Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect.

“These dimensions are inspired by self-discrepancy theory [32] postulating that one’s self-concept consists of different components: the actual self (i.e., traits that an individual believes to possess), the ideal self (i.e., traits that an individual ideally wants to possess), and the ought self…”

“According to Higgins (1987), use of such experimenter-selected questionnaire items creates a nonidiographic measure that does not capture the unique needs of different individuals, as demonstrated in Study 2.”

“Regulatory focus theory (Higgins 1987; Higgins et al. 2001) specifically suggests that individuals are either disposed to seek promotion or prevention goals and to pursue such goals through eager or vigilant means.”

“41,53 Virtual identities are independent from the preconditions of the real self, and users often utilize this to create improved, more ‘‘ideal’’ versions of themselves.”

“In essence, the motivational drives of the ideal and ought-to selves are derived from the discomfort felt when language learners observe discrepancies between their present and future selves (Higgins, 1987).”

“On the other hand, the ought self-embodies the attributes one believes they should or must possess, encapsulating a sense of duty, obligation, or responsibility (Higgins, 1987, p. 320).”

“Ideal Versus Ought Self-Guides Regulatory focus theory developed from selfdiscrepancy theory (e.g., Higgins, 1987), which proposed that different modes of caretaker-child interaction increase the likelihood that children will acquire specific kinds of goals and standards used in self-regulation –…”

“This result is in line with the conventional view that one’s ought-to self can be shaped by significant others, such as parents and peers (Higgins, 1987).”

“On the one side, according to the self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987), when those low self-esteem individuals honestly present themselves, they will experience small discrepancies between their true self-states and ideal self-states and less negative emotions, which helps improve their life satisfaction.”

“Specifically, parallel developments in the fields of phenomenological psychiatry and cognitive psychology suggest that these disturbances in self-experience might well: (a) underlie the emergence of and adaptation to voice hearing; (b) contribute to additional distress/disruption in those who hear…”

“Self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987) postulates that ideal and ought-to selves can act as self-guides or self-directive standards, motivating individuals to reduce the discrepancy between their actual selves and desired future selves.”

“…and has a detrimental effect on the agent’s self-esteem (see Han et al., 2017—see also the cognitive dissonance theory: Elliot & Devine, 1994; Higgins, 1987; Sherman & Cohen, 2006), especially in individuals of demographics more susceptible to the vices of unfavourable and uncharitable…”

“Upward appearance comparisons have been theorized to activate actual-ideal body discrepancies, resulting in negative self-evaluations and unhealthy appearance-related behaviors (Higgins, 1987; Vartanian, 2012).”

“Because these negative emotions are uncomfortable, they lead to goal reprioritization and motivate engagement in discrepancy-reduction behavior (Higgins, 1987).”

“…that is highly certain or based in higher levels of confidence; see also Reed & Forehand, 2016; Sedikides, 1993; Sedikides & Strube, 1997) and through processes of reducing the discrepancy between the present and future self in the work domain (Ashforth & Schinoff, 2016; Higgins, 1987).”

“By extending theoretical conceptualizations of multiple possible future selves [36, 47, 48], we targeted future self-continuity [21, 22] and self-discrepancy [36, 49], i.”

“That is because the posting of inauthentic yet positively biased content may result in an identity discrepancy, making the adolescent aware of the absence of certain positive qualities they may wish to embody, but do not feel they have (Higgins, 1987).”

“By synthesizing Markus and Nurius’ (1986) Possible Selves Theory and Higgins’ (1987) Self-Discrepancy Theory, Dörnyei L2MSS encompasses three dimensions: ideal L2 self, the ought-to L2 self, and L2 learning experience (Dörnyei, 2005).”

“35 However, individuals with a higher meaning in life possess a deeper understanding of life’s significance and clearer life goals, and they experience more meaning, fulfillment, and inner satisfaction.”

“These changes are thought to lead to a re-evaluation of bodily appearance and function (Cash, 2012; Fingeret, 2010), with poor body image resulting from a perceived discrepancy between ones ’ ‘ ideal ’ body and actual body (Higgins, 1987).”

“They engage in impression management and selective sharing to meet social expectations or to portray an idealized self (Hogan, 2010; Higgins, 1987).”

