Reality Negotiation: Governing One's Self and Being Governed by Others

Abstract

Self-theories are posited along 2 related cognitive dimensions. First, the valence of an act varies from negative to positive. Second, the linkage to an act reflects the degree (ranging from none to high) to which one is perceived as being the causal agent for that act. Plotting these 2 dimensions, with valence reflecting the ordinate (negative at the bottom to positive at the top) and linkage reflecting the abscissa (no linkage at the left to high linkage at the right), most people have a positive self-theory regression line linking themselves most strongly to positive valence acts. A minority, however, have negative self-theories showing decreasing linkage to positive valence acts. Reality negotiation strategies are psychological mechanisms used to preserve self-theories when confronted with theory-discrepant information. These strategies are detailed, and it is shown how they ultimately foster societal control over the person.