You Can't See the Real Me: Attachment Avoidance, Self-Verification, and Self-Concept Clarity. (August 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Emery, Lydia F.; Gardner, Wendi L.; Carswell, Kathleen L.; Finkel, Eli J.
• Is Part Of: Personality & social psychology bulletin. Volume 44:Number 8(2018)
• Page Start: 1133
• Page End: 1146
• Publication Date: 2018-08
• Subjects: self/identity -- close relationships -- attachment -- self-concept clarity -- self-verification; Personality -- Periodicals; Social psychology -- Periodicals; 302
• DOI: 10.1177/0146167218760799
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0146-1672

Abstract

Attachment shapes people's experiences in their close relationships and their self-views. Although attachment avoidance and anxiety both undermine relationships, past research has primarily emphasized detrimental effects of anxiety on the self-concept. However, as partners can help people maintain stable self-views, avoidant individuals' negative views of others might place them at risk for self-concept confusion. We hypothesized that avoidance would predict lower self-concept clarity and that less self-verification from partners would mediate this association. Attachment avoidance was associated with lower self-concept clarity (Studies 1-5), an effect that was mediated by low self-verification (Studies 2-3). The association between avoidance and self-verification was mediated by less self-disclosure and less trust in partner feedback (Study 4). Longitudinally, avoidance predicted changes in self-verification, which in turn predicted changes in self-concept clarity (Study 5). Thus, avoidant individuals' reluctance to trust or become too close to others may result in hidden costs to the self-concept.