Admission of failure and symbolic self-completion: Extending Lewinian theory.

Abstract

The present research examined the dynamic relation between two self-relevant actions, one self-supportive and the other self-abasing. These self-relevant actions were undertaken by subjects within the context of particular self-definitions (e.g., journalist, guitarist) to which subjects were actively committed. In the first experiment, subjects were offered an opportunity to compose a supportive selfdescriptive essay to be seen later by others. Half of the subjects wrote to completion, while the others were interrupted. Subsequently, in a different context, all subjects were asked to list mistakes they had made previously in the realm of their respective self-definitions. Uninterrupted subjects admitted more readily to mistakes than did interrupted subjects. In the second experiment, the extent of subjects' self-abasement became the independent variable. Following that manipulation, all subjects were given 15 minutes to write a supportive self-descriptive essay. Subjects who had been induced to be self-abasing were the least likely to interrupt themselves while writing the essay. The results of both studies are interpreted within the framework of symbolic self-completion theory (Wicklund & Gollwitzer, 1981, in press).