Broadening Perspective, Changing Narratives, and Improving Academic Performance: The Effects of Values Affirmation Interventions

Research on self-affirmation theory has repeatedly shown that brief interventions designed to affirm the self-concept can produce lasting benefits on a variety of behavioral outcomes, including academic performance. However, the question of what causes these effects is the topic of continued research attention. The purpose of the present talk is to summarize self-affirmation theory, to present a general model to explain the effects of values affirmations (Sherman & Hartson, 2011), and to introduce new evidence from two values affirmation intervention studies that supports this model. Self-affirmation theory evolved from an alternative explanation for cognitive dissonance phenomena (Steele, 1988; see also Aronson, Cohen, & Nail, 2009; Stone & Cooper, 2001) to an intervention strategy employed in a wide range of settings (see Harris & Epton, 2009; Garcia & Cohen, 2012 for reviews). Its core idea is that people have a general motivation to maintain self-integrity – that is, the perception of one’s self as efficacious, consistent, and good (Sherman & Cohen, 2006; Steele, 1988). In the face of threats to one’s self-integrity, people behave in ways that serve to protect the self-concept. For example, when faced with the threat of confirming negative stereotypes about one’s group (i.e., stereotype threat), people may defensively disengage from the domain rather than risk confirming the stereotype. However, when global perceptions of self-integrity are affirmed, for example, via a writing task that reminds people of an important personal value, otherwise threatening information may lose its capacity to threaten the self. After completing values affirmations, individuals feel, both to themselves and to others, as though the task of maintaining self-integrity is settled. Consequently, they can focus on other demands in the situation beyond ego protection— for example—the academic tasks at hand in a school environment.