Accepting threatening information: Self‐affirmation and the reduction of defensive biases

“This process reduces defensiveness (Fein & Spencer, 1997) and, in turn, increases openness to threatening self-relevant information (Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”

“A major reason current warning labels may fail to change smokers’ beliefs and behavior is because they do not deal with the fundamental motivation to selfprotect (Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”

“Further, positive interventions that mitigate self-image threat and bolster positive selfimage, such as value self-affirmation exercises (e.g. Sherman and Cohen 2002), are useful in eliciting favorable responses to employment equity policies (Hideg and Ferris 2014).”

“Prior evidence has suggested that individuals who engage in risky health behaviors process messages about the risky nature of the behaviors differently than individuals who abstain from such behavior (Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”

“Prior research about reducing identity threats showed that affirmations can decrease feelings of identity threat (Sherman and Cohen 2002, 2006; Sherman et al. 2013).”

“It reduced perceptions of male antage in negotiation and encouraged cooperative avior.”

“After undergoing a self-affirmation— reducing the threat posed by uncertainty (Sherman & Cohen, 2002; Steele & Liu, 1983)—people are less likely to attempt to control this uncertainty through superstitious behavior (Hamerman & Johar, 2013) or by perceiving illusory patterns in the environment…”

“…for self-affirmation and that when people affirm themselves, they are less anxious, self-centered, and defensive (Dillard, McCaul, & Magnan, 2005; Jaremka, Bunyan, Collins, & Sherman, 2011; Sherman & Cohen, 2002; Wiesenfeld, Brockner, Wolf, & Bailey, 2001; for a review, see Cohen & Sherman, 2014).”

“For example, self-affirmation manipulations (e.g., endorsing impor- tant values) can reduce defensiveness and motivated selfserving processing, even if the nature of the threat and the endorsed value are unrelated to one another (see Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”

“This decreased defensiveness can be beneficial, as it allows people to feel good about themselves while at the same facing life’s setbacks and hurdles [3, 4].”

“…(Festinger, 1957), which might incline individuals to resolve contested empirical claims in a manner compatible with their cultural identities (Sherman & Cohen, 2002); Gender, Race, and Risk Perception 29 biased assimilation (Lord, Ross & Leper, 1979), which might induce them to credit or…”

“Experimental research shows that where individuals feel self-affirmed they are indeed more open to reconsidering their beliefs on culturally contested issues, including the death penalty and abortion (Cohen et al., 2000; Sherman and Cohen, 2002).”

“beliefs, and roles that are central to their identity (Sherman and Cohen, 2002).”

“One particularly effective approach in such attempts could be to leverage the process of self-affirmation (Sherman and Cohen, 2002).”

“…in life after a long-term ostracism via approaches other than developing self-compassion, such as adopting a growth mind-set (Chen, DeWall, Poon, & Chen, 2012; Poon et al., 2013) or reflecting on the meaning of important values or identities to affirm oneself (Sherman & Cohen, 2002; Steele, 1988).”

“Not surprisingly, insecurity has consistently been linked with defensive behavior (Sherman & Cohen, 2002; Steele, 1988).”

“…reduces negative affect (Steele & Liu, 1983) and rumination (Koole, Smeets, van Knippenberg, & Dijksterhuis, 1999) among people who undergo self-threats, and it minimizes people’s defensiveness in the face of self-threatening information (Cohen, Aronson, & Steele, 2000; Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”

“These kinds of processes are referred to as a defensive processes (Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”

“…to the extent a particular bias (e.g., intergroup antipathy) stems from self‐threat, it should be attenuated when people are given the opportunity to self‐affirm (Sherman & Cohen, 2002) because their sources of self‐worth are broadened beyond the specific domain of threat (Cohen & Sherman, 2014).”

“…that by affirming one’s positive self-image through a reminder of one’s important values, one should be less vulnerable to threats to one’s self-image and more open and supportive of image-threatening ideas that otherwise one may be less likely to accept (Sherman & Cohen, 2002, 2006; Tesser, 2000).”

“In summary, self-affirmation serves to reduce defensiveness after threat by restoring the perceived worth and integrity of the self (Cohen & Sherman, 2014; Sherman & Cohen, 2002), and in turn enhancing receptivity to potentially threatening information.”

“Recent research shows that such resistance might be decreased by affirming people’s self-concepts prior to message presentation (Harris & Epton, 2009, 2010; Sherman & Cohen, 2002, 2006).”

“That is, assuming that individuals desire to maintain their self-integrity, satisfying this desire should remove the pressure for partisanship in their social judgments (Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”

“…(Steele & Liu, 1983; Stone & Cooper, 2001) and associated need to process a health-related message defensively (Giner-Sorolla & Chaiken, 1997).1 Self-affirmation theory has been tested and supported in several health and related contexts (e.g., Harris & Epton, 2009; Sherman & Cohen, 2002, 2006).”

“When one’s ability to maintain positive selfperceptions is thwarted, individuals exhibit a number of defensive biases (Greenwald, 1980; Kunda, 1987, 1990; Dunning et al., 1995; Sherman and Cohen, 2002, 2006).”

“By being more reflective of the self and stemming from concern and care for the recipient, feedback from a broader array of sources can better demonstrate love and the esteem in which the individual is held (Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”

“Such a self-affirmation effect is a fundamental tenet of affirmation theory (Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”

“Furthermore, a motivational process does not require self-agency (Budescu and Bruderman 1995) and can operate in situations where people have no control over the outcome such as sports team performances (Sherman and Cohen 2002) or gambles (Budescu and Bruderman 1995).”

