دانلود رایگان ترجمه مقاله تفاوتهای فردی در راهبردهای خودافزایی و محافظت از خود (نشریه وایلی 2010)

تفاوت های فردی در استراتژی های خود افزایی و حمایت از خود: یک تجزیه و تحلیل منسجم

Individual Differences in Self-Enhancement and Self-Protection Strategies: An Integrative Analysis

Abstract

Research has identified a large number of strategies that people use to self-enhance or self-protect. We aimed for an empirical integration of these strategies. Two studies used self-report items to assess all commonly recognized self-enhancement or self-protection strategies. In Study 1 (N 5 345), exploratory factor analysis identified 4 reliable factors. In Study 2 (N 5 416), this model was validated using confirmatory factor analysis. The factors related differentially to the key personality variables of regulatory focus, self-esteem, and narcissism. Expanding this integrative approach in the future can reveal a great deal about the structure and dynamics of self-enhancement and self-protection motivation.

People are motivated to possess a positive self-concept. They often go to great lengths to attain positive views of the self (self-enhance) and avoid negative views of the self (self-protect; Alicke & Govorun, 2005; Baumeister, 1998; Sedikides, Green, & Pinter, 2004). Researchers have documented many varied manifestations, or strategies, that people use to self-enhance and self-protect (Greenwald, 1980; Sedikides, Skowronski, & Gaertner, 2004; Tesser, Crepaz, Collins, Cornell, & Beach, 2000). However, research has focused on studying the strategies separately. Thus, a more integrative approach is now needed. This article constitutes a first empirical attempt to examine, systematically and holistically, the strategies that people use to enhance and protect a positive self-concept.

The Motive to Enhance and Protect Positive Self-Views

The motivation to enhance and protect positive self-views is inherent in psychologically healthy adults. People are skilled at processing information in a biased manner in order to arrive at conclusions that flatter the self (Kruglanski, 1989; Kunda, 1990). Taylor and Brown (1988) referred to many such biases (e.g., unrealistically positive self-evaluations, perceptions of control, optimism) under the umbrella of ‘‘positive illusions.’’ Since then, researchers have conceptualized an array of cognitive, affective, and behavioral patterns as manifestations of the motivation to enhance and protect a positive self-concept.

Although both self-enhancement and self-protection are part of an overarching desire to feel good about the self, there are important differences. Self-enhancement operates routinely, to regulate the positivity of the self-concept, whereas self-protection for the most part operates situationally, in response to threats to the self-concept (Alicke & Sedikides, 2009). Thus, self-enhancement focuses on attaining, maximizing, and regulating positive self-views, whereas selfprotection focuses on avoiding, minimizing, and repairing negative self-views. It is often difficult to tease apart the two self-motives empirically, partly because a given behavior (e.g., self-handicapping) can reflect either self-enhancement (e.g., maximizing credit for success) or self-protection (e.g., minimizing blame for failure; Tice, 1991). Given this and the two motives’ common purpose, we discuss them together.

Self-enhancement and self-protection are prevalent and pervasive motives, which often take precedence over other long-term goals (e.g., academic achievement; Crocker & Park, 2003) and can impact self-views across cultures (Sedikides, Gaertner, & Toguchi, 2003; Sheldon, Elliot, Kim, & Kasser, 2001; Yamaguchi et al., 2007). Sedikides and Skowronski (1997, 2000) proposed that the motives to self-enhance and self-protect may have served an adaptive evolutionary function. Given the pervasiveness, habitual occurrence, and breadth of self-enhancement and self-protection, the motives 782 Hepper, Gramzow, & Sedikides warrant further investigation (Alicke, 1999; Alicke & Sedikides, 2009).1