Uncertainty enhancement and reduction during self -awareness: How standards of correctness come into existence

• Main Author: Lalwani, Neal
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-1998
• Subjects: Clinical psychology; Psychotherapy; Social psychology
• ISBN: 9780496589425; 0496589423

Objective self-awareness (OSA) theory (Duval & Wicklund, 1972) posits the existence of object self and mental representation that self is compared against called standards of correctness. In OSA theory's original formulation and in virtually all theories involving elements within the self-structure, the existence of mental representations against which self compares is assumed. However, little or no work has been conducted to identify the processes by which these cognitive structures emerge. Drawing heavily from the theoretical postulations of Freud (1923), Rogers (1951), Mills (1965), and Duval & Wicklund (1972), a theory of standard origination is developed. An experiment tested this theory's contention that standards of correctness originate when a person high in level of self-focus and uncertain about what to do is exposed to an image that reduces this feeling of uncertainty, resulting in the translation of the particular image into a representation indicating where self ought to, should, or must be. In this experiment, conditions were created such that individuals either high or low in level of self-focus and uncertainty magnitude were presented with a stimulus that either slightly or significantly reduced their uncertainty level. It was predicted that this particular image was most likely to be internalized when high uncertainty levels were significantly reduced under circumstances of enhanced self-focus. Conversely, it was predicted that the stimulus would be internalized to a lesser degree when either uncertainty level, uncertainty reduction, or level of self-focus was low. Internalization of the stimulus was predicted to result in its operation as a standard of correctness under conditions of self-focus. All predictions were confirmed. The implication of these findings for theories that explore how parent-child relationships influenced value-acquisition are discussed.