Reducing defensive distancing: Self-affirmation and risk regulation in response to relationship threats

doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2010.08.015

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

Volume 47, Issue 1, January 2011, Pages 264-268

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2010.08.015 Get rights and content

Abstract

The risk regulation model proposes that people with low self-esteem, but not those with high self-esteem, react to relationship-based self-threats by defensively distancing from their partner. In the present study, we hypothesized that a self-affirmation manipulation, by restoring self-worth and integrity for people with low self-esteem, would attenuate this defensive distancing behavior. Participants were exposed to either a relationship-based self-threat or no such threat, and then completed a self-affirmation or a control task. As predicted, when presented with a self-threat, individuals with low self-esteem distanced from their partner. This effect was attenuated if they were given the opportunity to self-affirm. By contrast, the threat and self-affirmation manipulations had no effect for those with high self-esteem. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for risk regulation theory and self-affirmation theory.

Section snippets

Self-affirmation theory

Self-affirmation theory offers one useful framework for understanding the roots of defensive relationship behaviors and stopping such negative recursive processes (e.g., Cohen, Garcia, Purdie-Vaughns, Apfel, & Brzustoski, 2009). Self-affirmation theory argues that people are motivated to maintain the perceived worth and integrity of the self, and that information that threatens these views can prompt efforts to restore a sense of self-worth or self-integrity (Steele, 1988). People often attempt

The current study

The experiment featured a 2 (threat: no threat vs. threat) × 2 (affirmation task: affirmation vs. control) × self-esteem (continuous) design. We predicted a significant three-way (threat × affirmation × self-esteem) interaction characterized by a significant threat × affirmation interaction for those with LSE, but not those with HSE. For those with LSE, we predicted that the threat manipulation would lead to relationship distancing in the no-affirmation condition and that this effect would be attenuated

Participants

Participants were 172 undergraduates (37 men, 135 women) who participated for research credit (M_age = 19, SD = 1.94). All participants were in a romantic relationship of at least 3 months (M_months = 19, SD = 17).

Background measures

Participants completed a measure of self-esteem (α = .91, Rosenberg, 1965) and relationship satisfaction (α = .92, adapted from Rusbult, Martz, & Agnew, 1998) approximately 24 hours before their lab appointment. Participants completed the self-esteem measure again upon arriving at the lab (α = .91).

Results

We ran a series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses with the main effects of self-esteem (continuous, mean centered), threat, and affirmation entered on Step 1, all possible two-way interactions entered on Step 2, the three-way interaction entered on Step 3, and the defensive distancing measures as separate outcomes (see Table 1 for intercorrelations among dependent measures). Relationship satisfaction (mean centered) was entered as a control variable on Step 1 because it was related

Discussion

The current study demonstrated that a self-affirmation task can attenuate the defensive interpersonal responses exhibited by people with LSE in response to relationship-based self-threats. Results were highly consistent across three operationalizations of psychological distancing—communal divestment, partner derogation, and destructive behavioral intentions. These results extend the risk regulation literature in an important new direction by providing empirical support for the argument that the

References (27)

D.K. Sherman et al.
The psychology of self-defense: Self-affirmation theory
C.M. Steele
The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self
A. Tesser et al.
On the confluence of self processes
Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
(1991)
P. Briñol et al.
The effects of self-affirmation in non-threatening persuasion domains: Timing affects the process
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
(2007)
G.L. Cohen et al.
Recursive processes in self-affirmation: Intervening to close the minority achievement gap
Science
(2009)
J. Crocker et al.
Why does writing about important values reduce defensiveness? Self-affirmation and the role of positive, other-directed feelings
Psychological Science
(2008)
P.R. Harris et al.
The impact of self-affirmation on health cognition, health behaviour and other health-related responses: A narrative review
Social and Personality Psychology Compass
(2009)
P.R. Harris et al.
Self-affirmation and the biased processing of threatening health-risk information
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
(2005)
T.F. Heatherton et al.
Interpersonal evaluations following threats to self: Role of self-esteem
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
(2000)
S.S. Hendrick et al.
Romantic relationships: Love, satisfaction, and staying together
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
(1988)

M. Kumashiro et al.

Taking on board liability-focused information: Close positive relationships as a self-bolstering resource

Psychological Science

(2005)

M.L. Knowles et al.

There's no substitute for belonging: Self-affirmation following social and nonsocial threats

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

(2010)

M.J. Landau et al.

