Fearing the uncertain: Self-uncertainty plays a role in mortality salience

From theory to reality: Unraveling the development of mature death concept

Death is commonly accepted as the irreversible ending of all biological functions that keep an organism alive. However, understanding death is more complicated than merely comprehending the biological elements of death. Beyond the biological elements of death, it is also critical to understand death's social, cognitive, and environmental aspects as they influence death awareness, death anxiety, grief and bereavement, and death education. This paper explores the development of mature death concept in children, from early childhood to adolescence. Drawing on a range of developmental and death awareness theoretical frameworks, the authors create a comprehensive model describing the development of mature death concept. The goal of this paper is to propose one theoretical perspective that connects traditional cognitive, socioemotional, and ecological developmental theories with current death awareness theories.

Perceiving a Stable Self-Concept Enables the Experience of Meaning in Life

We test the hypothesis that the perception of stability in one's self-concept (i.e., future self-continuity) enables the experience of meaning in life because perceiving a stable sense of self confers a sense of certainty to the self-concept. Study 1 provided initial evidence of the influence of future self-continuity on feelings of meaning in life (MIL) in a nationally representative sample. In Studies 2a and 2b, we manipulated future self-continuity by varying the expectedness of one's future self, demonstrating the causal influence of future self-continuity on self-certainty and feelings of MIL. Study 3 again manipulated future self-continuity, finding an indirect effect on feelings of meaning in life via self-certainty. Our findings thus suggest the experience of meaning in life arises from the perception of a stable sense of self. We discuss the implications for the antecedents and conceptualization of MIL as well as the nature of the self-concept.

Incumbency and self-uncertainty: when prototypical leaders lose their advantage

Research on how uncertainty affects the preference for prototypical over non-prototypical leaders has produced mixed results. To understand these discrepancies, two studies explored leader status (prospective versus incumbent) as a potential moderator. Participants reported levels of self-uncertainty (Study 1) or were primed with high versus low self-uncertainty (Study 2) before evaluating a prototypical or non-prototypical leadership candidate who was incumbent or prospective. For incumbent candidates, prototypicality predicted more favorable evaluations under low self-uncertainty, but this relationship was weakened under high self-uncertainty. For prospective candidates, prototypicality predicted more favorable evaluations under high self-uncertainty, but this relationship was weakened under low self-uncertainty.

Can Peripheral Group Members Not Represent the In-Group? The Effect of Member Prototypicality on Intergroup Conflict

Group member prototypicality is a factor in intergroup conflict-not all group members fight for group interests. This study focuses on the role of peripheral group members and the factors that influence their participation. We conducted two studies to examine the effects of group acceptance and self-uncertainty on the relationship between prototypicality and intergroup conflict. Results indicate that group acceptance moderates the relationship between prototypicality and intergroup conflict. Self-uncertainty moderates the effect of the interaction between prototypicality and group acceptance on intergroup conflict. Our findings have theoretical and practical implications for intergroup conflict resolution.

The link between self-uncertainty and conspicuous consumption: Tolerance of uncertainty as a moderator

This study, based on self-affirmation theory, aims to investigate the impact of self-uncertainty on individual consumption behavior. Self-uncertainty was categorized into moral, cognitive, and interpersonal self-uncertainty, and different types of self-uncertainty were manipulated through four experiments, including a moral dilemma, a recall paradigm, and a picture quiz task written by E-Prime software to examine the effects of different types of self-uncertainty on conspicuous consumption and their possible boundary conditions. Our results show that moral, cognitive, and interpersonal self-uncertainty contribute to a stronger tendency to engage in conspicuous consumption. Our results also suggest that tolerance of uncertainty moderates the effect of self-uncertainty on conspicuous consumption, meaning that subjects with a high tolerance of uncertainty are less inclined to engage in conspicuous consumption than those with a low tolerance of uncertainty, even if they have high self-uncertainty. This study may provide an explanation for conspicuous consumption behavior, further validating the theory of compensatory consumption. Additionally, the results from this study also provide a reference for understanding people's decision-making behavior in an uncertain social context and can provide new guidance to control irrational consumption behavior.

Who Are We If We Do Not Know Who Our Leader Is? Perceptions of Leaders’ Prototypicality Affects Followers’ Self-Prototypicality and Uncertainty

Leaders define group identities and people turn to leaders to understand their groups in a broader social context and their own places within them. When a leader loses status, people may become uncertain of the group identity and where they stand in relation to that group’s values and idealistic attributes. We predicted that Republicans would view President Trump as less prototypical of the party from pre- to postelection, which would negatively predict their own fit within the party and, in turn, positively predict self-uncertainty. We tested these predictions with two different studies conducted before and after the 2020 American Presidential election (total N = 762). Postelection, Republicans had reduced perceptions of their leader’s prototypicality compared with Democrats, which related to reduced self-prototypicality perceptions and increased uncertainty. Postelection, the losing leader’s identity as an ideal group member is questioned, which may affect how followers view their own prototypical status, prompting uncertainty.

To Lead, or to Follow? How Self-Uncertainty and the Dark Triad of Personality Influence Leadership Motivation

Under uncertainty, leaders who possess dark triad personality traits seem able to attain leadership positions. We draw on uncertainty-identity theory and dark triad research to explore the effect of self-uncertainty on leadership motivation. Uncertainty-identity theory predicts that people can reduce self-uncertainty by identifying with groups and following their leaders, which suggests that self-uncertainty reduces people's own leadership motivation. However, individuals high in dark triad traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) have such a powerful drive for dominance over others that their leadership motivation may be unaffected by self-uncertainty. To test these predictions, we conducted four studies (Ns = 2,641, 421, 513, and 400). We found that self-uncertainty reduced leadership motivation for individuals low in the dark triad. In contrast, those high in the dark triad had an elevated leadership motivation that remained unaltered when they were self-uncertain. These effects were mediated by participants' negative affect. We discuss the implications of these findings.

