Lecture 11: Self-Defense and Self-Affirmation Theory

Coping with Psychological Threats to the Self

  • Understanding how we cope with psychological threats is vital, as it relates to maintaining self-integrity and adapting to challenges in our environment.
  • Key topics included in the lecture:
    • Self-affirmation theory
    • Stereotype threat in education
    • Prejudice reactions
    • Effects of mortality salience

Psychology of Self-Defense

  • Self-Integrity:
    • Definition: The perception of oneself as morally and adaptively good.
    • Significance: Everyone has a fundamental need for self-integrity.
  • Psychological Threat:
    • Defined as perceived environmental challenges endangering one's self-integrity.

Defensive Reactions to Psychological Threat

  • Defensive Reactions:
    • Negative or distorted reactions to self-criticism to protect self-integrity.
    • Common types of defensive reactions (Sherman & Cohen, 2006):
    • Denial and minimization
    • Compensatory conviction (doubling down on beliefs)
    • Symbolic self-completion (engaging in activities to affirm identity)
    • Self-serving bias (distorting feedback to favor oneself)
    • Blaming others
    • Rationalization (justifying actions)
    • Avoidance of threats
    • Aggression
  • Function of Defensive Reactions:
    • Benefits: Allows for the maintenance of positive self-views.
    • Limitations: Can hinder the learning process from challenges.

Self-Affirmation Theory

  • Proposed by Steele (1988):
    • Motivated by the need to maintain self-integrity.
    • Self-Affirmation: Act of demonstrating one's adequacy to repair self-integrity when threatened.
  • Key Principles:
    1. Global Self-Integrity:
    • We seek to maintain overall self-integrity rather than integrity in specific domains.
    1. Adequacy Motivation:
    • Motivation focuses on being “good enough” in valued domains rather than striving for excellence.
    1. Demonstrating Integrity:
    • Self-integrity is maintained through meaningful acts/reminders, not unfounded self-praise.

Examples of Self-Affirmation

  • Can involve:
    • Reflecting on personal qualities and values.
    • Engaging in meaningful activities.
    • Personal narratives illustrating support systems (friends and family).

Self-Affirmation vs. Symbolic Self-Completion

  • Symbolic Self-Completion:
    • Engages in activities to bolster specific identity aspects.
    • More superficial than self-affirmation.
  • Self-Affirmation:
    • Compensates for self-threats on a global sense.
    • More likely utilized for less central identities.

Effects of Self-Affirmation

Stereotype Threat
  • Defined as the anxiety experienced by individuals fearing the confirmation of negative stereotypes, affecting performance (Inzlicht & Schmader, 2011).
  • Studies demonstrate improvements in minority students' GPA when utilizing self-affirmation in educational settings (Sherman et al., 2013).
Prejudice as a Self-Threat Reaction
  • Hypothesis:
    • Threatened self-integrity leads individuals to endorse prejudicial attitudes as a coping mechanism (Fein & Spencer, 1997).
  • Study demonstrated self-affirmation reduces prejudicial attitudes against outgroup members, as participants displayed more positivity toward candidates after self-affirmation (Fein & Spencer).
Mortality Salience and Worldview Protection
  • Awareness of mortality creates terror, leading to reliance on cultural worldviews and self-worth (Greenberg et al., 1997).
  • Effects:
    • Mortality salience leads to aggressive responses toward differing views and increased in-group bias (Pyszczynski et al., 2015).
  • Self-affirmation mitigated these defensive responses (Schmeichel & Martens, 2005).

Conclusion

  • Takeaway:
    • Coping with psychological threats involves defensive processes, but self-affirmation presents a healthier alternative for restoring self-integrity and fostering personal growth.
    • Positive outcomes from self-affirmation have implications in education, social interactions, and broader psychological applications.