Remind Me Who I Am: Social Interaction Strategies for Maintaining the Threatened Self-Concept

After failure,individuals frequently turn to others for support. the current research examined the process through which individuals utilize interpersonal relationships to stabilize threatened self-views. we may seek support to reassure us with warmth and acceptance after a self-threat,or to provide support for threatened self-knowledge. we proposed that although both types of support are likely to repair the affective consequences of a self-threat,only interacting with others who can provide evidence from the individuals’ past that reconfirms a threatened self-aspect would help stabilize the self-concept. two studies demonstrated that,for individuals who have suffered a self-threat,receiving specific evidentiary support for the threatened self-aspect was more effective at restoring confidence in both the specific self-aspect and at recovering self-concept clarity than was receiving emotional support,whether the interaction was imagined (study 1),or offered in person (study 2) after the threat. © 2014 by the society for personality and social psychology,inc.