Review of studies says you can decrease motivated cognition through self-affirmation
post by Nick_Beckstead · 2013-10-23T11:43:49.300Z · LW · GW · Legacy · 9 commentsContents
9 comments
I read this article today and thought LW might find it interesting. The key finding is that in a number of different experiments, simple "self-affirmations" (such as writing about relationships with your friends or something else that makes you feel good about yourself) make people more open to changing their mind in cases where changing their mind would be damaging to their self-image. The proposed explanation is that people need to maintain a certain level of self-worth, and one way they do that is by refusing to accept evidence that would damage their sense of self-worth. But if they have a high enough sense of self-worth, they are less likely to do this. I haven't reviewed any of these studies personally, but the idea makes some sense and sounds pretty easy to try. Hat tip to Dan Keys for putting me onto the idea. I searched LW for "Sherman self-affirmation" and didn't see this discussed anywhere on LW, but I didn't look very hard.
Title: Accepting Threatening Information: Self–Affirmation and the Reduction of Defensive Biases
Authors: David K. Sherman and Geoffrey L. Cohen
Citation details: Current Directions in Psychological Science August 2002 vol. 11 no. 4 119-123
Abstract: Why do people resist evidence that challenges the validity of long–held beliefs? And why do they persist in maladaptive behavior even when persuasive information or personal experience recommends change? We argue that such defensive tendencies are driven, in large part, by a fundamental motivation to protect the perceived worth and integrity of the self. Studies of social–political debate, health–risk assessment, and responses to team victory or defeat have shown that people respond to information in a less defensive and more open–minded manner when their self–worth is buttressed by an affirmation of an alternative source of identity. Self–affirmed individuals are more likely to accept information that they would otherwise view as threatening, and subsequently to change their beliefs and even their behavior in a desirable fashion. Defensive biases have an adaptive function for maintaining self–worth, but maladaptive consequences for promoting change and reducing social conflict.
Key quotes: "Pro-choice partisans and pro-life partisans were presented with a debate between two activists on opposite sides of the abortion dispute….However, this confirmation bias was sharply attenuated among participants who affirmed a valued source of self-worth (by writing about a personally important value, such as their relations with friends)....although all participants left the debate feeling more confident in their beliefs about abortion than they had before, this polarization in attitude was significantly reduced among self-affirmed participants (cf. Lord et al., 1979)." p. 120
"In one study (Cohen et al., 2000), devout opponents and proponents of capital punishment were presented with a persuasive scientific report that contradicted their beliefs about the death penalty’s effectiveness as a deterrent for crime....the responses of participants who received an affirmation of a valued self-identity (by writing about a personally important value, or by being provided with positive feedback on an important skill) proved more favorable.Self affirmed participants were less critical of the reported research, they suspected less bias on the part of the authors, and they even changed their overall attitudes toward capital punishment in the direction of the report they read." p. 121
"In one study, athletes who had just completed an intramural volleyball game assessed the extent to which each of a series of factors contributed to their team’s victory or defeat. As in past research (Lau & Russell, 1980),winners made more internal attributions for their victories than losers did for their defeats. However, among athletes who had reflected on an important value irrelevant to athletics, this self-serving bias was attenuated." p. 122
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comment by [deleted] · 2013-10-23T13:21:42.582Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
The use of affirmations in commercials might suggest advertisers believe it contributes to changing belief and thus behavior. Affirmations in advertising might also provide some falsfiable data on this claim. I wish I had a dollar for every advertisement with an affirmation in it I see each day.
Replies from: Vika, None↑ comment by Vika · 2013-10-25T15:29:34.303Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Does affirmation work as a general-purpose persuasion technique? According to Cialdini's classification, it would probably fall in the "reciprocity" category - if you affirm / praise the other person, they are more likely to cooperate with you.
comment by CarlShulman · 2013-10-23T17:43:32.443Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I'd like to see effect sizes, and perhaps the result of running the reviewed studies through the p-curve tool accompanying such claims.
Replies from: Nick_Beckstead↑ comment by Nick_Beckstead · 2013-10-23T18:03:58.550Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I agree that this would be good, but didn't think it was worthwhile for me to go through the extra effort in this case. But I did think it was worthwhile to share what I had already found. I think I was very clear about how closely this had been vetted (which is to say, extremely little).
Replies from: John_Maxwell_IV↑ comment by John_Maxwell (John_Maxwell_IV) · 2013-10-24T07:56:52.521Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
Yep, thanks for sharing this!
comment by stripey7 · 2013-11-01T00:49:46.476Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I have no studies to cite, but in my personal experience, expanding my social circle from almost exclusively a rather ideologically narrow grouping of political activists, to people with whom I shared various other sorts of interests, I became much less defensive about my beliefs and much more capable of revising them, and in fact did so for a number of them. In real time, I perceived this as a consequence of no longer being totally dependent on the first group for my senses of community and identity.
comment by JQuinton · 2013-10-23T15:33:33.740Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
I read a related study around four years ago that confirmed the same thing about religion: Uncertainty doesn't make people more religious if you make them feel good about themselves first:
A series of studies over recent years have found that if you make people feel uncertain or anxious, they'll respond by turning up the intensity of their religious faith.
[...]
Enter a new study by Aaron Wichman at Western Kentucky University. He used a paper-based task to induce feelings of uncertainty in two groups of undergraduates (he got them to write about a time when they were uncertain).
In the first study, he then got them to write about a time when they had succeeded at something (or, in the control group, when they had failed). The results are shown in the top graph.
The only significant effect was in the group that had to write about a time they were uncertain about something, and then about a time when they had failed. This group had their religious beliefs strengthened.
[...]
What's doubly interesting is that the results weren't affected by how happy or sad people were. It seems that it's not that uncertainty makes people unhappy, it's that it makes then feel threatened - and that's why they turn to religion.
And you can eliminate this effect by first bumping up their self worth!
comment by [deleted] · 2014-06-13T06:06:03.642Z · LW(p) · GW(p)
"Research has suggested multiple routes that cognitive dissonance can be reduced. Self-affirmation has been shown to reduce dissonance,[25] however it is not always the mode of choice when trying to reduce dissonance. When multiple routes are available, it has been found that people prefer to reduce dissonance by directly altering their attitudes and behaviors rather than through self-affirmation.[26] People who have high levels of self-esteem, who are postulated to possess abilities to reduce dissonance by focusing on positive aspects of the self, have also been found to prefer modifying cognitions, such as attitudes and beliefs, over self-affirmation.[27]"" - Wikipedia article