Embracing the Bitter “Truth”: Negative Self-Concepts and Marital Commitment
- 1 March 1992
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Psychological Science
- Vol. 3 (2) , 118-121
- https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.1992.tb00010.x
Abstract
We propose that because self-concepts allow people to predict (and thus control) the responses of others, people want to find support for their self-concepts. They accordingly gravitate toward relationship partners who see them as they see themselves. For people with negative self-views, this means embracing relationship partners who derogate them. Our findings confirmed this reasoning. Just as persons with positive self-concepts were more committed to spouses who thought well of them than to spouses who thought poorly of them, persons with negative self-concepts were more committed to spouses who thought poorly of them than to spouses who thought well of them.This publication has 6 references indexed in Scilit:
- The fleeting gleam of praise: Cognitive processes underlying behavioral reactions to self-relevant feedback.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1990
- From self-conceptions to self-worth: On the sources and structure of global self-esteem.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1989
- Consequences of violating the independence assumption in analysis of variance.Psychological Bulletin, 1986
- Intimates as agents of social support: Sources of consolation or despair?Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1985
- Interpersonal Attraction and RelationshipsAnnual Review of Psychology, 1978
- Liking, Selective Interaction, and Misperception in Congruent Interpersonal RelationsSociometry, 1962