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To know oneself is to like oneself: self-certainty and self-affect
1Department of Psychology, Michigan State University, East Lansing 48824-1117.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|June 1, 1990
Summary
Certainty about personal traits is linked to positive self-feelings. Low self-esteem correlates with uncertainty about traits, except in specific social contexts, suggesting self-judgment specificity.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Self-Perception
Background:
- Self-certainty is crucial for psychological well-being.
- Low self-esteem is often characterized by self-doubt and uncertainty.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the relationship between certainty in self-attributes and positive self-affect.
- To explore how self-esteem influences certainty in personal traits.
Main Methods:
- Four experiments were conducted using measures like confidence intervals and reaction times.
- Participants rated their self-perceived traits under various conditions (public, friends).
- Experiment 4 involved providing participants with certain diagnoses of their traits.
Main Results:
- Lower self-esteem was associated with less certainty about possessing trait attributes.
- This effect was reversed in public ratings and attenuated when rating friends, indicating specificity to self-judgments.
- Receiving certain diagnoses of self-perceived traits improved self-affect and egotism.
Conclusions:
- Certainty regarding self-attributes is a significant predictor of positive self-affect.
- Uncertainty in self-judgments appears specific to individuals with low self-esteem.
- The findings highlight the interplay between prediction, control, and self-affect.