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Inclusion-exclusion of positive and negative past selves: Mood congruence as information

Inclusion-exclusion of positive and negative past selves: Mood congruence as information
Inclusion-exclusion of positive and negative past selves: Mood congruence as information
The current research challenges the widespread truism that recalling a positive self necessarily increases self-esteem, whereas recalling a negative self necessarily decreases self-esteem. Four experiments demonstrate that chronically happy people show a relative increase in self-esteem by recalling either a positive or a negative self. Chronically sad people, however, show a relative decrease in self-esteem by recalling either a positive or a negative self. These effects are due to divergent perceptions of mood congruence between the recalled self and the current self. Specifically, happy people perceive high mood congruence between a recalled positive self and the current self but low mood congruence between a recalled negative self and the current self. In contrast, sad people perceive high mood congruence between a recalled negative self and the current self but low mood congruence between a recalled positive self and the current self. Independent of chronic mood, mood congruence leads to perceptions of temporal recency, whereas mood incongruence leads to perceptions of temporal distance. In line with the inclusion-exclusion model of social judgment, perceived temporal recency elicits assimilation effects on self-esteem, whereas perceived temporal distance elicits contrast effects on self-esteem.
0022-3514
470-487
Gebauer, Jochen E.
640d0e31-73ed-42c9-bc70-a1784ee816f9
Broemer, Philip
77c0e4e2-ba4d-4828-a849-bb8871d9d3d9
Haddock, Geoffrey
8612ab8e-bc40-4d48-ba99-abca57c70ebf
von Hecker, Ulrich
9e880b4f-e21d-4ce4-a365-8af2b72e1079
Gebauer, Jochen E.
640d0e31-73ed-42c9-bc70-a1784ee816f9
Broemer, Philip
77c0e4e2-ba4d-4828-a849-bb8871d9d3d9
Haddock, Geoffrey
8612ab8e-bc40-4d48-ba99-abca57c70ebf
von Hecker, Ulrich
9e880b4f-e21d-4ce4-a365-8af2b72e1079

Gebauer, Jochen E., Broemer, Philip, Haddock, Geoffrey and von Hecker, Ulrich (2008) Inclusion-exclusion of positive and negative past selves: Mood congruence as information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 95 (2), 470-487. (doi:10.1037/a0012543).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The current research challenges the widespread truism that recalling a positive self necessarily increases self-esteem, whereas recalling a negative self necessarily decreases self-esteem. Four experiments demonstrate that chronically happy people show a relative increase in self-esteem by recalling either a positive or a negative self. Chronically sad people, however, show a relative decrease in self-esteem by recalling either a positive or a negative self. These effects are due to divergent perceptions of mood congruence between the recalled self and the current self. Specifically, happy people perceive high mood congruence between a recalled positive self and the current self but low mood congruence between a recalled negative self and the current self. In contrast, sad people perceive high mood congruence between a recalled negative self and the current self but low mood congruence between a recalled positive self and the current self. Independent of chronic mood, mood congruence leads to perceptions of temporal recency, whereas mood incongruence leads to perceptions of temporal distance. In line with the inclusion-exclusion model of social judgment, perceived temporal recency elicits assimilation effects on self-esteem, whereas perceived temporal distance elicits contrast effects on self-esteem.

Text
Gebauer et al, JPSP, 2008.pdf - Accepted Manuscript
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Published date: August 2008

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Local EPrints ID: 142817
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/142817
ISSN: 0022-3514
PURE UUID: f68169f0-814e-4f38-b1c3-411b3b091b6f

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Date deposited: 01 Apr 2010 11:04
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 00:41

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Contributors

Author: Jochen E. Gebauer
Author: Philip Broemer
Author: Geoffrey Haddock
Author: Ulrich von Hecker

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