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Stability and malleability of the self-concept
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
|October 1, 1986
Summary
Self-concept is both stable and malleable. Feeling unique or similar to others influences self-perception, revealing hidden variations in how individuals adjust their self-concept to social environments.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Social Psychology
Background:
- The self-concept's stability versus malleability is a persistent debate in psychological literature.
- General self-concept measures may obscure dynamic adjustments to social contexts.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether social context (uniqueness vs. similarity) influences self-concept expression.
- To explore how individuals calibrate their self-concept in response to social feedback.
Main Methods:
- Participants were experimentally manipulated to feel either unique or similar to others.
- Self-concept was assessed using various measures, including trait descriptions, judgment latency, and word associations.
Main Results:
- No differences were found in trait terms used by unique versus similar groups.
- Significant differences emerged in judgment latency, word association valence, and similarity judgments to reference groups.
- Individuals made to feel unique described themselves as similar, and vice versa, indicating a calibration process.
Conclusions:
- Self-concept stability in general terms can mask significant local variations.
- Individuals actively adjust their self-concept based on perceived social distinctiveness or commonality.
- General self-descriptive measures are insufficient to capture the dynamic calibration of self-concept in response to social challenges.
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