Self-Verification Versus Expectancy Confirmation in Social Interaction: The Impact of Self-Focus

The joint role of self-verification and expectancy-confirmation processes in social interaction was examined. Targets (selves) who had previously rated themselves as sociable or unsociable engaged in unstructured conversations with perceivers who were given the opposite expectancy about the targets' personality. Situationally manipulated self-awareness and dispositionally measured target self-consciousness were examined as potential moderators. Results indicated that neither side won the battle of beliefs: Perceivers were reluctant to abandon their initial expectancies, and selves were even more resistant to changing their self-conceptions. Negative (unsociable) beliefs, however, were more likely to change than positive beliefs. Self-concept change was most likely to occur among low-sociable targets who were high in public self-consciousness. Behavioral ratings also did not reveal a clear-cut winner, although results were more supportive of expectancy-confirmation predictions.