Downward Self-Revision: Erasing Possible Selves

Abstract

Two studies explored how and when people abandon commitment to threatened possible selves. First, we predicted that self-doubt, anxiety, and expectancy changes will mediate the effect of threats on possible selves. Specifically, the rising anxiety evoked by threats transforms initial doubt into the ultimate fall of expectancies supporting commitment to possible selves. Second, we predicted that this general process of downward self-revision would be more likely to occur when threats fully specify the meaning, or implications, of an undesired discrepancy (i.e., into the vivid prospect of an alternative undesired self as more likely than the desired self if the person continues to pursue the desired self). Results across both studies support the hypotheses. We close by discussing the conceptual and practical implications of the findings.