Moving forward is not only a metaphor: Approach and avoidance lead to self-evaluative assimilation and contrast

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology

Volumn 47, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 241-245

  Fayant, Marie Pierre ^a   Muller, Dominique ^a   Nurra, Cécile ^a   Alexopoulos, Theodore ^b   Palluel Germain, Richard ^a  

^a UNIV GRENOBLE ALPES   (France)

^b University Paris Descartes   (France)

Author keywords

Approach; Assimilation; Avoidance; Contrast; Self evaluation; Social comparison

Indexed keywords

EID: 78650033888     PISSN: 00221031     EISSN: 10960465     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.jesp.2010.07.013     Document Type: Article

References (30)

1. Barsalou L.W. Grounded cognition. Annual Review of Psychology 2008, 59:617-645.
2. Förster J., Liberman N., Kuschel S. The effect of global versus local processing styles on assimilation versus contrast in social judgment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2008, 94:579-599.
3. Friedman R.S., Förster J. Effects of motivational cues on perceptual asymmetry: implications for creativity and analytical problem solving. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2005, 88:263-275.
4. Gilbert D.T., Giesler R.B., Morris K.A. When comparisons arise. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1995, 69:227-236.
5. Greenwald A.G., Farnham S.D. Using the Implicit Association Test to measure self esteem and self-concept. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2000, 79:1022-1038.
6. Häfner M., Schubert T.W. Feel the difference! The influence of ease experiences on the direction of social comparisons. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2009, 45:291-294.
7. Higgins E.T. Self-discrepancy: A theory relating self and affect. Psychological Review 1987, 94:319-340.
8. Kawakami K., Steele J.R., Cifa C., Phills C.E., Dovidio J.F. Approaching math increases math=me and math=pleasant. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2008, 44:818-825.
9. Koch S., Holland R.W., Hengstler M., van Knippenberg A. Body locomotion as regulatory process: Stepping backward enhances cognitive control. Psychological Science 2009, 20:549-550.
10. Lakoff G., Johnson M. Metaphors we live by 1980, The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London.
11. Lockwood P., Kunda Z. Superstars and me: Predicting the impact of role models on the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1997, 73:91-103.
12. Marx D.M., Stapel D.A., Muller D. We can do it: The interplay of construal orientation and social comparisons under threat. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2005, 88:432-446.
13. Muller D., Atzeni T., Butera F. Coaction and upward social comparison reduce the illusory conjunction effect: Support for distraction-conflict theory. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2004, 40:659-665.
14. Muller D., Butera F. The focusing effect of self-evaluation threat in coaction and social comparison. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2007, 93:194-211.
15. Mussweiler T. 'Seek and ye shall find': Antecedents of assimilation and contrast in social comparison. European Journal of Social Psychology 2001, 31:499-509.
16. Mussweiler T. Comparison processes in social judgment: Mechanisms and consequences. Psychological Review 2003, 110:472-489.
17. Mussweiler T., Rüter K., Epstude K. The man who wasn't there: Subliminal social comparison standards influence self-evaluation. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2004, 40:689-696.
18. Mussweiler T., Rüter K., Epstude K. The ups and downs of social comparison: Mechanisms of assimilation and contrast. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2004, 87:832-844.
19. Newcomb T.M. The acquaintance process 1961, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, NY US.
20. Paladino M.-P., Castelli L. On the immediate consequences of intergroup categorization: Activation of approach and avoidance motor behavior toward ingroup and outgroup members. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2008, 34:755-768.
21. Rosenthal R. Combining results of independent studies. Psychological Bulletin 1978, 85:185-193.
22. Schwarz, N., & Clore, G. L. (2007). Feelings and phenomenal experiences. In E. T. Higgins & A. Kruglanski (Eds.), Social psychology. A handbook of basic principles (2nd ed., pp. 385-407). New York: Guilford Press.
23. Seibt B., Neumann R., Nussinson R., Strack F. Movement direction or change in distance? Self- and object-related approach-avoidance motions. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2008, 44:713-720.
24. Sherman S.J., Hoffmann J.L. The psychology and law of voluntary manslaughter: What can psychology research teach us about the 'heat of passion' defense?. Journal of Behavioral Decision Making 2007, 20:499-519.
25. Stapel D.A., Koomen W. I, we, and the effects of others on me: how self-construal level moderates social comparison effects. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 2001, 80:766-781.
26. Assimilation and contrast in social psychology 2007, Psychology Press, New York, NY, US. D.A. Stapel, J. Suls (Eds.).
27. Suls J., Wheeler L. Psychological magnetism: A brief history of assimilation and contrast in psychology. Assimilation and Contrast in social psychology 2007, 9-44. Psychology Press, New York, NY, USA. D.A. Stapel, J. Suls (Eds.).
28. Tesser A. Toward a self-evaluation maintenance model of social behavior. Advances in experimental social psychology 1988, Vol. 21:181-227. Academic Press, San Diego, CA.
29. van Dantzig S., Zeelenberg R., Pecher D. Unconstraining theories of embodied cognition. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2009, 45:345-351.
30. Wills T.A. Downward comparison principles in social psychology. Psychological Bulletin 1981, 90:245-271.