“According to the self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987), individuals can be affected negatively when they experience discrepancies between the actual self and the ideal self, and therefore, it is likely that the parents who experienced a discrepancy between their expectations and their actual…”

“Theoretical frameworks on self-presentation underscore the concept of multiple selves, including the real, ideal, and false selves (Harter et al., 1997; Higgins, 1987).”

“Self-Concept, Self-Schema, and Identity-Related Constructs”

“According to self-discrepancy theory [9], ideal self identification is the willingness to realize self-desires about oneself and others.”

“…Smith et al., 2002; Scheff, 2003; Baldwin and Baccus, 2004; Gilbert, 2004; Leary, 2004; Parrott, 2004) and the incongruence between ego real and ego ideal (Higgins, 1987; Lazarus, 1993; Demos, 1996; Tracy et al., 2009) so appearing closer to guilt than to embarrassment (Tangney and Fisher, 1995).”

“According to self-discrepancy theory, people tend to compare their actual selves to their ideal or ought-to selves and any inconsistencies or gaps between the actual self and the ideal or ought self can cause negative emotions or discomforts (Higgins, 1987).”

“It animates the individual’s construction of the actual or authentic self (Higgins 1987).”

“When adolescents compare themselves upward with others or compare their ideal selves with their real-life selves, a discrepancy is created, which can lead to emotional vulnerability, anxiety and exacerbate depression ( Higgins, 1987 ; Festinger, 1954 ).”

“The L2 motivational self system (D € ornyei, 2005, 2009), tailored to understand the L2 learners ’ motivation, was conceptualized based on a few theories such as the possible selves theory (Markus & Nurius, 1986) and self-discrepancy theories (Higgins, 1987).”

“Third, the difference in self-concept: employability relates to the actual self, and future employability relates to the possible self (Higgins, 1987; Hobfoll et al., 2003).”

“Email: j.fernando@deakin.edu.au ideal state and the current state of society (Fernando et al., 2018; Higgins, 1987; Kashima & Fernando, 2020).”

“In self-discrepancy theory, it is held that it is difficult for users to fully realize or express the ideal self, ought self, and actual self in the real world (Higgins, 1987).”

“These findings support the proposed self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987) which predicts that negative feedback stimulates recipients to increase their commitment and induce cognitive process and effort.”

“Higgins’ self-discrepancy theory divides the self into actual, ideal, and ought selves, positing that dissatisfaction with the actual self may lead to neglect of positive self-aspects (Higgins, 1987).”

“Extending Higgins ’ (1987) self-discrepancy theory (SDT), Jin (2012) describes the distance between a user ’ s virtual identity and their actual identity as virtual self-discrepancy.”

“Self-discrepancy refers to the perceived misalignment between the various self-representations or self-guides that individuals maintain (Higgins 1987).”

“…all suggest that consistency in how people act across roles and consistency in how they view different parts of themselves are key to healthy functioning (Block, 1961; Donahue et al., 1993; Fleeson & Wilt, 2010; Higgins, 1987; Kehl et al., 2021; Kernis & Goldman, 2005; Lecky, 1945; Rogers, 1959).”

“Drawing on Higgins (1987), scholars have suggested distinguishing between external and internal expectations, such as through the ought-to self/own and the ought-to self/other constructs (Papi et al., 2019; Piniel, 2009; Teimouri, 2017).”

“This re fl ects the notion from self-discrepancy theory of an incompatibility between the person ’ s actual and ideal states (Higgins, 1987).”

“Higgins (1987) noted that approaching the ideal self can lead to joyful feelings.”

“In the self-discrepancy theory, Higgins (1987) posits that different self-discrepancies are related to different types of psychological vulnerability.”

“Dörnyei’s (2005, 2009) L2 motivational self system (L2MSS) model, which is based on the possible selves theory (Markus & Nurius, 1986) and the self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987), has dominated recent L2 research.”

“Although Higgins (1987) proposed that actual – ideal self – discrepancy is related only to depression, and not to anxiety (e.g., worry, agitation), more recent studies have shown that actual – ideal self – discrepancy leads to not only depression and anxiety but also shame (see Mason et al., 2019;…”

“Negative emotions are caused by the perceived gap between the actual self and ideal self, or the perceived gap between the actual self and ought self [57].”

“Thus, conventional direct survey questions can prompt the participant to reflect not only on the actual self, but also on their ideal self [31].”

