The Reciprocal Path from Possible Self to Core Self-Revision

Abstract

This article brings together work on the causes of possible-self revision with newer work on the consequences of these revisions for revisions in core selves. The first part reviews work on the causes of possible-self revisions. The second part articulates a new model of the interrelationships among core selves, possible selves, and motivated mental strategies to account for growing evidence that earlier revisions of possible selves can produce subsequent revisions in the integrity of core selves. This article closes by unpacking unique implications and future directions of this new account for the reciprocal pathway from revisions of possible selves to revisions in core selves.