Social Psychology's Empty-Self Metaphor and the Replication Crisis

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Metatheory

Background:

• The dominant
• empty-self metaphor
• views the self as passively shaped by situational factors.
• This perspective influences various social psychology theories and contemporary paradigms like social priming and embodied cognition.
• It has led to an underappreciation of a stable, unique self.

Purpose of the Study:

• To challenge the
• empty-self metaphor
• in social psychology.
• To present preliminary evidence suggesting research based on this metaphor has lower replicability.
• To advocate for incorporating the concept of an enduring self with dispositional motivations into social psychological research.

Main Methods:

• Literature review and conceptual analysis of the
• empty-self metaphor
• and its influence.
• Preliminary empirical investigation into the replicability of studies assuming an empty self.

Main Results:

• Research predicated on the
• empty-self metaphor
• demonstrates significantly lower rates of replication.
• The persistence of the empty-self assumption may hinder a comprehensive understanding of the self.

Conclusions:

• The
• empty-self metaphor
• may be a flawed foundational assumption in social psychology.
• Acknowledging an enduring self with dispositional motivations is crucial for advancing the field.
• Theoretical and methodological adjustments are needed to better account for the active self.