Skip to main content

Self-Affirmation Reduces Biased Processing of Health-Risk Information

Motivation and Emotion volume 22, pages 99–132 (1998)Cite this article

Abstract

An experiment tested whether a positive experience (the endorsement and recall of one's past acts of kindness) would reduce biased processing of self-relevant health-risk information. Women college students (N = 66) who reported high or low levels of daily caffeine use were exposed to both risk-confirming and risk-disconfirming information about the link between caffeine consumption and fibrocystic breast disease (FBD). Participants were randomly assigned to complete an affirmation of their kindness via questionnaire or to a no-affirmation condition. Results indicated that the affirmation manipulation made frequent caffeine drinkers more open, less biased processors of risk-related information. Relative to frequent caffeine drinkers who did not affirm their kindness, frequent caffeine drinkers in the affirmation condition oriented more quickly to the risk-confirming information, rated the risk-confirming information as more convincing than the risk-disconfirming information, and recalled less risk-disconfirming information at a 1-week follow-up. They also reported greater perceived personal control over reducing their level of caffeine consumption. Although frequent caffeine drinkers in the affirmation condition initially reported lower intentions to reduce their caffeine consumption, there was no evidence that they were less likely to decrease their caffeine consumption at the follow-up. The possibility that positive beliefs and experiences function as self-regulatory resources among people confronting threats to health and well-being is discussed.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution.

Access options

Buy single article

Instant access to the full article PDF.

USD 39.95

Price includes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

REFERENCES

  • Armor, D. A., & Taylor, S. E. (1998). Situated optimism: Specific outcome expectancies and self-regulation. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 30, pp. 309–379). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aronson, E. (1968). Dissonance theory: Progress and problems. In R. P. Abelson, E. Aronson, W. J. McGuire, T. M. Newcomb, M. J. Rosenberg, & P. H. Tannenbaum (Eds.), Theories of cognitive consistency: A sourcebook (pp. 5–27). Chicago: Rand McNally.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aronson, E. (1969). The theory of cognitive dissonance: A current perspective. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 4, pp. 1–34). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aspinwall, L. G. (1997). Future-oriented aspects of social comparisons: A framework for studying health-related comparison activity. In B. P. Buunk & F. X. Gibbons (Eds.), Health, coping, and well-being: Perspectives from social comparison theory (pp. 125–165). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aspinwall, L. G. (1998). Rethinking the role of positive affect in self-regulation. Motivation and Emotion, 22, 1–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Aspinwall, L. G., & Brunhart, S. M. (1996). Distinguishing optimism from denial: Optimistic beliefs predict attention to health threats. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 993–1003.

    Google Scholar 

  • Aspinwall, L. G., & Brunhart, S. M. (in press). What I do know won't hurt me: Optimism, attention to negative information, coping, and health. In J. Gillham (Ed.), Volume in honor of Martin Seligman's contributions to the science of optimism, hope, and resiliency. Philadelphia: Templeton Foundation.

  • Aspinwall, L. G., & Taylor, S. E. (1997). A stitch in time: Self-regulation and proactive coping. Psychological Bulletin, 121, 417–436.

