Building, Defending, and Regulating the Self

Abraham Tesser, Research Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia, is a former Editor of the Journalof Personality and Social Psychology and a former President of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Recognition of his research on self-evaluation and on thought and ruminative processes includes the Donald T. Campbell Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and the Career Award from the International Society for Self and Identity. After completing her Ph.D. at UCLA, Joanne Wood has held faculty positions at SUNY-Stony Brook and at the University of Waterloo. She has served as an associate editor of Personality and SocialPsychology Bulletin and on the editorial boards for Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal ofExperimental Social Psychology, Personality and SocialPsychology Bulletin, and Self and Identity. Wood's publications concern affect regulation, social comparison, and mechanisms underlying the maintenance of self-esteem.Diederik Stapel, Professor at the University of Groningen, is a former Associate Editor of the British Journal of Social Psychology and has served on the editorial boards of Self and Identity, EuropeanJournal of Social Psychology, and Personality and SocialPsychology Bulletin. For his research on knowledge accessibility effects he earned the Jos Jaspars Award of the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology. Stapel's publications concern person perception, unconscious emotional responses, and social comparison.

"Much has been written on the self in modern psychology, but rarely are so many fresh perspectives found between the covers of a single volume. Tesser, Wood, and Stapel have organized some of the field's excellent thinkers and writers and produced a book that tackles enduring issues in new ways: How malleable is the self? What about one's identity is genuine? How tied up is the self in considerations of conscious experience? Under what conditions is the self defensive to the point of delusion? In the spirit of Narcissus, we all love to reflect on the self, and this volume will help students and investigators do so in intriguing new ways." - Peter Salovey, Yale University"In the last 20 years, research on the self has grown from street musician to corporate status. Abe Tesser and his colleagues are partly responsible for this explosion of interest. Now, with the publication of their most recent edited volume on the self, Tesser, Wood, and Stapel bring a structure to this increasingly complex research domain. The eleven chapters reflect three often-conflicting assumptions of the self -- self-as-good (Carl Rogers), self-as-bad (Freud), and self-as-self-regulating-blank-slate (Locke). The editors have assembled a phenomenal group of researchers in social psychology who are superb scientists and writers. This is an excellent book." - James W. Pennebaker, University of Texas at Austin

• About the EditorsContributorsIntroduction: Building, defending and regulating the self: An overviewAbraham Tesser, Joanne V. Wood and DiederikA. StapelI. Building the self: The Ideal, theauthentic and the open selfChapter 1: The Michelangelo Phenomenon in Close Relationships CarylE. Rusbult, Madoka Kumashiro, Shevaun L. Stocker, andScott T. WolfChapter 2: From Thought and Experience to Behavior and Interpersonal Relationships: A Multicomponent Conceptualization of Authenticity Michael H. Kernis and Brian M. GoldmanChapter 3: Transportation into Narrative Worlds: Implications for the Self Melanie C. GreenChapter 4: Conflict and Habit: A Social Cognitive neuroscience Approach to the SelfMatthew D. Lieberman and Naomi I.EisenbergerII. Defending the selfChapter 5: Ideal Agency: The Perception of Self as an Origin of ActionJesse Preston and Daniel M. WegnerChapter 6: Reflections in Troubled Waters: Narcissism and the Vicissitudes of an Interpersonally Contextualized Self Frederick Rhodewalt and CarolynC. Morf Chapter 7: Nagging Doubts and a Glimmer of Hope: The Role of Implicit Self-Esteem in Self-Image MaintenanceSteven J. Spencer, ChristianH. Jordan, Christine E.R. Logel, and Mark P.ZannaIII. Regulating the selfChapter 8: Approach Avoidance Motivation and Self-Concept EvaluationAndrew J. Elliot and Rachel R. MapesChapter 9: Self Conscious Emotion and Self-RegulationDacher Keltner and Jennifer S. BeerChapter 10: On the Hidden Benefits of State Orientation: Can People Prosper without Efficient Affect Regulation Skills?Sander L. Koole, Julius Kuhl, NilsJostmann, and Kathleen D. Vohs Chapter 11: The Roles of the Self in Priming-to-Behavior Effects.S.Christian Wheeler, Kenneth G. DeMarree, and Richard E.PettyAuthor IndexSubject Index