AN EXPERIMENTAL-STUDY ON THE DETERMINANTS TO THE EFFECTS OF SELF-AFFIRMATION

The purpose is twofold : first to examine whether an experience that affirms a valued aspect of the self eliminates the negativity of failure and second, to identify what is the most effective condition of self-affirmation. A 2 x 3 factorial design was employed : Immediately after having failed and prior to rating the beneficialness of failure experience, 72 subjects were allowed to affirm the real-self that they had built up, or the pseudo-self made by the experimenter. The situation of self-affirmation was (1) that subjects affirmed the self in private or (2) that the experimenter also affirmed the subject's self or (3) that the experimenter added information of another one who had the same aspect of self the subjects had affirmed. The self-affirmation effect was most clear-cut, when the real-self was affirmed, and was also affirmed by the experimenter. This effect was especially pronounced for high self-esteem subjects. Joint effects of high self-esteem, clearer real-self, and its publicity elevated level of self-affirmation.