The self in relation to others: cognitive and motivational underpinnings

Childhood Physical and Emotional Abuse by a Parent: Transference Effects in Adult Interpersonal Relations

Extending research on transference and the relational self (Andersen & Chen, 2002), female undergraduates with or without a history of physical and emotional abuse by a loved parent participated in an experiment manipulating parental resemblance and threat-relevant interpersonal context in a new person. Transference elicited differences not evident in the control condition between abused and nonabused participants’ responses, with greater rejection expectancy, mistrust, dislike, and emotional indifference reported by abused participants. Immediate implicit affect was more positive in transference than in the control condition regardless of abuse history. Yet, abused participants in transference also reported increased dysphoria that was markedly attenuated when interpersonal threat was primed, and no such pattern occurred among nonabused participants. Evidence that interpersonally guarded and affectively complex responses are triggered in transference among previously abused individuals suggests that this social-cognitive process may underlie long-term interpersonal difficulties associated with parental abuse.

Development of a New Measurement Tool for Individualism and Collectivism

A new measurement tool for individualism and collectivism has been developed to address critical methodological issues in this field of social psychology. This new measure, the Auckland Individualism and Collectivism Scale (AICS), defines three dimensions of individualism: (a) responsibility (acknowledging one's responsibility for one's actions), (b) uniqueness (distinction of the self from the other), and (c) competitiveness (striving for personal goals is one's prime interest). The scale also defines two dimensions of collectivism: (a) advice (seeking advice from people close to one, before taking decisions) and (b) harmony (seeking to avoid conflict). The AICS avoids the need for measuring horizontal and vertical dimensions of collectivism and individualism and the confounding effect of familialism on the collectivism—individualism constructs.

Automatic for the people: how representations of significant others implicitly affect goal pursuit

Five studies are presented that explore how representations of significant others may automatically affect goal pursuit. Specifically, evidence is presented that suggests goals may be primed by one's representation of a significant other and that this priming may be moderated by one's closeness to this other individual. It is also shown to be affected by the number of different goals associated with this person. The greater the number of goals associated with a significant other, the less likely this individual will invoke any 1 goal very strongly. Such goal priming is shown to have implications for the extent to which goals are pursued (as seen through task persistence and performance) as well as the extent to which they are inhibited or ignored (especially when an individual is associated with a goal unrelated to a current pursuit).

The motivational looking glass: How significant others implicitly affect goal appraisals

Three studies manipulate the accessibility of significant-other representations to explore how these representations may automatically influence how goals are construed and experienced. Study 1 finds that the perceived attainment expectations of a significant other automatically affect participants' own task-goal expectations and their subsequent task performance and persistence. Study 2 finds that the general perceived value that a significant other places in attaining a task goal automatically affects participants' own attainment value appraisals, their task persistence and performance, and the magnitude of their reaction to success and failure feedback. Finally, Study 3 demonstrates that the regulatory focus prescribed by a significant other may automatically affect participants' own regulatory focus with regards to a task goal, with consequences for their cheerfulness-dejection and relaxation-agitation responses to success and failure feedback. The implications for our understanding of social influence and self-regulation are discussed.

The Internal Working Models Concept: What do we Really know about the Self in Relation to Others?

The internal working models concept is the foundation for understanding how attachment processes operate in adult relationships, yet many questions exist about the precise nature and structure of working models. To clarify the working models concept, the authors evaluate the empirical evidence relevant to the content, structure, operation, and stability of working models in adult relationships. They also identify 4 theoretical issues that are critical for clarifying the properties of working models. These issues focus on the central role of affect and goals in working models, the degree to which working models are individual difference or relational variables, and the definition of attachment relationships and felt security in adulthood.

Own versus Other Standpoints in Self-Regulation: Developmental Antecedents and Functional Consequences

An inner audience is an internal representation of others' values, goals, and standards for the self (other standpoint on self). It contrasts with an internal representation of one's own values, goals, and standards for the self (own standpoint on self). Using self-discrepancy theory ( E. T. Higgins, 1987) as a framework to integrate diverse psychological perspectives on this classic distinction, the authors consider the role of own versus other standpoints in self-regulation. They describe developmental shifts and socialization effects on the self-regulatory strength of own and other standpoints. Evidence that individual differences and sex differences in own versus other standpoints for self-regulation relate to different affective and interpersonal vulnerabilities is reviewed. The concepts of identification and introjection are empirically distinguished in a novel way, and therapeutic implications are discussed.

Reconciling processing dynamics and personality dispositions

Developments in personality-social psychology, in social cognition, and in cognitive neuroscience have led to an emerging conception of personality dynamics and dispositions that builds on diverse contributions from the past three decades. Recent findings demonstrating a previously neglected but basic type of personality stability allow a reconceptualization of classic issues in personality and social psychology. It reconstrues the nature and role of situations and links contextually sensitive processing dynamics to stable dispositions. It thus facilitates the reconciliation within a unitary framework of dispositional (trait) and processing (social cognitive-affective-dynamic) approaches that have long been separated. Given their history, however, the realization of this promise remains to be seen.

Transference in Everyday Experience: Implications of Experimental Research for Relevant Clinical Phenomena

Experimental research examining the clinical concept of transference ( S. Freud, 1912/1958 ; H. S. Sullivan, 1953 ) using a social–cognitive model has demonstrated that mental representations of significant others are stored in memory and can be activated and applied in new social encounters, with consequences for cognition, evaluation, affect, motivation, expectancies, and self-evaluations ( S. M. Andersen & N. S. Glassman, 1996 ; S. M. Andersen, I. Reznik, & S. Chen, 1997 ). These findings constitute an empirical demonstration of transference in everyday social relations and suggest that transference is a normal, nonpathological process, occurring both inside and outside of psychotherapy, following basic rules of social information processing. In this article, clinical implications of this research are discussed, including how the content versus process of transference may contribute to maladaptive transference responses and the potential value of identifying triggering cues in transference in real life and in therapy, to promote more adaptive responding.

Structural Dynamism in the Concept of Self: A Flexible Model for a Malleable Concept

The self-concept is theorized to play an important role in many psychological processes. Numerous theories rest on assumptions concerning the differential accessibility of pieces of self-knowledge, but relatively little attention during the past decade has centered on examining the underlying structure of the self-concept that mediates such differences. In the present article, we suggest a new model of the self-concept that incorporates recent advances in knowledge regarding conceptual structure. We envision the self as a representation in working memory with inherently flexible content and organization. Initial empirical evidence supporting this view is reviewed and followed by a discussion of the implications of this model for many phenomena involving the self-concept.