Cited by 1,302Death Anxiety and Social ExclusionSocial and Intergroup PsychologyBehavioral Health and Interventions

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 213 of the 213 references it cites were found in a registry or an index; 30 of the 313 sources its claims cite were checked for support.

The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention

Open access
Cohen, Geoffrey L., Sherman, David K.·2014·Annual Review of Psychology

Abstract

People have a basic need to maintain the integrity of the self, a global sense of personal adequacy. Events that threaten self-integrity arouse stress and self-protective defenses that can hamper performance and growth. However, an intervention known as self-affirmation can curb these negative outcomes. Self-affirmation interventions typically have people write about core personal values. The interventions bring about a more expansive view of the self and its resources, weakening the implications of a threat for personal integrity. Timely affirmations have been shown to improve education, health, and relationship outcomes, with benefits that sometimes persist for months and years. Like other interventions and experiences, self-affirmations can have lasting benefits when they touch off a cycle of adaptive potential, a positive feedback loop between the self-system and the social system that propagates adaptive outcomes over time. The present review highlights both connections with other disciplines and lessons for a social psychological understanding of intervention and change.

Overview

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115137

Cites

213 of 213 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Nothing to recompute.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

140 Own interpretation · 121 No full text of the sources · 34 Sources not found · 32 Not checked yet · 19 No basis given · 12 Partly supported · 9 Supported · 7 Supported so far · 1 Own method · accuracy not yet measured

Show all 232 claims

  • It may state two separate claims as one. 103
  • Probably not a substantial claim. 52
143 of 143
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Barriers and catalysts to change can be identified and social psychological interventions can bring about long-term improvement.

    “The commonality is the notion that barriers and catalysts to change can be identified and that social psychological interventions can bring about long-term improvement.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Students want to think positively of themselves.

    “Students want to think positively of themselves.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    The daily stressors of school can threaten students' sense of personal adequacy.

    “But the daily stressors of school-tests, grades, peer relations-can threaten their sense of personal adequacy.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Most people want to think of themselves as healthy.

    “Most people want to think of themselves as healthy, so it can be threatening to confront evidence that challenges that assessment.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Academic institutions teem with processes that recognize, reinforce, and provide resources for student success.

    “Academic institutions teem with processes that recognize, reinforce, and provide resources for student success.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    For many diseases, simple preventive steps, such as smoking cessation or diet change, would save a profound number of lives if practiced on a large scale.

    “For many diseases, simple preventive steps, such as smoking cessation or diet change, would save a profound number of lives if practiced on a large scale.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Psychological threat can impede people's ability to learn, grow, be healthy, and have rewarding relationships.

    “People want to learn, grow, be healthy, and have rewarding relationships, but psychological threat can impede their ability to do so.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    People want to have rewarding relationships and most want to resolve disagreements equitably.

    “People want to have rewarding relationships, and most want to resolve disagreements equitably.”
  • The paper relies on this without support.

    Social systems such as schools are designed to reinforce positive change.

    “In the context of a powerful social system such as school, designed to reinforce positive change, an affirmation can nudge a motivated but underperforming student away from failure in a lasting way.”
9 of 9

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

Each contradiction between two passages listed here was confirmed by an independent check.

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Citations

Cites

Show all 205 references

Research works printed but not linked: 14

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Items 901–1,000 of 1,187

Metadata

Authors
Cohen, G. L., & Sherman, D. K.
Affiliations
  • Stanford University (US)
  • University of California, Santa Barbara (US)
Corresponding author
Sherman, David K.
Venue
Annual Review of Psychology
Published
2014-01-03
Volume
65
Issue
1
Pages
333-371
ISSN
  • 0066-4308 (ISSN-L)
  • 1545-2085
OpenAlex
W2168420763
Cited by
1,302
References
205
Citations by year
2026: 94 · 2025: 151 · 2024: 108 · 2023: 101 · 2022: 149 · 2021: 142 · 2020: 119 · 2019: 98 · 2018: 98 · 2017: 78 · 2016: 85 · 2015: 53 · 2014: 23
FWCI
9.88
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Annual Review of Psychology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation (1109548)
  • National Institutes of Health
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01HD055342)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
Keywords
self-affirmation, self-integrity, self-affirmation intervention, self-system, social-psychological intervention, stress, personal values, adaptive potential
MeSH terms
Humans, Mental Health, Psychology, Social, Self Concept, Social Values, Self Efficacy

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