A Multi-Component Model of the Self

描述（由申请人提供）：自我概念被视为由多个自我指涉构念（或“自我”）组成的认知结构，每个自我指涉构念都有不同的积极或消极效价或内容，对个体的重要性程度各不相同。这些自我在自我概念中的组织和结构的水平、程度和复杂性对理解对环境事件、情绪、信息处理和行为调节的反应具有重要意义。然而，很少在单一研究的背景下调查构成自我概念的多个自我。此外，虽然特定自我的效价或内容如何与自我概念的整体结构相关的问题只是在最近的理论表述中才得到阐明，但自我图式理论并没有解决效价、内容和结构如何相互作用的问题。最后，大多数关于自我概念的研究都是在一次或几次实验中进行的。内容和结构如何随时间变化的关键问题很少被提及。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The self-concept is viewed as a cognitive structure composed of multiple self-referent constructs (or "selves"), each of which has a distinct positive or negative valence or content and is of varying levels of importance to the individual. The level, degree, and complexity of organization and structure that these selves have within the self-concept has implications for understanding responses to environmental events, mood, information processing, and regulation of behavior. Rarely, though, are the multiple selves that compose the self-concept investigated in the context of a single study. Moreover, while issues of how the valence or content of particular selves relates to the overall structure of the self-concept have only been articulated in recent theoretical formulations, self-schema theory has not addressed how valence, content, and structure interact. Finally, most studies of the self-concept are conducted within single or perhaps a few laboratory sessions. Critical issues of how content and structure may vary over time are rarely addressed. The overall aim of this exploratory/developmental R21 application is to advance self-schema theory, specifically by analyzing how multiple self-schemas, each with varying degrees of positive and negative valence, relate to the structure and organization of the self-concept over time. We modify a theory from finance, portfolio theory, to achieve this overall aim. Portfolio theory provides an explicit means for understanding the relationship between individual components of a system and the overall structure and behavior of that system. It provides a precise model for analyzing the content and structure of the multiple self-schemas that comprise the self-concept over time, and enables detailed predictions to be made. The proposed study will follow a sample of n = 80 subjects for a period of 90 days, during which they will complete, in a secure internet-based format, surveys on the self-schemas that were activated on each of those 90 days. This rich source of data will be used (i) to test a number of central predictions of the portfolio model of the self-concept, including the role of diversification of the self-concept across selves in determining adaptation and adjustment outcomes, and (ii) to generate additional hypotheses about how the structure and content of the self-concept relate to adaptation and adjustment.