Sweating the big stuff: Arousal and stress as functions of self-uncertainty and identification

Groups serve a variety of crucial functions, one of which is the provision of an identity and belief system that impart self-referent information, thereby reducing self-uncertainty. Entitative groups are more attractive for highly uncertain participants seeking groups for identification and self-uncertainty reduction than less entitative groups. The purpose of the current study was to explore how self-uncertainty impacts physiological arousal and stress responses. Using a mixed-methods design (N = 123), we found that self-uncertainty increased physiological arousal (measured via skin-conductance level) and stress responses (measured via heart rate). Furthermore, we found that uncertainty-activated physiological arousal and stress responses were decreased through identification with a high entitativity group. Our findings expand upon uncertainty identity theory by identifying physiological mechanisms that motivate uncertainty reduction.

National identity exploration attenuates the identification–prejudice link

Social identity exploration is a process whereby individuals actively seek information about their group membership and show efforts to understand its meaning. Developmental theory argues that exploration-based ingroup commitment is the basis for outgroup positivity. We tested this notion in relation to national identity and attitudes towards immigrants. The results of five experimental studies among German adolescents and early adults ( N = 1,146; 16–25 years) and one internal meta-analysis suggest that the positive identification–prejudice link is weaker when participants are instructed to explore the meaning of their identity (Study 1). This is not mediated via self-uncertainty (Study 2), but via a reduction in intergroup threat (Study 3) and an increase in deprovincialization (Study 4). In addition, identity exploration enabled strong identifiers to oppose descriptive ingroup norms (Study 5). We conclude that identity exploration can contribute to a further understanding of the identification–prejudice link.

Implications of intersecting socioeconomic and racial-ethnic identities for academic achievement and well-being

The evolving study of identity development has become increasingly attentive to the ways that young people think about their socioeconomic and racial-ethnic identities. The status-based identity framework provides one way to analyze the implications of these dynamic identities, particularly as people approach young adulthood. For students from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds, the experience of socioeconomic mobility can accompany an aversive sense of uncertainty about their own SES, termed status uncertainty, with potential negative implications for their academic behaviors and outcomes. A longitudinal study and experiment demonstrate some of these consequences and suggest how intersections between socioeconomic and racial-ethnic identities may be associated with well-being. This perspective on the dynamic identities of young people calls for consistent attention to the various levels of context that can be leveraged to support positive development, effective goal pursuit, and desired life trajectories.

Self-uncertainty and group identification: A meta-analysis

A key prediction of uncertainty-identity theory is that under conditions of high self-uncertainty, people will identify more strongly with their group. This has been supported by numerous studies. To quantify this relationship, a meta-analysis was conducted on 35 studies from 30 papers ( N = 4,657). The relationship between self-uncertainty and group identification varied significantly as a function of how psychologically real the uncertainty was, as reflected in how uncertainty was operationalized and how the study was conducted. Self-uncertainty operationalized as social identity uncertainty had the strongest relationship with identification ( r = −.26, 6.8% variance accounted for), followed by indirect operationalization of self-uncertainty ( r = .23, 5.3% variance accounted for), and direct operationalization of self-uncertainty ( r = .14, 2.0% variance accounted for). The relationship did not differ between measured self-uncertainty ( r = −.13, 1.7% variance accounted for) and manipulated self-uncertainty ( r = .17, 2.9% variance accounted for). Implications and future directions are discussed.

Neurophysiological and behavioral evidence that self-uncertainty salience increases self-esteem striving

The present research investigated the effect of self-uncertainty salience on self-esteem striving, as well as the corresponding self-regulatory processes. Inspired by uncertainty management and meaning maintenance models, we conducted an electroencephalogram experiment to examine how self-uncertainty salience affects performance on self-esteem related tasks, and how it affects neurophysiological activity related to performance monitoring (e.g., error-related negativity, error positivity) on those tasks. Results showed that when self-uncertainty was salient, participants performed better on a task that was high (but not low) in self-esteem relevance, and these participants also displayed a larger amplitude of error positivity after error commissions, which is considered a manifestation of heightened performance monitoring. Overall, these results suggest that self-uncertainty salience increases the need and efforts for self-esteem striving. Further implications are discussed in terms of meaning compensation and self-uncertainty management.

Retaliation against the outgroup: The role of self-uncertainty

Outgroups who threaten the core aspects of one’s identity, such as one’s social group and its values, may make group members feel self-uncertain. Because past research associates uncertainty with defensive behavior, we propose that self-uncertainty will drive aggressive retaliation against a threatening outgroup. Two experiments tested the role of self-uncertainty in retaliation motivation. In Experiment 1, university students were threatened by their school rival and then reported self-uncertainty and willingness to retaliate. The threat evoked anger and caused male group members to feel significantly more self-uncertain, which was associated with significantly greater retaliation motivation. In Experiment 2, we manipulated Americans’ feelings of self-uncertainty and threat from a terrorist group, ISIS. Uncertain males were significantly more willing to retaliate against ISIS after threats that caused anger and fear. For male group members, outgroup threat increases self-uncertainty, which then motivates them to be more willing to violently retaliate.