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Accepting threatening information: Self‐affirmation and the reduction of defensive biases
Abstract
Why do people resist evidence that challenges the validity of long–held beliefs? And why do they persist in maladaptive behavior even when persuasive information or personal experience recommends change? We argue that such defensive tendencies are driven, in large part, by a fundamental motivation to protect the perceived worth and integrity of the self. Studies of social–political debate, health–risk assessment, and responses to team victory or defeat have shown that people respond to information in a less defensive and more open–minded manner when their self–worth is buttressed by an affirmation of an alternative source of identity. Self–affirmed individuals are more likely to accept information that they would otherwise view as threatening, and subsequently to change their beliefs and even their behavior in a desirable fashion. Defensive biases have an adaptive function for maintaining self–worth, but maladaptive consequences for promoting change and reducing social conflict.
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“Researchers have shown that individuals who are either personally affirmed or exposed to group-affirming stimuli thereafter display less bias when processing information that is contrary to beliefs dominantly held by their peers (Cohen, 2000;Sherman & Cohen, 2002;Cohen et al., in press).”
From Culture and Identity‐Protective Cognition: Explaining the White‐Male Effect in Risk Perception (2007) · cites this paper as Sherman & Cohen, 2002
In the citing paper
“Self-aYrmation theory proposes a third alternative, a diVerent kind of psychological adaptation-one that, under many circumstances, enables both the restoration of self-integrity and adaptive behavior change.”
From The psychology of self-defense: Self-affirmation theory (2006) · cites this paper as Sherman & Cohen, 2002
In the citing paper
“One way that these defensive adaptations can be reduced, or even eliminated, is through the process of self-aYrmation (Aronson, Cohen, & Nail, 1999;Sherman & Cohen, 2002;Steele, 1988).”
From The psychology of self-defense: Self-affirmation theory (2006) · cites this paper as Sherman & Cohen, 2002
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“…activity (e.g., writing about a value of personal importance) prior to exposure to threatening messages can help people become more open to health information by reducing defensive reactions (e.g. message degradation) among at-risk recipients (Harris & Napper, 2005; Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”
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Harinck, F., & Druckman, D. (2019) · Group Decision and Negotiation · doi:10.1007/s10726-019-09620-x · Cited by 14
“This intervention is related to selfaffirmation, which has been shown to decrease an identity threat (Cohen et al. 2007; Correll et al. 2004; McQueen and Klein 2006; Sherman and Cohen 2002, 2006).”
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“Others include cognitive dissonance avoidance, which might incline individuals to resolve contested empirical claims in a manner compatible with their cultural identities (Sherman and Cohen 2002), and biased assimilation (Lord, Ross and Leper 1979), which would induce them to credit or discredit factual information in…”
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“The psychological defense mechanism against threats to selfintegrity, that IPC uses, has long been discussed (e.g., Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”
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“Lastly, this study didn’t include a no affirmation control condition as previous research on the effects of self-affirmation (e.g., Sherman & Cohen, 2002) and group affirmation (e.g., Derks et al., 2009) has convincingly demonstrated the beneficial effects of both strategies relative to a situation…”
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The Role of Self-Image Concerns in Discrepancies Between Implicit and Explicit Self-Esteem
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Petersen, N. B. G. (2020) · Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory · doi:10.1093/jopart/muaa008 · Cited by 16
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“These findings are in line with previous research that found that self-affirmation can reverse a defensive response to information that threatens the individual’s social identity (Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”
ResultCraving Activity and Losing Objectivity
Hart, W., & Albarracín, D. (2011) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550611408620 · Cited by 14
“Furthermore, given that self-affirmation is known to promote an even-handed evaluation of consistent and inconsistent information (Sherman & Cohen, 2002; Sherman, Nelson, & Steele, 2000), Experiment 3 examined whether self-affirmation would reduce or completely remove effects of the primes on…”
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“Prior work shows self-affirmation reduces resistance to disconfirming evidence in social-political discussions [45], negative valence health-risk information [19,37], and critical feedback on a public speaking task [49].”