Play it safe or go for the gold? A terror management perspective on self-enhancement and protection motives in risky decision making

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

(2006)

Cited by (44)

Navigating autonomy and control in human-AI delegation: User responses to technology- versus user-invoked task allocation
2024, Decision Support Systems
Users can increasingly delegate to information systems (IS) – that is transferring rights and responsibilities regarding certain tasks – even to the degree that IS can act autonomously (i.e., without the intervention or supervision of users). What is more, IS increasingly offer to assume the rights and responsibilities for a task not only in response to user prompts (i.e., user-invoked delegation) but also without user prompts (i.e., IS-invoked delegation). Yet, little is known about whether, how, and why users agree to delegation when they are asked by the IS in contrast to when they self-initiate the delegation. Drawing on self-affirmation theory, we investigate user acceptance of IS- versus user-invoked delegation in two complementary online experiments in software development. Our core findings reveal that IS-invoked (vs. user-invoked) delegation increases users' perceived self-threat and thus decreases their willingness to accept delegation. This threatening effect is larger the less (vs. more) the user perceives control after the potential delegation. Taken together, we uncover defensive user responses to IS-invoked delegation. Furthermore, we shed light on the underlying and moderating mechanisms representing the reasons and contextual features that explain and mitigate these defensive measures. These findings have significant implications for IS designers seeking to improve user-IS collaboration and outcomes by employing IS-invoked delegation.
Social evaluative threat across individual, relational, and collective selves
2023, Advances in Experimental Social Psychology
Social psychologists have long been interested in studying the effects of threat on physiology, affect, cognition, and behavior. However, researchers have traditionally examined threat at the level of individuals, relationships, or groups, rather than studying commonalities that exist across these levels. In this chapter, we propose that social evaluative threat – the real, imagined, or potential experience of being negatively evaluated – can occur at the level of the individual self, as a relational partner, or as a group member. Individual, relational, and collective selves are not always distinct entities, but are flexible and can overlap with one another. Across these levels, individuals differ in the degree to which they perceive and respond to social evaluative threat, depending on their psychological distance from the threat and expectations and motivation to detect threat. When people perceive a threat to any of these levels, they respond by engaging in behaviors reflecting approach or avoidance motivation. Overall, our model encourages researchers to assess key moderators of threat, examine threats at different levels of the self, and consider how experiences of threat at one level may impact other levels. By highlighting the flexibility of the self, researchers can test interventions that change threat cues in the environment, attenuate perceptions of threat, or help people cope with threat.
Women's attractiveness contingent self-esteem, romantic rejection, and body dissatisfaction
2021, Body Image
Citation Excerpt :
Thus, in addition to targeting wider social standards, challenging and reducing harmful beliefs about the centrality of attractiveness for women’s self-worth may help reduce or mitigate the detrimental effects of ACSE and unfavorable social feedback (including romantic rejection) on women’s body satisfaction. Interventions could employ self-affirmation strategies adapted to target women’s contingency beliefs, similar to those used to counteract negative outcomes associated with low self-esteem (Jaremka, Bunyan, Collins, & Sherman, 2011; McQueen & Klein, 2006; Spencer, Fein, & Lomore, 2001). Our results suggest that targeting ACSE specifically, instead of self-esteem more generally, will be more effective in addressing the impact of social standards on body dissatisfaction, which (as we discuss below) is an important direction for future research.
The centrality of attractiveness to social evaluations of women puts women at particular risk of body dissatisfaction. However, it is less clear who these social standards most affect and the situations in which they are most salient. Women whose self-esteem is more contingent on standards of attractiveness (ACSE) should be particularly vulnerable to body dissatisfaction, particularly in contexts that provide negative attractiveness-relevant feedback such as romantic rejection. The current research tested whether women higher in ACSE experienced greater body dissatisfaction in the context of naturally-occurring experiences of romantic rejection. In Study 1, women (N = 168) identified and recalled a range of prior rejection experiences and reported their body dissatisfaction. Women higher in ACSE recalled greater body dissatisfaction in the context of romantic rejection. In Study 2, women (N = 101) recorded daily experiences of romantic rejection and body dissatisfaction (N = 885 daily records). Women higher in ACSE experienced greater within-person increases in body dissatisfaction on days they reported romantic rejection. The results emphasize the relevance of romantic rejection for understanding women’s body dissatisfaction and help explain inconsistencies in the literature by illustrating that higher ACSE is associated with greater body dissatisfaction in contexts that provide negative attractiveness-related feedback.
Immediate and short term effects of values-based interventions on paranoia
2019, Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry
Paranoia is a common, distressing, and persistent experience that can negatively impact on health, wellbeing, and functioning. This study examined the immediate and short term (2-weeks) effects of two values-based interventions, versus a non-values control, on paranoia, as well as the moderating effect of self-esteem.
171 non-clinical adults were randomised to a value-affirmation and goals task (VAG: clarifying and reflecting on core values and setting value-based goals) (n = 57), a value-affirmation task (VA: clarifying and reflecting on core values without setting value-based goals) (n = 57), or a non-affirmation control task (NAC) (n = 57). Paranoia was assessed at baseline (T1), post-intervention (T2), and two weeks post-intervention (T3). Self-esteem was measured at baseline.
