedback
- Guiding conversations that elicits self-verifying responses
- Behaviours often lead to self-fulfilling prophecies
Symbolic Self-Completion
- Receiving feedback inconsistent with self-views is threatening
- People compensate for this threat by using symbols and behaviours that signal this identity to others and themselves
- Intensifying behaviour consistent with this identity
STUDY: Intensifying Behaviours : Consistent VS Discrepant feedback RESULTS
- Results: People responded to feedback that challenged their self-view by amplifying behaviour consistent with self-view
- Suggests that we try to prove to others that we are a certain way rather than accept their feedback
STUDY: Becoming More Confident in Self-Views: Confirm VS Threat
Evidence that people try to reinforce threatened identity by becoming more confident in self-view, even if they know that this behaviour will be seen negatively
Selective attention
We pay more attention to feedback that confirms our self-views
Selective memory
We tend to have a better memory for feedback that confirms self-views
- Likeable people more likely to remember feedback that they were likeable
- Dislikeable people more likely to remember feedback that they were dislikeable
Selective interpretation
We are likely to interpret ambiguous feedback as consistent with self-views
* High self-esteem people tend to remember feedback as more positive than it was and low self-esteem people tend to remember feedback as more negative than it was
Do men and women engage equally in self verification?
Men and women
Self-verification appears to be present
cross-culturally, but the specific ways in which it manifests may be different
- E.g. East Asians are more likely to seek verification on contextualized self-views (i.e., self-views specific to one situation or relationship) and less inclined to seek verification of more global attributes
Cognitive biases may explain
Why people’s self-perceptions don’t line up with the perceptions that others have of them (looking glass)
Self-verification: Focus and Preferred feedback
Focus: Consistency and stability
Preferred feedback: Feedback that confirm self- views, even if negative
Self-assessment: Focus and Preferred feedback
Focus: Accuracy
Preferred feedback: Feedback that is objective, even if it contradicts self-views
