Hanging in the Balance: the Role of Self-Construal Abstractness in Navigating Self-Relevant Uncertainty

People inevitably face moments of uncertainty as they await feedback regarding self-relevant life outcomes,but they react to this uncertainty with varying amounts of anxiety. self-construal abstractness (sca) may be one key predictor of anxiety in the face of uncertain outcomes. sca refers to a broad self-concept based on generalizations rather than a detailed,low-level self-concept that is based on specific behaviors or events. the current studies examined sca and anxiety over self-relevant uncertainty. studies 1 and 2 measured naturally occurring levels of sca and found that reflecting on an abstract self-construal buffered people from anxiety when upcoming evaluative feedback was highly self-relevant (study 1) and immediate (study 2). study 3 revealed that sca is equally effective as a buffer against anxiety when manipulated with a subtle prime. the potential for sca to serve as the target for anxiety-reduction interventions in uncertain situations is discussed. © 2012 by the society for personality and social psychology,inc.