VAG participants had significantly lower state paranoia scores at T3 than VA (d = .34) and NAC (d = .31) participants. This effect was moderated by trait self-esteem: At follow-up, the differential effect of condition on state paranoia was greatest amongst those with low self-esteem, with the VAG condition being most beneficial for participants with low self-esteem and the VA condition being least beneficial.
Without a goals only control group it is possible that the benefits of VAG over VA were attributable to setting and achieving goals. Use of a nonclinical sample limits generalisability to clinical groups.
The findings suggest that focusing on a deeply held value and setting goals in line with that value reduced paranoia. This intervention may be most beneficial for individuals with low self-esteem.
Wise interventions in organizations
2019, Research in Organizational Behavior
Citation Excerpt :
Among other things, it would require managers to be willing and able to engage in a self-reflective learning process. This self-reflective learning process itself can be fostered when people experience affirming events, which have been shown to change people's relationship patterns from defensive to open (Jaremka, Bunyan, Collins, & Sherman, 2011; Stinson, Logel, Shepherd, & Zanna, 2011; see also Lowell, 2012). Situational influences.
The subjective meanings employees assign to their understandings of themselves, others, and their environments influence an array of important work attitudes and behaviors. We review theory and research on wise interventions that illustrate three fundamental motives that underlie this subjective meaning-making process: the need to understand, the need for self-integrity, and the need to belong. Understanding how employees respond to organizational contexts that call into question or threaten these fundamental motives can potentially enable both organizations and their employees to achieve their goals better. Prior research has shown that wise interventions can bring about long-term beneficial outcomes in the domains of academic performance, stress and health, relationship satisfaction, and conflict reduction. We seek to integrate wise interventions and organizational behavior to explore where, when, and how addressing the fundamental needs of understanding, self-integrity, and belonging can lead to behaviors and attitudes that are beneficial for employees and employers alike. We examine when employees’ subjective meanings are likely to be amenable to influence by wise interventions, such as during key transition points that may be person-centered (e.g., when employees take a new job) or organization-centered (e.g., the introduction of organizational change). We review interventions that have occurred within organizational settings and consider how interventions tested in other contexts (e.g., education) may be applied to organizations. A potentially fruitful liaison awaits organizational behavior researchers interested in the application of wise interventions.
Partner self-esteem and interpersonal risk: Rejection from a low self-esteem partner constrains connection and increases depletion
2019, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Citation Excerpt :
Immediately following the manipulation, all participants completed a word-fragment completion task as a measure of accessibility of connection-related thoughts. Participants then completed a mood measure and several additional post-manipulation measures not relevant to the current analyses in the following order: Inclusion of Other in Self Scale (Aron, Aron, & Smollan, 1992), NLM (Kitayama & Karasawa, 1997); State Self-esteem Scale (Heatherton & Polivy, 1991), Facebook usage, Body-Esteem Scale for Adolescents and Adults (BESAA; Mendelson, Mendelson, & White, 2001), perceived acceptance (Murray, Bellavia, et al., 2003; Murray, Griffin, Rose, & Bellavia, 2003), future relationship behavior (Jaremka, Bunyan, Collins, & Sherman, 2010; Murray et al., 1998), and relationship optimism. All measures, manipulations, and exclusions in study 1 are disclosed here and in the Measures section.
Interpersonal rejection activates connectedness goals that are either prioritized or suppressed.
We explored whether rejection from a low (vs. high) self-esteem partner influences this process. In study 1 (N = 205) participants exhibited less accessibility to connection-related thoughts following rejection from a low (vs. high) self-esteem partner. Using a dyadic conflict interaction, study 2 (N = 102 couples) revealed that participants engaged in more connection-inhibiting behavior during conflict with a low (vs. high) self-esteem partner. Study 3 (N = 115) used a daily diary design and found that participants reported greater mental exhaustion on days they felt more (vs. less) rejected by a low self-esteem roommate. These effects emerged despite evidence from both self-report (studies 2 and 3) and independent coding (study 1) that rejection from a low self-esteem other was not more painful than rejection from a high self-esteem other. In sum, people appear to use impressions of others' self-esteem to determine whether connectedness goals are suppressed following rejection.

View all citing articles on Scopus

View full text

FlashReportReducing defensive distancing: Self-affirmation and risk regulation in response to relationship threats

Abstract

Section snippets

Self-affirmation theory

The current study

Participants

Background measures

Results

Discussion

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

The effects of self-affirmation in non-threatening persuasion domains: Timing affects the process

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Recursive processes in self-affirmation: Intervening to close the minority achievement gap

Science

Why does writing about important values reduce defensiveness? Self-affirmation and the role of positive, other-directed feelings

Psychological Science

The impact of self-affirmation on health cognition, health behaviour and other health-related responses: A narrative review

Social and Personality Psychology Compass

Self-affirmation and the biased processing of threatening health-risk information

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Interpersonal evaluations following threats to self: Role of self-esteem

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Romantic relationships: Love, satisfaction, and staying together

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

Taking on board liability-focused information: Close positive relationships as a self-bolstering resource

Psychological Science

There's no substitute for belonging: Self-affirmation following social and nonsocial threats

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

Play it safe or go for the gold? A terror management perspective on self-enhancement and protection motives in risky decision making

Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin

FlashReport
Reducing defensive distancing: Self-affirmation and risk regulation in response to relationship threats