When our identities are mistaken: Reaffirming self-conceptions through social interaction.

Abstract

Although those who have labored to change self-concepts in naturally occurring situations (jave often experienced difficulty, laboratory investigators have reported considerable success in this endeavor. This research sought to reconcile these contradictory findings by examining how people respond behaviorally and psychologically when they receive feedback that disconfirms their self-conceptions. The results showed that self-discrepant feedback produced changes in selfratings only when recipients had no opportunity to reject and refute it. If participants had opportunity to behaviorally discredit discrepant feedback, they did so and subsequently displayed minimal self-rating change. The discussion proposes some important differences between transitory fluctuations and enduring changes in self-ratings and suggests some conditions that must be met before lasting self-concept changes will occur.