A friend is a present you give to your "Self": Avoidance of intimacy moderates the effects of friends on self-liking Export

@article{11348, abstract = {The current research proposes that thinking about friends improves feelings about the self and does so differentially depending on avoidance of intimacy. Based on previous findings that individuals who avoid intimacy in relationships (avoidant individuals) contrast their self-concepts with primed friends whereas those who pursue intimacy in relationships (non-avoidant individuals) assimilate their self-concepts to primed friends [Gabriel, S., Carvallo, M., Dean, K., Tippin, B. D., \& Renaud, J. (2005). How I see "Me" depends on how I see "We": The role of avoidance of intimacy in social comparison. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 156-157], we predicted that friends who embody negative aspects of self would lead avoidant individuals to like themselves more, whereas friends who embody positive aspects of self would lead non-avoidant individuals to like themselves more. A pretest determined that good friends were seen as more similar to positive and ideal aspects of the self, whereas friends about whom participants had more mixed feelings (ambivalent friends) were seen as more similar to disliked and feared aspects of the self. Four experiments supported the main hypotheses. In Experiment 1, non-avoidant individuals like themselves more when good friends were primed. In Experiment 2, avoidant individuals like themselves more when ambivalent friends were primed. In Experiment 3, non-avoidant individuals liked themselves better after thinking about a friend's positive traits, whereas avoidant individuals liked themselves better after thinking about a friend's negative traits. In Experiment 4, all individuals under self-esteem threat strategically brought friends to mind who would help them like themselves more.}, author = {Gabriel, Shira and Carvallo, Mauricio and Jaremka, Lisa M. and Tippin, Brooke}, citeulike-article-id = {2859363}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6WJB-4PCPFRM-2/2/be20a317b7218c6e4a7d71b4c9eab4bf}, journal = {Journal of Experimental Social Psychology}, keywords = {attachment-style, avoidance-of-intimacy, friendship, self-concept, social-comparison, the-self}, month = {March}, number = {2}, pages = {330--343}, posted-at = {2008-06-03 16:07:03}, priority = {0}, title = {A friend is a present you give to your "Self": Avoidance of intimacy moderates the effects of friends on self-liking}, url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6WJB-4PCPFRM-2/2/be20a317b7218c6e4a7d71b4c9eab4bf}, volume = {44}, year = {2008} }

TY - JOUR ID - 11348 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2859363 N2 - The current research proposes that thinking about friends improves feelings about the self and does so differentially depending on avoidance of intimacy. Based on previous findings that individuals who avoid intimacy in relationships (avoidant individuals) contrast their self-concepts with primed friends whereas those who pursue intimacy in relationships (non-avoidant individuals) assimilate their self-concepts to primed friends [Gabriel, S., Carvallo, M., Dean, K., Tippin, B. D., & Renaud, J. (2005). How I see "Me" depends on how I see "We": The role of avoidance of intimacy in social comparison. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 156-157], we predicted that friends who embody negative aspects of self would lead avoidant individuals to like themselves more, whereas friends who embody positive aspects of self would lead non-avoidant individuals to like themselves more. A pretest determined that good friends were seen as more similar to positive and ideal aspects of the self, whereas friends about whom participants had more mixed feelings (ambivalent friends) were seen as more similar to disliked and feared aspects of the self. Four experiments supported the main hypotheses. In Experiment 1, non-avoidant individuals like themselves more when good friends were primed. In Experiment 2, avoidant individuals like themselves more when ambivalent friends were primed. In Experiment 3, non-avoidant individuals liked themselves better after thinking about a friend's positive traits, whereas avoidant individuals liked themselves better after thinking about a friend's negative traits. In Experiment 4, all individuals under self-esteem threat strategically brought friends to mind who would help them like themselves more. IS - 2 JF - Journal of Experimental Social Psychology EP - 343 TI - A friend is a present you give to your "Self": Avoidance of intimacy moderates the effects of friends on self-liking VL - 44 SP - 330 KW - attachment-style KW - avoidance-of-intimacy KW - friendship KW - self-concept KW - social-comparison KW - the-self AU - Gabriel, Shira AU - Carvallo, Mauricio AU - Jaremka, Lisa AU - Tippin, Brooke PY - 2008/03// UR - http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6WJB-4PCPFRM-2/2/be20a317b7218c6e4a7d71b4c9eab4bf ER -