The Trouble with Change: Self-Verification and Allegiance to the Self

Abstract

Past approaches to the self have emphasized people's desire for positive evaluations I suggest that this emphasis overlooks another powerful and important motive, the desire for evaluations that verify self-views Among people with negative self-views, this desire for self-verification can override the desire for positive evaluations For example, people with negative self-views seek relationship partners who view them negatively, elicit unfavorable evaluations from partners, and “see” more negativity in the reactions of others than is actually there Although these self-verification processes ordinarily impede progress in therapy, awareness of these processes can allow therapists to either circumvent them or actually use them in the service of fostering self-concept change