“Despite the longstanding emphasis on individual aspects of the self, in a recent review of the self-affirmation literature Sherman and Cohen (2006) noted growing evidence for the role of collective selves, or aspects of the self as a group member (e.”

“Self-affirmation theory has been shown to have particular relevance to the communication of health information (D. K. Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”

“These attitudes and beliefs are very resistant to changes, given that they are intertwined with self and group identity (Bell, 2007; Evans & Broido, 2005; Sherman & Cohen, 2002; Sullivan & Johns, 2002).”

“As Sherman and Cohen (2002) contend, individuals may resist evidence that contravenes prior beliefs when that evidence implicates the self and threatens or devalues self-worth, thus motivating defensive behaviors (e.g., counterarguing, ignoring, or derogating the source of the message).”

“According to the self-affirmation theory (Sherman & Cohen, 2002, 2006; Steele, 1988), people are strongly motivated to protect self-integrity and self-worth.”

“Future anticorruption efforts can draw on a long history of research in behavioral science on the emergence of stereotypes (46) and how to change them (47, 48).”

“…(Correll, Spencer, & Zanna, 2004), to reduce defensive processing of potentially self-threatening health-risk messages (Harris & Napper, 2005; Sherman & Cohen, 2002; van Koningsbruggen & Das, 2009) and to promote health-beneficial behaviours (Epton & Harris, 2008; Jessop, Simmonds, & Sparks,…”

“…have observed that people have been raised to internalize their society’s moral standards (Bandura, 1991), and that they are motivated to maintain the sense that, on the whole, they are good people (Bryan, Adams, & Monin, 2013; Mazar et al., 2008; Monin & Miller, 2001; Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”

“However, people often resist such feedback and therefore lack positive behavior change in terms of more sustainable activities (Sherman and Cohen, 2002, 2006).”

“The literature has established that when facing a threat and given an opportunity to affirm the self, implementation of defensive strategies declines (Green et al., 2008; Sherman & Cohen, 2002; Sherman & Hartson, 2011).”

“The coherence and consistency in the web of meaning frameworks help to imbue human existence with value and purpose (e.g., Schmeichel & Vohs, 2009; Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”

“In a social psychological context, this process is perhaps most vividly illustrated via the myriad demonstrations that self-threat (affirmation) manipulations increase (decrease) the proclivity to engage in self-defensive processes (e.g., Fein & Spencer, 1997; Sherman & Cohen, 2002; Steele, 1988).”

“Self-affirmation research, in which vulnerable individuals’ core values are affirmed, has been shown to reduce the threat to one’s self-image by making people feel more secure in their self-worth (Sherman and Cohen, 2002).”

“Third, the presenters created an environment where individuals were more likely to accept threatening information (Sherman & Cohen, 2002, 2006; Sherman et al., 2007); specifically, they used scientific research to introduce and teach the concepts rather than appealing to “social justice” or…”

“…evaluated (e.g., Cameron et al., 2013; Slusher & Anderson, 1996) and how the recipients judge quality of the argument (e.g., McFadden & Lusk, 2015; Sherman & Cohen, 2002), though these studies have mainly focused on the relationship between exposure to a single argument and belief change.”

“This ethical dissonance poses a threat to one's moral-social identity: the need to see oneself and be seen by others as a good and moral person (Sherman & Cohen, 2002, 2006; Steele, 1988).”

“These findings resonate with past findings that family and close friends can serve as a source of affirmation in threatening situations (Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”

“However, research supporting the notion that threats to morality underlie some obsessive-compulsive behaviours does not explain why people with OCD misappraise intrusive thoughts as morally-threatening (Bhar and Kyrios, 2007); indeed, people ordinarily reject negative information about themselves to protect their sens…”

“We further examine whether self-affirmation (D. A. K. Sherman et al., 2000; D. K. Sherman & Cohen, 2002) might reduce this inclination, thereby allowing people to acknowledge others’ suffering as a basis for action.”

“The intervention is thought to be successful because when students affirm themselves in an unthreatened domain, they are less likely to react with defensive biases in the stereotyped domain [47][48][49][50].”

“In fact, the typical response to unwanted, disconfirmatory information is often minimization or dismissal as not personally relevant (Leffingwell, Neumann, Leedy, & Babitzke, 2007; Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”

“However, Koole et al. (1999), drawing on earlier theorizing by Tesser, Martin, and Cornell (1996; see also Tesser & Cornell, 1991), have provided evidence that self-affirmation can enhance positive affect without participants’ awareness (see also Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”

“As a way to reduce levels of defensive bias, studies have sometimes affirmed self-worth before introducing a threatening message (Sherman and Cohen, 2002; Sherman, Nelson and Steele, 2000; Cohen, Aronson and Steele, 2000).”

“Numerous experiments have observed that affirming the self reduces defensive responding to self-threats (Steele, 1988; for a review, see Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”

“For example, defensive biases may help the individual maintain his or her self-esteem but they can simultaneously interfere with progress toward important life changes that might curtail conflict with others (e.g., Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”

“Furthermore, retrospective data is subject to hindsight bias in which the inevitability of a known outcome is exaggerated (Sanna & Schwarz, 2006) as well as other self-justifying behaviors that can affect recollection (Connolly & Zeelenberg, 2002; Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”