    Google Scholar 

  • Azjen, I. (1985). From intentions to actions: A theory of planned behavior. In J. Kuhl & J. Beckman (Eds.), Action-control: From cognition to behavior (pp. 11–39). Heidelberg, Germany: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Azjen, I. (1991). The theory of planned behavior. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 50, 179–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Azjen, I., & Madden, T. J. (1986). Prediction of goal-directed behavior: Attitudes, intentions, and perceived behavioral control. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 22, 453–474.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banaji, M. R., & Prentice, D. A. (1994). The self in social contexts. Annual Review of Psychology, 45, 297–332.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bandura, A. (1989). Perceived self-efficacy in the exercise of control over AIDS infection. In V. M. Mays, G. W. Albee, & S. F. Schneider (Eds.), The primary prevention of AIDS: Psychological approaches (pp. 128–141). Newberry Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baumeister, R. F. (1989). The optimal margin of illusion. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 8, 176–189.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyle, C. A., Berkowitz, G. S., LiVolsi, V. A., Ort, S., Merino, M. J., White, C., & Kelsey, J. L. (1984). Caffeine consumption and fibrocystic breast disease: A case-control epidemiologic study. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 72, 1015–1019.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Breznitz, S. (1983). The seven kinds of denial. In S. Breznitz (Ed.), The denial of stress (pp. 257–286). New York: International Universities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J. D. (1990). Evaluating one's abilities: Shortcuts and stumbling blocks on the road to self-knowledge. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 26, 149–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J. D., & Dutton, K. A. (1995). Truth and consequences: The costs and benefits of accurate self-knowledge. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 1288–1296.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colvin, C. R., & Block, J. (1994). Do positive illusions foster mental health? An examination of the Taylor and Brown formulation. Psychological Bulletin, 116, 3–20.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cooper, J., & Fazio, R. H. (1984). A new look at dissonance theory. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 17, pp. 229–266). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Croyle, R. T. (1992). Appraisal of health threats: Cognition, motivation, and social comparison. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 16, 165–182.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ditto, P. H., & Boardman, A. F. (1995). Perceived accuracy of favorable and unfavorable psychological feedback. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 16, 137–157.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ditto, P. H., & Croyle, R. T. (1995). Understanding the impact of risk factor test results: Insights from a basic research program. In R. T. Croyle (Ed.), Psychosocial effects of screening for disease prevention and detection (pp. 144–181). New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ditto, P. H., Jemmott, J. B., III., & Darley, J. M. (1988). Appraising the threat of illness: A mental representational approach. Health Psychology, 7, 183–201.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ditto, P. H., & Lopez, D. F. (1992). Motivated skepticism: Use of differential decision criteria for preferred and nonpreferred conclusions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63, 568–584.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ditto, P. H., Scepansky, J. A., Munro, G. D., Apanovitch, A. M., & Lockhart, L. K. (1998). Motivated sensitivity to preference-inconsistent information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 75, 53–69.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eagly, A. H., & Chaiken, S. (1993). The psychology of attitudes. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich.

    Google Scholar 

  • Estrada, C. A., Isen, A. M., & Young, M. J. (1997). Positive affect facilitates integration of information and decreases anchoring in reasoning among physicians. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 72, 117–135.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Festinger, L. (1957). A theory of cognitive dissonance. Evanston, IL: Row Peterson.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fishbein, M., & Ajzen, I. (1975). Belief, attitude, intention, and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fredrickson, B. L. (in press). What good are positive emotions? Review of General Psychology, 2.

  • Frey, D. (1986). Recent research on selective exposure to information. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 19, pp. 41–80). Orlando, FL: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibbons, F. X., & Gerrard, M. (1997). Health images and their effects on health behavior. In B. P. Buunk & F. X. Gibbons (Eds.), Health, coping, and well-being: Perspectives from social comparison theory (pp. 63–94). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giner-Sorolla, R., & Chaiken, S. (1997). Selective use of heuristic and systematic processing under defense motivation. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 23, 84–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwald, A. G. (1980). The totalitarian ego: Fabrication and revision of personal history. American Psychologist, 35, 603–618.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hobfoll, S. E. (1989). Conservation of resources: A new attempt at conceptualizing stress. American Psychologist, 44, 513–524.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Isen, A. M. (1970). Success, failure, attention, and reaction to others: The warm glow of success. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 15, 294–301.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isen, A. M. (1993). Positive affect and decision making. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 261–277). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Isen, A. M. (in press). Positive affect. In T. Dagleish & M. Powers (Eds.), Handbook of cognition and emotion. London: Wiley.

