Affirming the Self to Promote Agreement With Another: Lowering a Psychological Barrier to Conflict Resolution
Abstract
Two studies investigated the capacity of a self-affirmation intervention to lower a psychological barrier to conflict resolution. Study 1 used a role-play scenario in which a student negotiated with a professor for greater rewards for work on a collaborative project. A self-affirmation manipulation, in which participants focused on an important personal value, significantly reduced their tendency to derogate a concession offered by the professor relative to one that had not been offered. Study 2 replicated this effect and showed that the phenomenon did not depend on the self-affirmed participant’s experience of a heightened sense of deservingness or a tendency to make positive attributions about the professor. Distraction and explicit mood enhancement were also ruled out as mediators of the self-affirmation effect, which appears to stem from motivational rather than explicit cognitive processes.
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When affirmed, people are less likely to derogate concessions offered by adversaries in a negotiation.
“When affirmed, people are less likely to derogate concessions offered by adversaries in a negotiation”
From The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention (2014) · cites this paper as Ward et al. 2011
Cites
Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans.
Steele, C. M., & Aronson, J. (1995) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.69.5.797 · Cited by 8,181 · see citing works
Recursive Processes in Self-Affirmation: Intervening to Close the Minority Achievement Gap
Cohen, G. L., Garcia, J., Purdie-Vaughns, V., Apfel, N., & Brzustoski, P. (2009) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1170769 · Cited by 800 · see citing works
Sherman, D. A. K., Nelson, L. D., & Steele, C. M. (2000) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672002611003 · Cited by 660 · see citing works
Self‐image resilience and dissonance: The role of affirmational resources
Steele, C. M., Spencer, S. J., & Lynch, M. (1993) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.64.6.885 · Cited by 600 · see citing works
When beliefs yield to evidence: Reducing biased evaluation by affirming the self
Cohen, G. L., Aronson, J., & Steele, C. M. (2000) · Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin · doi:10.1177/01461672002611011 · Cited by 584 · see citing works
Accepting threatening information: Self‐affirmation and the reduction of defensive biases
Sherman, D. K., & Cohen, G. L. (2002) · Current Directions in Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00182 · Cited by 435 · cited 1× · see citing works
“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).”
BackgroundThe cessation of rumination through self-affirmation.
Koole, S. L., Smeets, K., van Knippenberg, A., & Dijksterhuis, A. (1999) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.77.1.111 · Cited by 403 · cited 4× · see citing works
“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).”
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The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention
Cohen, G. L., & Sherman, D. K. (2014) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115137 · Cited by 1,197 · see citing works
- Authors
- Ward, A., Atkins, D. C., Lepper, M. R., & Ross, L.
- Affiliations
- Swarthmore College (US)
- University of Washington (US)
- Stanford University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Ward, Andrew
- Venue
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2011-05-17
- Volume
- 37
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 1216-1228
- ISSN
- 0146-1672 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-7433
- OpenAlex
- W2056116227
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 3 · 2017: 2 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 1
- FWCI
- 4.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Works - Scholarship, Research, & Creative Expression (Swarthmore College) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Conflict Management and Negotiation
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Keywords
- self-affirmation, self-affirmation intervention, conflict resolution, negotiation, personal values, deservingness, motivation, mood improvement, role play
- MeSH terms
- Conflict, Psychological, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Male, Psychological Tests, Reward, Self-Assessment, Self Concept, Negotiating
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