Self-evaluation maintenance in a larger social context

Two studies extended Tesser's (1988) Self-evaluation Maintenance (SEM) model to include two close others and to examine the implications of intermediate performances on self-definition. Both demonstrated that when outperformed by both close others, participants rated activities low in self-relevance. When participants outperformed both close others, relevance was moderate or high. When participants were superior to one close other, but inferior to the other, relevance was low or moderate. When participants were uncertain about relative performances, and when there was disagreement over relative performances among the two close others and participants, ratings of relevance were attenuated as a means of protecting participants' self-evaluations. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of extending the SEM model to the larger social network.