This is a request for continuing support for research concerned with the dynamic interplay between people's social beliefs and the interpersonal environments in which they are embedded. The program of research assumes that most prior conceptualizations of person perception (those processes by which people form beliefs about themselves and others) are inadequate because they overemphasize the cognitive mediators of the process. The proposed research rests on a broader conceptualization which assumes that person perception is a fundamentally interpersonal process that ordinarily serves to enable people to establish and maintain smoothly functioning relationships. Part I attempts to identify interpersonal mechanisms that interfere with the efforts of therapists to change negative self-views. Attempts are made to test the hypothesis that under certain conditions individuals: (a) enter relationships in which they receive negative feedback; (b) interpret feedback in ways that are compatible with their negative self-views; and (c) make frequent and incompetent attempts to elicit positive feedback, to which their friends, intimates, and even therapists respond with ambivalence and rejection. Part II examines the processes that underlie people's behavioral and cognitive reactions to feedback that disconfirms their self-conceptions. Experiments are designed to identify the conditions under which people are likely to: (a) behaviorally confirm versus disconfirm the beliefs of others; (b) have their intimates support their self-conceptions when these conceptions are under attack; and (c) enter into and remain in relationships in which their intimates perceive them inaccurately. Studies are also proposed to specify processes that diminish the probability that people receive self-discrepant feedback. Part III explores the notion that if people's actions constrain the responses of their interaction partners (as I expect to find in Parts I and II), then it is important to learn when and how people become aware of this constraining influence. Several investigations attempt to identify the psychological processes that underlie such awareness as well as the relationship between awareness and interpersonal conflict. At a general level, this research is intended to result in the development of a truly interpersonal theory of person perception that acknowledges the dynamic interplay between social thought and social action.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01MH037598-04
Application #
3376247
Study Section
Mental Health Behavioral Sciences Research Review Committee (BSR)
Project Start
1983-05-01
Project End
1989-05-31
Budget Start
1986-06-01
Budget End
1987-05-31
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
1986
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Texas Austin
Department
Type
Schools of Arts and Sciences
DUNS #
City
Austin
State
TX
Country
United States
Zip Code
78713
Tafarodi, R W; Swann Jr, W B (1995) Self-linking and self-competence as dimensions of global self-esteem: initial validation of a measure. J Pers Assess 65:322-42
Swann Jr, W B; De la Ronde, C; Hixon, J G (1994) Authenticity and positivity strivings in marriage and courtship. J Pers Soc Psychol 66:857-69
McNulty, S E; Swann Jr, W B (1994) Identity negotiation in roommate relationships: the self as architect and consequence of social reality. J Pers Soc Psychol 67:1012-23
Hixon, J G; Swann Jr, W B (1993) When does introspection bear fruit? Self-reflection, self-insight, and interpersonal choices. J Pers Soc Psychol 64:35-43
Swann Jr, W B; Wenzlaff, R M; Tafarodi, R W (1992) Depression and the search for negative evaluations: more evidence of the role of self-verification strivings. J Abnorm Psychol 101:314-7
Swann Jr, W B; Stein-Seroussi, A; Giesler, R B (1992) Why people self-verify. J Pers Soc Psychol 62:392-401
Swann Jr, W B; Wenzlaff, R M; Krull, D S et al. (1992) Allure of negative feedback: self-verification strivings among depressed persons. J Abnorm Psychol 101:293-306
Swann Jr, W B; Stein-Seroussi, A; McNulty, S E (1992) Outcasts in a white-lie society: the enigmatic worlds of people with negative self-conceptions. J Pers Soc Psychol 62:618-24
Pelham, B W (1991) On confidence and consequence: the certainty and importance of self-knowledge. J Pers Soc Psychol 60:518-30
Swann Jr, W B; Hixon, J G; Stein-Seroussi, A et al. (1990) The fleeting gleam of praise: cognitive processes underlying behavioral reactions to self-relevant feedback. J Pers Soc Psychol 59:17-26

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