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Self-affirmation counteracts the effects of burdens on judgments of distance
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“…reputational injury.24 Unsurprisingly, the prevention of reputational injury should apply universally, as research has shown that people respond to information that challenges their views in a less defensive and more openminded way when our self-worth is affirmed (see Sherman and Cohen, 2002).”
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“…future research should consider strategies to prevent women from the negative effects of stereotype threat, perhaps through self-affirmation training (Sherman & Cohen, 2002), creating a positive work climate, celebrating the success of women, and providing female role models (Lockwood, 2006).”
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“…sense of themselves as good, virtuous, successful, and efficacious—in an alternative domain (Sherman and Cohen, 2006; Steele, 1988), people feel secure about themselves and become more open to ideas incongruent with their identities (Cohen et al., 2000, 2007; Sherman and Cohen, 2002).”
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“When reading news from an ideologically congruent source, or one without any news brand attached, individuals may be predisposed toward belief since the source cues provided pose no threat to attitudes or beliefs (Sherman and Cohen 2002).”
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“Scholars (Sherman & Cohen, 2002) have argued that cultural variables such as self-construal may play a role in the self-affirmation process.”
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Wright, E. C., & Riskind, J. H. (2020) · Journal of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.jocrd.2020.100619 · Cited by 10
Investigating the Interplay of Self-Construal and Independent Vs. Interdependent Self-Affirmation
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“As previous studies have almost exclusively manipulated selfaffirmation by asking participants to affirm their own cherished values or positive attributes, it is possible that this manipulation may not work equally for individuals with different cultural orientations (Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”
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“According to self-affirmation theory (e.g., Aronson et al. 1999; Sherman and Cohen 2002, 2006; Steele 1988), individuals strive to maintain an image of selfintegrity (i.e., the belief that one is a good person with reference to specific standards that may vary across social groups or cultures).”
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“One treatment shown to reduce defensiveness is self-affirmation, which involves bolstering the self by asserting one’s values or positive qualities (Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”
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“One might reason that the stronger influence of personal norms (vs. social norms) on cooperation is due to a justification/rationalization process (Steele, 1988; Sherman and Cohen, 2002).”
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“…when considering this point in practice, the LLMs expected humans to have a capacity for ontological pluralism, and ignored that people may not notice the limitations and biases in a model if the views presented align with their own, or they may ignore views that do not align with their own [116].”
Public perceptions of coronary events risk factors: a discrete choice experiment
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“However, research has shown that once people form an attitude or belief toward a given object or event, they tend to resist acknowledging information that conflicts with their views; it activates their self-defense response (Cohen et al., 2000; Sherman & Cohen, 2002, 2006).”
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“…they are generally or globally adequate (e.g., moral, correct, and adaptive) before exposure to a risk message, they will be less likely to interpret it as a self-threat and be more likely to accept the risk message’s recommendation (Epton et al., 2014; Sherman & Cohen, 2002, 2006; Steele, 1988).”
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“So-called defense motives are triggered in response to threatening information and lead to favoring and specifically searching for information corresponding to one’s self-image (Kunda, 1990; Olson and Stone, 2005; Sherman and Cohen, 2016).”
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“Such oxytocin-induced effects would be consistent with the positive effects of priming secure attachment on openness to outgroup members (Mikulincer and Shaver, 2001), and the positive effects of self-affirmation on openness to threatening information (Sherman and Cohen, 2002).”
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“For example, if the positive information in question is self-relevant, a person may not spread the information because it threatens the self to highlight one’s own shortcomings (Nielson & Shapiro, 2009; Sherman & Cohen, 2002; Tesser, Millar, & Moore, 1988).”
