Ward Cindy L P, Wilson Anne E
Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2015 Sep;41(9):1167-79. doi: 10.1177/0146167215591571. Epub 2015 Jun 18.
Temporal self-appraisal theory suggests that people can regulate current self-view by recalling former selves in ways that flatter present identity. People critique their subjectively distant (but not recent) former selves, creating the illusion of improvement over time. However, this revisionist strategy might not apply to everyone: People with fixed (entity) beliefs may not benefit from critiquing even distant selves. In three studies, we found that implicit theories of change and stability moderate the effects of subjective distance on the remembered self. In all studies, participants rated past selves portrayed as subjectively close or distant (controlling calendar time). Incremental theorists (but not entity theorists) were more critical of their subjectively distant (but not recent) past attributes. We found the same pattern when measuring existing implicit theories (Studies 1, 2) or manipulating them (Study 3). The present research is the first to integrate temporal self-appraisal theory and the implicit theories literature.
时间自我评估理论认为，人们可以通过以美化当前身份的方式回忆过去的自己来调节当前的自我认知。人们会批评自己主观上距离较远（而非最近）的过去的自己，从而营造出随着时间推移有所进步的错觉。然而，这种修正主义策略可能并不适用于所有人：持有固定（实体）信念的人可能无法从批评哪怕是距离较远的自我中受益。在三项研究中，我们发现关于变化和稳定性的内隐理论调节了主观距离对记忆自我的影响。在所有研究中，参与者对被描绘为主观上接近或遥远（控制日历时间）的过去的自己进行评分。渐变论者（而非实体论者）对自己主观上距离较远（而非最近）的过去特质更为挑剔。在测量现有的内隐理论（研究1、2）或对其进行操纵（研究3）时，我们发现了相同的模式。本研究首次将时间自我评估理论与内隐理论文献进行了整合。