  • Jepson, C., & Chaiken, S. (1990). Chronic issue-specific fear inhibits systematic processing of persuasive communications. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 5, 61–84.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jemmott, J. B., III., Ditto, P. H., & Croyle, R. T. (1986). Judging health status: Perceived prevalence and personal relevance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 899–905.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jussim, L., Yen, H., & Aiello, J. R. (1995). Self-consistency, self-enhancement, and accuracy in reactions to feedback. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 31, 322–356.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Keppel, G. (1991). Design and analysis: A researcher's handbook (3rd ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kincaid, J. P., Fishburne, R., Rogers, R. L., & Chissom, B. S. (1975). Derivation of new readability formulas (Automated Readability Index, Fog Count, and Flesch Reading Ease formula) for Navy enlisted personnel (Branch Report 8-75). Millington, TN: Chief of Naval Training.

    Google Scholar 

  • Klein, W. M., & Weinstein, N. D. (1997). Social comparison and unrealistic optimism about personal risk. In B. P. Buunk & F. X. Gibbons (Eds.), Health coping, and well-being: Perspectives from social comparison theory (pp. 25–61). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kunda, Z. (1987). Motivated inference: Self-serving generation and evaluation of causal theories. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 636–647.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kunda, Z. (1990). The case for motivated reasoning. Psychological Bulletin, 108, 480–498.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • La Vecchia, C., Franceschi, S., Parazzini, F., Regallo, M., Decarli, A., Gallus, G., Di Pietro, S., & Tognoni, G. (1985). Benign breast disease and consumption of beverages containing methylxanthines. Journal of the National Cancer Institute, 74, 995–1000.

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lazarus, R. S. (1983). The costs and benefits of denial. In S. Breznitz (Ed.), The denial of stress (pp. 1–30). New York: International Universities Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Leventhal, H. (1970). Findings and theory in the study of fear communications. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 5, pp. 119–186). New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liberman, A., & Chaiken, S. (1992). Defensive processing of personally relevant health messages. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18, 669–679.

    Google Scholar 

  • Liu, T. J., & Steele, C. M. (1986). Attribution as self-affirmation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 531–540.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O'Leary, A. (1985). Self-efficacy and health. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 23, 437–451.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pyszczynski, T. A., & Greenberg, J. (1987). Toward an integration of cognitive and motivational perspectives on social inference: A biased hypothesis-testing model. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology, (Vol. 20, pp. 297–340). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ruble, D. N., & Frey, K. S. (1991). Changing patterns of comparative behavior as skills are acquired: A functional model of self-evaluation. In J. Suls & T. A. Wills (Eds.), Social comparison: Contemporary theory and research (pp. 79–113). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sachs, P. R. (1982). Avoidance of diagnostic information in self-evaluation of ability. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 8, 242–246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarzer, R. (1994). Optimism, vulnerability, and self-beliefs as health-related cognitions: A systematic overview. Psychology and Health, 9, 161–180.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sedikides, C., & Strube, M. J. (1995). The multiply motivated self. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 1330–1335.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sedikides, C., & Strube, M. J. (1997). Self-evaluation: To thine own self be good, to thine own self be sure, to thine own self by true, and to thine own self be better. In M. P. Zanna (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 29, pp. 209–269). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Silicon Beach Software, Inc. (1989). Supercard v1.6. San Diego, CA: Author.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steele, C. M. (1975). Name calling and compliance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 361–369.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steele, C. M. (1988). The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp. 261–302). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steele, C. M., & Liu, T. J. (1981). Making the dissonance act unreflective of the self: Dissonance avoidance and the expectancy of a value-affirming response. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 7, 387–393.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steele, C. M., & Liu, T. J. (1983). Dissonance processes as self-affirmation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 41, 5–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Steele, C. M., Spencer, S. J., & Lynch, M. (1993). Self-image resilience and dissonance: The role of affirmational resources. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 885–896.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Swann, W. B., & Schroeder, D. G. (1995). The search for beauty and truth: A framework for understanding reactions to evaluations. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 1307–1318.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. E., & Aspinwall, L. G. (1990). Psychosocial aspects of chronic illness. In P. T. Costa, Jr., & G. R. VandenBos (Eds.), Psychological aspects of serious illness: Chronic conditions, fatal disease, and clinical care (pp. 3–60). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. (First presented as a Master Lecture at the American Psychological Association annual meetings, New Orleans, LA, (August, 1989).