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“Such ‘affirmations’ have been shown to engage a broader and more positive perspective of the self when under threat (Sherman, 2013), de-couple the threat from meaningful aspects of he self-concept (Wakslak & Trope, 2009) and increase openness towards threatening information (Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”
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“For example, people might selectively focus on information that supports their current behavior and disregard information that undermines their behavior (Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”
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“Taken together, self-affirmation methods are a robust mechanism for reinforcing self-concept in the face of threatening information (Sherman & Cohen, 2002, for further review of selfaffirmation applied in a variety of contexts).”
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Duclos, R., Bettman, J., Bloom, P., & Zauberman, G. S. (2007) · PsycEXTRA Dataset · doi:10.1037/e722292011-010 · Cited by 4
Men's Hostile Sexism Predicts Skepticism of Sexual Assault Science
Betz, D. E., Deegan, K., & Gomes, A. (2023) · Psychology of Women Quarterly · doi:10.1177/03616843231215373 · Cited by 4
“Information that contradicts important beliefs can threaten this sense of self-integrity (Cohen et al., 2000; Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”
BackgroundWu, N., Fu, A., Liu, Y., Yue, T., Li, J., Wang, X., & Huang, X. (2023) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1174614 · Cited by 5
“In terms of psychological coping, selfaffirmation functions as a buffer against the impact of threatening information on self-value, reducing the challenging nature of the information, lowering the individual’s defense level, and making them more receptive to threatening information (Sherman and Cohen, 2002; Correll e…”
BackgroundLowering the barriers to change: Can processing‐related self‐affirmations overcome resistance?
Emonds, T., Verwijmeren, T., & Müller, B. C. N. (2023) · Journal of Applied Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/jasp.12977 · Cited by 4
Value Activation and Processing of Persuasive Messages
Blankenship, K. L., & Wegener, D. T. (2011) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550611424084 · Cited by 4
“Such self-affirmations can increase receptivity to threatening persuasive appeals (Sherman & Cohen, 2002; Sherman, Nelson, & Steele, 2000) including increases in processing of the persuasive message (Correll, Spencer, & Zanna, 2004).”
BackgroundThe Influence of Athletic Success on the Self-Esteem of First-Year College Students
Lanter, J. R., & Blackburn, J. Z. (2015) · Journal for the Study of Sports and Athletes in Education · doi:10.1179/1935739715z.00000000032 · Cited by 3
“This indicates that high-identified individuals are able to psychologically adjust the impact of athletic success (or failure) as a means to boost (or maintain) their self-esteem, and is supported by research on self-esteem maintenance (Sherman & Cohen, 2002; Tesser, 2000).”
ResultDjørup, S., Kappel, K., & Hallsson, B. G. (2019) · Ethics Policy & Environment · doi:10.1080/21550085.2019.1581414 · Cited by 4
Reducing prejudice by enhancing the other rather than the self
Legault, L., Coleman, D., Jurchak, K., & Scaltsas, N. (2021) · Self and Identity · doi:10.1080/15298868.2021.1965016 · Cited by 4
Youk, S., Malik, M., Chen, Y., Hopp, F. R., & Weber, R. (2023) · Communication Methods and Measures · doi:10.1080/19312458.2023.2230866 · Cited by 4
“This finding is consistent with the literature: the argument receivers’ values and beliefs affect the evaluation of argument quality (Lukin et al., 2017; Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”
ResultSocial class and conspicuous brand logo in gift choice
Lee, J., Haderlie, T. C., Miyazaki, A. D., & Lee, Y. (2024) · Journal of Consumer Behaviour · doi:10.1002/cb.2301 · Cited by 5
Self-Affirmation Moderates Self-Congruency Effect in Health Messaging
Yang, B. K., & Nan, X. (2019) · Health Communication · doi:10.1080/10410236.2019.1636338 · Cited by 4
“Self-affirmation has been tested as an effective tool for lessening the perceived threat of health risk messages (Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”
