Abraham Tesser

Toward a Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model of Social Behavior

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses social behavior through self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model. It describes several studies to provide a feel for the kind of research that has been completed in an attempt to explore the predictions of the model. The SEM model is composed of two dynamic processes. Both the reflection process and the comparison process have as component variables the closeness of another and the quality of that others performance. These two variables interact in affecting self-evaluation but do so in quite opposite ways in each of the processes Model establishes the comprehensiveness of the research and the interactive quality of its predictions. Next, the SEM model is fit into the perspective of related work, including self-theories, social comparison theory, and Cialdinis BIRGing research. The chapter reviews the epistemological status of the model. It discusses some of the implications of the research for a variety of areas in psychology.

Self-Generated Attitude Change

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses self-generated attitude change. The thought about some nonneutral attitude object in the absence of any new external information or change in overt behavior often results in attitude polarization. Attitude polarization seems to be predicated on cognitive changes such as the addition of consistent cognitions and the reinterpretation of existing inconsistent cognitions. Such changes in cognitions and affect are expected to occur only to the extent that persons have a developed cognitive schema for thinking about the object. Ones attitude is a function of those salient cognitions and inferences. The data suggest that persons can tune in more than one schema for thinking about a particular object. Thus, persons have the potential for more than one attitude toward the same object. Some implications for the relationship between attitudes and behavior and for psychotherapy were touched upon. The relationship between this research and group polarization research and mere exposure research are briefly explored. It points out a number of aspects of the present approach that are in need of further elaboration.

Effects of Time-Management Practices on College Grades

A prospective study tested the hypothesis that college grade point average would be predicted by time-management practices. Ninety college students completed a time-management questionnaire in 1983; their high school Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores were obtained from college records. Principal-components analysis of the 35-item time-management instrument revealed 3 components. In 1987, 4 years later, each students cumulative grade point average was obtained from college records. Regression analyses showed that 2 time-management components were significant predictors of cumulative grade point average (R 2 =.21) and accounted for more variance than did SAT scores (increment in R 2 =.05). It is concluded that time-management practices may influence college achievement

On the confluence of self processes

Abstract There are currently a large number of models which identify self-evaluation (self-esteem) as an important source of motivation. However, these models often posit qualitatively different antecedents and consequences. The present studies focus on the questions of whether these qualitatively different behavioral systems affect the same or different mediating variables, and whether the motivation is to maximize or simply maintain a particular level of self-evaluation. In Study 1 we found that providing subjects a “self affirmation” ( Steele, 1988 ) opportunity reduced their propensity to engage in self-evaluation maintenance behaviors (SEM; Tesser, 1988 ). In Studies 2 and 3 we found that making salient positive SEM scenarios reduced the propensity to engage in dissonance reduction whereas making salient a threatening SEM scenario did not. These results were interpreted as indicating that these hypothetical self-systems affect the same mediating variable and that the motive is to maintain rather than maximize self-evaluation.

Cognitive schemas and thought as determinants of attitude change

It was hypothesized that thought would result in greater attitude polarization than distraction and that this effect would be more pronounced with better developed schemas (naive theories) for thinking about the attitude object. In Study 1, it was reasoned that persons have better developed schemas (e.g., implicit personality theories) for thinking about individuals than for thinking about groups. In Study 2, it was reasoned that men have better developed schemas for thinking about football and women have better developed schemas for thinking about womens fashions. In both studies, the hypothesis was significantly confirmed.

Effects of prior knowledge on use of cognitive capacity in three complex cognitive tasks

Prior knowledge was varied in problem solving, thinking, and reading tasks in three experiments. The hypothesis was that the prior knowledge used in a cognitive task uses capacity in the same limited capacity active processing system that is used to process the ongoing task. In a reading experiment, prior knowledge about a target page was manipulated by controlling the preceding pages. In an experiment dealing with problem solving in the context of a chess game, prior knowledge was controlled by comparing experts with novices. In a third study subjects thought about personality descriptions of persons and groups, and about womens fashions and football plays; it was assumed that persons have more prior knowledge concerning the personality of persons than the personality of groups, that women have more prior knowledge about womens fashions, and that men have more prior knowledge about football. In all experiments, use of cognitive capacity in task performance was observed with a secondary task technique. The results of all three experiments were consistent with the hypothesis that prior knowledge uses capacity in the active processing system. The prior knowledge hypothesis is consistent with some aspects of current cognitive theory but not consistent with others. The results also suggest a fundamental and unexpected limit on the cognitive processing of experts.

The effects of affective-cognitive consistency and thought on the attitude-behavior relation

Abstract The present study is concerned with the moderating role of affective-cognitive consistency in the relationship between attitudes and behavior. Based on earlier research ( Millar & Tesser, 1986 ), attitudes were conceptualized as containing an affective and a cognitive component and subsequent behaviors as being driven by one of these components. It was hypothesized that if the affective and cognitive components are in good evaluative agreement (high affective-cognitive consistency), then thought emphasizing either component would lead to a similar general evaluation that should relate to all behavior in a similar manner. However, if the affective and cognitive components are not in agreement (low affective-cognitive consistency) then thought emphasizing different components would lead to different general evaluations that relate deferentially to subsequent behavior. To test this hypothesis, the affective-cognitive consistency of attiudes about analytic puzzles was measured. The participants were either affectively or cognitively focused prior to an evaluation and then played with the puzzles under instrumental and consumatory conditions. As predicted, thought prior to the evaluation only affected the attitude-behavior relation when attitudes were low in affective-cognitive consistency.

Some effects of task relevance and friendship on helping: You don't always help the one you like☆

Abstract It was hypothesized that being outperformed on a task that is relevant to ones self-definition is threatening to self-esteem, and that this threat is greater when one is outperformed by a friend rather than by a stranger. When anothers performance threatens self-esteem, persons will be less likely to help the other by making the task easy. To test these hypotheses, 52 friendship pairs participated with strangers in a word identification task described either as a measure of important skills (high relevance) or as a game (low relevance). Participants chose clues for both a friend and a stranger to use in identifying target words. As predicted, they gave harder clues under high-relevance than under low-relevance conditions. Moreover, they gave harder clues to strangers than to friends under low-relevance conditions, but gave harder clues to friends than to strangers under high-relevance conditions.

Confluence of Self-Esteem Regulation Mechanisms: On Integrating the Self-Zoo:

The current literature describes a number of mechanisms by which self-esteem is affected and regulated. Using exemplars from three different families of such mechanisms—cognitive consistency, social comparison, and value expression—the three studies reported here (in addition to others in the literature) indicate that these qualitatively different mechanisms are not independent of one another. The evidence is interpreted as showing the unitary nature of self-esteem regulation and that individuals tend to be satisficers rather than maximizers regarding self-esteem.

Emotion in social reflection and comparison situations: intuitive, systematic, and exploratory approaches

We asked 26 subjects to recall and describe social situations in which either a close or a distant other performed better or worse than the self at an activity that was either high or low in relevance to the self. Subjects then rated the extent to which they experienced each of 18 different emotions in each situation. They also rated each situation on a series of dimensions that Smith and Ellsworth (1985) found to be consequential for differentiating emotions. In a series of analyses guided by intuitive hypotheses, the Smith and Ellsworth theoretical approach, and a relatively unconstrained, open-ended exploration of the data, the situations were found to vary with respect to the emotions of pride, jealousy or envy, pride in the other, boredom, and happiness. We discuss the results in terms of their relevance to emotion theories and to the self-evaluation maintenance model of social behavior.