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. E., & Aspinwall, L. G. (1996). Mediating and moderating processes in psychosocial stress: Appraisal, coping, resistance and vulnerability. In H. B. Kaplan (Ed.), Psychosocial stress: Perspectives on structure, theory, life-course, and methods (pp. 71–110). San Diego: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. D. (1988). Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 193–210.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. D. (1994). Positive illusions and well-being revisited: Separating fact from fiction. Psychological Bulletin, 116, 21–27.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. E., Collins, R. L., Skokan, L. A., & Aspinwall, L. G. (1989). Maintaining positive illusions in the face of negative facts: Getting the facts without letting them get to you. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 8, 114–129.

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor, S. E., Neter, E., & Wayment, H. A. (1995). Self-evaluation processes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 1278–1287.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tesser, A. (1988). Toward a self-evaluation maintenance model of social behavior. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp. 181–227). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tesser, A., Chen, N., Collins, J. C., Cornell, D., & Beach, S. R. H. (1997). Confluence of self-defense mechanisms: On integrating the self-zoo. Unpublished manuscript, University of Georgia.

  • Tesser, A., & Cornell, D. P. (1991). On the confluence of self-processes. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 27, 501–526.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tesser, A., Martin, L. L., & Cornell, D. P. (1996). On the substitutability of self-protective mechanisms. In P. M. Gollwitzer & J. A. Bargh (Eds.), The psychology of action: Linking cognition and motivation to behavior (pp. 48–68). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thibodeau, R., & Aronson, E. (1992). Taking a closer look: Reasserting the role of the self-concept in dissonance theory. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18, 591–602.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trope, Y. (1980). Self-assessment, self-enhancement, and taste preference. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 16, 116–129.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trope, Y. (1986). Self-assessment, self-enhancement, and achievement behavior. In R. M. Sorrentino & E. T. Higgins (Eds.), Handbook of motivation and cognition (pp. 350–378). New York: Guilford Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trope, Y., & Brickman, P. (1975). Difficulty and diagnosticity as determinants of choice among tasks. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 918–925.

    Google Scholar 

  • Trope, Y., & Neter, E. (1994). Reconciling competing motives in self-evaluation: The role of self-control in feedback seeking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 646–657.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Trope, Y., & Pomerantz, E. M. (1998). Resolving conflicts among self-evaluative motives: Positive experiences as a resource for overcoming defensiveness. Motivation and Emotion, 22, 53–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weinstein, N. D., & Klein, W. M. (1995). Resistance of personal risk perceptions to debiasing interventions. Health Psychology, 14, 132–140.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wood, J. V. (1989). Theory and research concerning social comparisons of personal attributes. Psychological Bulletin, 106, 231–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wyer, R. S., & Frey, D. (1983). The effects of feedback about self and others on the recall and judgments of feedback-relevant information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 19, 540–559.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zukerman, M., Brown, R. H., Fischler, G. L., Fox, G. A., Lathin, D. R., & Minesian, A. J. (1979). Determinants of information seeking behavior. Journal of Research in Personality, 13, 161–174.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742

    Mark B. Reed

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, 20742-4411

    Lisa G. Aspinwall

Authors
  1. Mark B. Reed
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Lisa G. Aspinwall
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Reed, M.B., Aspinwall, L.G. Self-Affirmation Reduces Biased Processing of Health-Risk Information. Motivation and Emotion 22, 99–132 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021463221281

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1021463221281

Keywords

  • Caffeine
  • College Student
  • Social Psychology
  • Positive Experience
  • Personal Control