InfluentialHagerman, C. J., Stock, M. L., Molloy-Paolillo, B. K., Beekman, J. B., Klein, W. M. P., & Butler, N. (2019) · Journal of Behavioral Medicine · doi:10.1007/s10865-019-00104-6 · Cited by 4
Mohiyeddini, C. (2017) · Body Image · doi:10.1016/j.bodyim.2017.04.002 · Cited by 4
Sense of home buffers threats to the self
Yang, Z., Sedikides, C., Yue, X., & Cai, H. (2020) · Asian Journal Of Social Psychology · doi:10.1111/ajsp.12403 · Cited by 5
Persuasive health communication : A self-perspective
Pietersma, S. (2009) · University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) · Cited by 4
Attenuating Consumer Reactance to Threatening Messages: The Moderating Role of Construal Level
Jalali, M. S., & Briley, D. A. (2011) · The Sydney eScholarship Repository (The University of Sydney) · Cited by 4
Dersch, A., Thacker, I., & Eitel, A. (2026) · Educational Psychology Review · doi:10.1007/s10648-026-10116-9 · Cited by 4
“Worldview backfire is a type of backfire effect that occurs due to a refutational message contradicting learners’ core values, threatening their self-concept and/or identity (Lewandowsky et al., 2020 ; Muis et al., 2018 ; Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”
Democratic Decision Making and the Psychology of Risk
Christiansen, A. T., & Hallsson, B. G. (2017) · Les ateliers de l éthique · doi:10.7202/1042278ar · Cited by 3
Yin, J.-T., Deng, M.-L., Zhao, Z.-Y., Bao, W., & Luo, J.-L. (2023) · Brain and Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.bandc.2023.105995 · Cited by 3
Supporting Children of Terminally Ill Adults: An Arts-Based Psychoeducational Narrative Approach
Mondanaro, J. (2025) · The Arts in Psychotherapy · doi:10.1016/j.aip.2025.102257 · Cited by 3
Refining the self-congruency hypothesis of state authenticity: A self-threat model
Huber, C., Germar, M., Greve, W., & Mojzisch, A. (2025) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2025.106153 · Cited by 4
“This idea is a cornerstone of various theories such as self-verification theory (e.g., Swann, 1983, 1987), symbolic self-completion theory (e.g., Wicklund & Gollwitzer, 1982) or self-affirmation theory (e.g., Sherman & Cohen, 2002, 2006; Steele, 1988).”
Identifying indicators of defensive activity in narration about important interpersonal relations
Soroko, E. (2014) · Current Issues in Personality Psychology · doi:10.5114/cipp.2014.46231 · Cited by 3
“…of cognitive theories highlights the importance of self-serving biases in information processing which allow people to maintain positive self-worth, which results e.g. in rebelling against health recommendations (Crocker, Niija, & Mischkowski, 2008; Pavey & Sparks, 2012; Sherman & Cohen, 2002).”
BackgroundBraman, D., Kahan, D. M., & Grimmelmann, J. (2005) · Scholarly Commons - George Washington University Law School (George Washington University) · Cited by 3
Bierbaum, M., & Nillesen, E. (2021) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0252268 · Cited by 4
“Self-affirmation has been shown to affect self-worth [62] and some evidence also suggests that self-affirmative messages can have a stress-buffering effect [55, 63, 64].”
Background
Metadata
- Authors
- Sherman, D. K., & Cohen, G. L.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Sherman, David K.
- Cohen, Geoffrey L.
- Venue
- Current Directions in Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2002-08
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 119-123
- ISSN
- 0963-7214 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-8721
- OpenAlex
- W2146463557
- Semantic Scholar
- efa426cefbedeb6a8d58ba3c27f93d8e20c2bf01
- Cited by
- 435
- References
- 21
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 23 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 30 · 2019: 29 · 2018: 23 · 2017: 21 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 17
- FWCI
- 35.18
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Current Directions in Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Keywords
- self-affirmation, belief revision, self-worth, identity affirmation, persuasion, health risk assessment, social conflict, openness to experience, behavior change
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