Self-Approach Tendencies: Relations With Explicit and Implicit Self-Evaluations.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Understanding implicit self-perception is crucial in social psychology.
• Previous research indicates complex relationships between implicit and explicit self-views.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and validate a novel Self-Approach-Avoidance Task (Self-AAT) for measuring implicit self-approach tendencies.
• To investigate the nature and correlates of self-approach tendencies in female students.

Main Methods:

• Development and application of the Self-Approach-Avoidance Task (Self-AAT) using joystick-controlled stimuli.
• Inclusion of mirrored and non-mirrored self-portraits, as well as control images.
• Assessment of explicit self-esteem using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) and implicit self-evaluation via the Implicit Association Task (IAT).

Main Results:

• A significant self-approach tendency was observed, evidenced by faster approach responses to mirrored self-portraits.
• This tendency was reduced for non-mirrored self-portraits and absent for control stimuli.
• Weak correlations were found between self-approach tendency and both explicit (RSES) and implicit (IAT) self-evaluations in some studies.

Conclusions:

• The Self-AAT effectively measures an implicit self-approach bias.
• The findings suggest a robust, automatic tendency to approach the self, particularly the mirrored self.
• The relationship between this implicit bias and explicit/implicit self-evaluations is complex and warrants further investigation.