Abstract
According to Grawe’s Consistency Theory, congruence between an individual’s aims and reality is fundamental for psychological health. We examined the real and ideal self-images of N = 440 participants in a Germanic/Austrian cultural context as perceived in presence and as anticipated for an age of 80 years and examined their relationship to value orientations as a coping resource. From adjective ratings on the Semantic Differential for the real self-image at presence, two dimensions were extracted, one representing Warmth (W) and one representing Competence (C) in the sense of the Stereotype Content Model. Cluster analysis yielded one type of respondents with a cautiously optimistic, and one with a moderately pessimistic view of the present and the future. A third cluster devalued W and C in favor of Religiosity and Conservatism and had the highest degree of congruence between real and ideal self-images. Thus, hypotheses with regard to Religiosity and Conservatism as coping resources were confirmed.
Highlights
Hopes and fears about what one’s life will be like when getting older are of increasing salience in an era of growing life expectancy
Whereas the three-factor solution was difficult to interpret, the two factors extracted clearly matched the theoretical expectations of the Stereotype Content Model
Two factors, explaining 24.2% and 8.3% of the variance respectively were retained. These factors correspond to the Stereotype Content Model, with Factor I representing Competence and Factor II Warmth
Summary
Hopes and fears about what one’s life will be like when getting older are of increasing salience in an era of growing life expectancy. With respect to the individual’s prospective emotional state, possible discrepancies between the expected real vs ideal self-images should be considered. In his Consistency Theory, Grawe 1998 [1] suggested that inconsistency may stem either from conflicting goals (“dissonance”) or from a failure to attain one’s goals (“incongruence”) [2]. According to this theory, inconsistency can be deemed a breeding ground for psychological disorders or, consistency may be expected to contribute to psychological health. Empirical results confirming these assumptions have been summarized in a meta-analysis by Fries and Grawe 2006 [3]
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