Being Much Better and No Worse than Others: Deviance Regulation, Self-Guides, and the Motive to be Distinct Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • 2014, 2014 Taylor & Francis. Five studies examined whether the concern for self-other distinction is moderated by self-guide activation, with the predictions based on deviance regulation theory that distinctiveness striving is amplified by activation of ideal self-guides and diminished by activation of ought self-guides. In Study 1, trait differences in self-guides predicted trait differences in self-reported distinctiveness motives. In Studies 25, state activation of ought versus ideal self-guides led to shifts in participants' self-reported interest in distinctiveness (Study 2), identification with common versus uncommon social groups (Study 3), preferences for common versus rare consumer products (Study 4), and emotional reactions to distinctiveness versus similarity feedback (Study 5). These findings suggest that self-guide activation can complement known cultural, dispositional, and contextual influences on distinctiveness striving.

published proceedings

  • Self and Identity

author list (cited authors)

  • Hall, D. L., Blanton, H., & Prentice, D. A.

citation count

  • 2

complete list of authors

  • Hall, Deborah L||Blanton, Hart||Prentice, Deborah A

publication date

  • March 2015