Academic-contingent self-worth and the social monitoring system

Previous research suggests that individuals closely monitor information about their own social standing, particularly when their social value is threatened. We posit that information perceived as most relevant to social relationships is particularly monitored when a threat occurs and that the information that is most relevant to social relationships is represented by the areas in which individuals base their self worth. One hundred and ten participants were asked to participate in an online discussion with research confederates. Participants were randomly assigned to a condition in which they were socially excluded by the other participants or not socially excluded. Next, they were asked to complete a recall task for diary entries that involved information about different domains of self worth. Participants in the social exclusion condition who self-reported that they placed a high value on academics for self-evaluatory purposes recalled more information relating to the domain of academics after this threat than did those who did not consider academics to be as important to their self worth. We discuss these results in terms of both the sociometer and contingency models of self-worth, and conclude that contingencies of self-worth may develop as markers of information perceived important to social relationships. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.

Duke Scholars

Author Rick Hoyle Psychology & Neuroscience