A Multi-Component Model of the Self

描述(申请人提供)：自我概念被视为一种认知结构，由多个自我指涉结构组成，每个结构都有不同的积极或消极的价态或内容，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、程度和复杂性对于理解对环境事件的反应、情绪、信息处理和行为调节具有重要意义。然而，很少有人在一项研究的背景下研究构成自我概念的多个自我。此外，虽然特定自我的价态或内容如何与自我概念的整体结构相关的问题只在最近的理论公式中被阐明，但自我图式理论并没有解决价态、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室会议中进行的。内容和结构随时间变化的关键问题很少得到解决。 这一探索性/发展性R21应用的总体目标是推进自我图式理论，特别是通过分析随着时间的推移，每种具有不同程度正负效价的多个自我图式与自我概念的结构和组织之间的关系。为了实现这一总体目标，我们对金融学的一个理论--投资组合理论进行了修正。投资组合理论提供了一种明确的方法来理解一个系统的各个组成部分与该系统的整体结构和行为之间的关系。它提供了一个精确的模型来分析构成自我概念的多个自我图式的内容和结构，并能够做出详细的预测。拟议的研究将对n=80名受试者进行为期90天的跟踪调查，在此期间，他们将以安全的互联网形式完成关于在这90天中的每一天都被激活的自我图式的调查。这些丰富的数据来源将被用来(I)检验自我概念组合模型的一些中心预测，包括自我概念多样化在决定适应和适应结果中的作用，以及(Ii)产生关于自我概念的结构和内容如何与适应和适应有关的额外假设。

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.