Self-Affirmation Technique in a Nutshell
Self-affirmation technique is invaluable when dealing with political bias, indoctrination, or issues requiring open-mindedness. It’s particularly effective when people show ego-defensiveness about their beliefs.
The basic idea behind the self-affirmation technique is that before you challenge any of your audience’s strong attitudes and deep-rooted beliefs that will provoke their ego-defensiveness, you strengthen their self-concept (i.e. ego), for example, by asking them to affirm or reflect on their important values.
How Self-Affirmation Works
Self-affirmation technique is based on the understanding that people derive a sense of control and predictability from a stable self-concept. It is difficult to change people’s opinion on specific issues because by attacking a particular viewpoint, you also threaten their overall sense of self, so people naturally become defensive.
Self-affirmation technique addresses this underlying dynamic. Before challenging a particular viewpoint, you strengthen their overall sense of self.
You can strengthen their self-concept, for example, by providing them with positive feedback or by asking them to reflect on positive values of their self-concept. Now, with stronger sense of self, they are more willing to give up a particular attitude or belief if provided with good reasons for doing so.
Self-Affirmation and Threatening Messages
Among other things, research shows that self-affirmed individuals show greater openness to ego-threatening health messages (Reed and Lisa G. Aspinwall, 1998).
For instance, women who drink plenty of coffee are often resistant to health messages linking caffeine to breast cancer. Self-affirmed women, however, are more likely to accept such information and change their behavior. (Sherman, Nelson, and Steele, 2000). Likewise, health messages about the risks of contracting HIV normally threaten the self of sexually active people, but self-affirmed individuals become more accepting of such messages.
Use Affirmations Unrelated or Compatible with Your Message
Self-affirmation technique works only when the affirmation is based on values that are either unrelated to your message or related but compatible with it. This was clearly demonstrated in a 2004 study by Julia Zuwerink Jacks and Maureen O’Brien.
The researchers used a message arguing that gays should not be allowed to serve in the military. Their subjects, however, were all in favor of gays serving in the military.
Before the subjects read the message arguing against gays serving in the military, the experimenters asked them to affirm their sense of self.
Some subjects used self-affirmations unrelated to the message: they had to describe three examples when they succeeded at being honest. As the researchers predicted, thinking about honesty strengthened their self-concept and they became more willing to entertain arguments which contradicted their favorable attitude towards gays in the military.
The other subjects, however, used self-affirmation related to the message but incompatible with it: they had to describe three examples when they succeeded at being non-prejudiced. Of course, being non-prejudiced and opposing gays in the military are incompatible. So, these subjects did not show more openness to the message; in fact, they became even more resistant than they were initially.
So for self-affirmation technique to be effective, you can use either affirmations unrelated to your message or affirmations related but compatible with the message.
Using Self-Affirmation through Self-Persuasion
You can use one of the two methods to affirm people’s self-concept. You can ask them to generate various reasons that would strengthen their sense of self. Or you can provide them with positive feedback yourself.
Self-generated reasons are usually more effective than externally provided reasons by other people. So whenever you can, it is better to ask them, for example, to reflect or recall instances when they upheld a value or a principle that they care about deeply.
Affirmation through Positive Feedback
When you can’t use self-persuasion approach, you can provide them with your positive feedback that strengthens their self-concept. It is important to find something that they truly value, something that is an important part of their self-concept.
Some people may care more about such values as honesty, dependability, sincerity, and fairness. Others might value benevolence, caring, kindness, helpfulness, empathy, and humility more. Yet others still might care more about spirituality, religiousness, and traditionalism.
So, if the most important part of their self-concept is religiousness and traditionalism, it might be ineffective to affirm their fashion sensitivity or rationality and independent critical thinking.
References
- Mark B. Reed and Lisa G. Aspinwall. “Self-Affirmation Reduces Biased Processing of Health-Risk Information.” Motivation and Emotion, 22, 99-132 (1998).
- David A. K. Sherman, Leif D. Nelson, and Claude M. Steele. “Do Messages about Health Risks Threaten the Self? Increasing the Acceptance of Threatening Health Messages Via Self-Affirmation.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Vol. 26, 1046–1058 (2000).
- Julia Zuwerink Jacks and Maureen E. O’Brien, Decreasing Resistance by Affirming the Self, in Resistance and Persuasion, Eric S. Knowles and Jay A. Linn (eds.), (New Jersey: Erlbaum, 2004) pp. 235-257.