On confidence and consequence
The certainty and importance of self-knowledge
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6204884 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Brett W Pelham (0000-0003-3185-2196, University of California, Los Angeles, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1991 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 518-530 |
| Publication date | 1991-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315 |
| Publisher | American Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1037//0022-3514.60.4.518 |
| PMID | 2037964 |
| OpenAlex | W2022680806 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 125 |
| References cited | 12 |
Belief certainty and belief importance represent 2 relatively independent forms of investment in the self-concept. Three studies suggested that whereas certainty is associated with epistemic (i.e., rational or informational) factors, importance is more closely associated with emotive (i.e., emotional and motivational) factors. A 4th study explored the implications of certainty and importance for the temporal stability of people's self-views and revealed that whereas belief certainty was associated with the stability of both positive and negative beliefs, belief importance was associated with the stability of positive beliefs only. The implications of belief investment for the verification-enhancement debate and for the structure and measurement of the self-concept are discussed.
Belief system · Certainty · Cognitive psychology · Emotive · Epistemology · Low Confidence · Self-confidence · Self-knowledge · Stability (learning theory · Behavioral Health and Interventions · Education, Healthcare and Sociology Research · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Optimism, Hope, and Well-being · Philosophy and Theoretical Science · Psychology · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology
Confidence in one’s social beliefs
"The "Shaken Self
Looking for Clouds in a Silver Lining
The relationship of social approval contingency to trait self-esteem
Models of the self
Gender differences in self-esteem
The regulatory function of self-esteem
Self and Identity
Toward understanding understanding
Self-Evaluation Processes
Delicate Snowflakes and Broken Bonds
Preferences for and evaluation of self-relevant information depending on the elaboration of the self-schemata involved
Self-discrepancy and elaboration of self-conceptions as factors influencing reactions to feedback
Attitude stability and attitude strength
Issue Importance as a Moderator of Framing Effects
Naïve beliefs shape emotional reactions to evaluative feedback
Perceiving a Stable Self-Concept Enables the Experience of Meaning in Life
Connecting Attitude Position and Function
The Fundamental Attribution Error in Human-Robot Interaction
Getting to “Fair”
Reactions to Perceived Categorization by others during the Transition to College
Anticipation of future identities
Meta‐accuracy about potential relationship partners' models of others
Sexual Self-Schemas of Croatian University Students
Toward a Microprocess Perspective on Adolescent Identity Development
Nuances about the Role and Impact of Affect in Inoculation
Gender differences in idiosyncratic sex-typed self-images and self-esteem
Language learner self-concept
Feedback Seeking in Early Adolescence
Self-Evaluation
The Cultural Logic of Politics in Mainland China and Taiwan
Dating Relationship Quality
Peer group cultures and social identity
In search of the powerful self-fulfilling prophecy
Hypothesis confirmation
From self-conceptions to self-worth
The moderating influence of attitude strength on the susceptibility to context effects in attitude surveys
Mental habits
Culture and self-concept stability
Striving to be known by significant others
Authenticity and positivity strivings in marriage and courtship
The self-fulfilling influence of mother expectations on children's underage drinking
Global self-esteem and specific self-views as determinants of people's reactions to success and failure
The waxing and waning of the social self
Attitude strength
Casuistry and Social Category Bias
The relationships between multiple facets of self-concept clarity and depression
Devastated or Feeling Fine? The Moderating Role of Self-aspect Importance on the Emotional Reaction to a Valenced Event
Self-verification 360°
Who Wants Out When the Going Gets Good? Psychological Investment and Preference for Self-Verifying College Roommates
The role of meta-cognitive certainty on the relationship between identity fusion and endorsement of extreme pro-group behavior
How implicit self-esteem influences perceptions of self-esteem at zero and non-zero acquaintance
Attitudes guiding social behavior as a function of perceived knowledge
The emergence of personality
Judgments of a Relationship Partner
Conceptions of Ability, Achievement Goals, and Individual Differences in Self‐Handicapping Behavior
The Elusive Importance Effect
Allure of negative feedback
Do people's self-views matter? Self-concept and self-esteem in everyday life
What's in a name
The psychological trade-offs of goal investment
From chump to champ
Core Values, Value Conflict, and Citizens’ Ambivalence about Gay Rights
Personality Certainty and Politics
Morality and a Sense of Self
What drives self-affirmation effects? On the importance of differentiating value affirmation and attribute affirmation
Ambivalence and certainty can interact to predict attitude stability over time
Autobiography, Reputation, and the Self
What you expect is not always what you get
The role of perceived control in overcoming defensive self-evaluation
Fluctuations in state implicit self-esteem in response to daily negative events
Trait aggressiveness predicting aggressive behavior
On the benefits of misery
The idiographic nature of human personality
Attachment change processes in the early years of marriage
Why does attachment style change
"Who am I? Why am I here?" Self-esteem, self-clarity, and prototype matching
The puzzle of negative self-views
Origins of attitude importance
When performance gets personal
Shames and Selves
Certainty, Uncertainty, or Indifference? Examining Variation in the Identity Narratives of Nonreligious Americans
The "I," the "we," and the "when
Forming attitudes that predict future behavior
Handbook of Social Psychology
Foundations of social psychology
The Dynamics of Opinion Formation
Self-verification processes
Behavioral confirmation in social interaction
Attitude importance and attitude change
The processes of causal attribution
A Theory of Social Comparison Processes
Human Nature and the Social Order
A self-presentational view of social phenomena
The Measurement and Motivation of Atypical Opinion in a Certain Group
| Unique citing works | 84 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 3,38 |
| Citation span | 1989 - 2025 (37) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 118 |