Are Some Attitudes More Self-Defining Than Others? Assessing Self-Related Attitude Functions and Their Consequences

Attitudes serve multiple functions,some related to the self-concept. we call attitudes that help people define who they are “self-defining.” across four studies,we tested a brief self-report measure of the extent to which an attitude is self-defining. studies 1 and 2 showed that self-defining attitudes tend to be extreme,positive,and unambivalent. studies 3 and 4 produced two main findings. first,self-definition was related to,but not redundant with,a number of other characteristics of the attitude (e.g.,attitude certainty). second,self-definition predicted participants’ intentions to spontaneously advocate and,in study 4,their reactions to an opportunity to advocate behaviorally (i.e.,writing about their attitude in an optional response box) following a self-threat. overall,the results highlight the utility of this approach and,more broadly,demonstrate the value of considering the role of the self in attitudinal processes,and vice versa. © 2017,© 2017 by the society for personality and social psychology,inc.