“Since both professional and personal role are central to individuals’ multifaceted self-concepts, compromises benefiting one role over the other will produce self-discrepancy (Higgins, 1987), which in turn leads to negative outcomes.”

“We focus on self-conscious emotions because deviation from the social clock may contribute to a discrepancy between one’s actual self and ought self, which can produce specifically anxiety-related emotions instead of broad negative affect (Higgins, 1987).”

“This may be because students with this type of engagement typically exhibit strong achievement motivation and high self-expectations, but overly ambitious goal setting can lead to cognitive dissonance due to a mismatch between goals and abilities [74].”

“While role identities refer to both personal role identities (e.g., being a mother) and professional role identities (e.g., being a team leader), we focus on professional role identities in the domain of an individual’s occupation (Higgins, 1987).”

“Drawing from the notions of possible selves (Markus & Nurius, 1986) and the self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987) from personality psychology, Dörnyei (2005) expanded on this concept by introducing the concept of ideal L2 self , a part of the L2MSS, arguing that in an EFL community where an L2 is…”

“As mentioned, discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987) emphasizes the importance of self-regulation and the pursuit of congruence to reduce such discrepancies.”

“Dörnyei’s L2MSS (2009) was developed based on possible self-theory (Markus and Nurius 1986) and self-discrepancy theory (Higgins 1987) in mainstream psychology.”

“67 The Self-Discrepancy theory refers to the idea that individuals have an ideal self and an actual self, 68 and that differences between the two self-statements are associated with poor mental health outcomes.”

“When a discrepancy between the desired self-view and actual self-view arises, the resulting dissonance can motivate preventive action (Higgins, 1987).”

“According to self-discrepancy theory, these individuals are driven to sustain this behaviour to maintain the reduction in self-discrepancy [21], which may consequently contribute to the development or per-petuation of IGD.”

“Depending on the Social Identity Approach (i.e., Social Identity Theory and Self-Categorization Theory), they stated that this salience increase might imply an increase in players’ identification with the gamer identity.”

“As outlined, researchers identify compensatory consumption (Rucker and Galinsky 2008) as one means of attenuating selfthreat (i.e., a discrepancy between an actual and adesired self-view; Higgins 1987) and signaling accomplishment.”

“It integrates theories and research from psychology (e.g., Higgins, 1987; Tversky & Shafir, 1992), economics (e.g., Guo, 2011; Levitt, 2021), neuroscience (e.g., Keysers & Gazzola, 2014; Voigt et al., 2019), evolutionary biology (e.g., Boyd & Richerson, 2005; Henrich & Gil-White, 2001), artificial…”

“Therefore, building upon past research that has used cognitive approaches (e.g., Self-Discrepancy Theory: Higgins, 1987) to explain the negative link between materialism and individual well-being, this research proposes that material-ism not only widens the gap between one's actual and ideal self…”

“For instance, a general manager reflected, “Of course, we may ( F e s ti ng e r , 1954 ; H i g - g i n s , 1987 ) .”

“According to the regulatory focus theory, escapism can be induced either by motives that lead to positive affect or by motives that prevent negative affect, depending on the motives that lead to the desire to escape [16].”

“In the field of SLA, the studies that have employed future L2 self-guides (e.g., Papi et al., 2019; Papi & Khajavy, 2021; Sato, 2017; Taguchi et al., 2009; Teimouri, 2017) best reflect the promotion – prevention distinction outlined in regulatory focus theory (Higgins, 1987, 1997).”

“In addition to financial self-efficacy, there may be other mechanisms that help explain the current findings, such as self-discrepancies – experienced when one’s actual selfconcept does not accord with one’s ideal self (Higgins, 1987).”

“Higgins (1987) postulates that cultural norms advocate and promote particular standards of beauty and attractiveness; people tend to compare themselves to others.”

“Red-teamers are not required to actively harm other human beings as part of their work, and are aware that their adversarial interactions are with a generative AI model.”

“…life, affects social skills (e.g. assertiveness) and self-concept (i.e. the perceived discrepancy between the ideal and actual selves, see Higgins [27] and Phillipot et al. [28]), reduces gaming involvement (i.e. time spent gaming) and mitigates problematic gaming, social anxiety and perceived…”