| Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools. |
The Concept of Ego Threat in Social and Personality Psychology: Is Ego Threat a Viable Scientific Construct?Duke University, Durham, NC, leary{at}duke.edu
Duke University, Durham, NC
Duke University, Durham, NC
Duke University, Durham, NC Although widely invoked as an explanation for psychological phenomena, ego threat has been conceptualized and induced in a variety of ways. Most contemporary research conceptualizes ego threat as a threat to a person’s self-image or self-esteem, but experimental operationalizations of ego threat usually confound threats to self-esteem with threats to public image or decreased control over negative events, leading to an inability to distinguish the effects of threats to people’s personal egos from threats to public image or threats to feelings of control. This article reviews research on ego threat, discusses experimental manipulations that confound ego threat with other processes, and makes recommendations regarding the use of ego threat as a construct in personality and social psychology.
Key Words: self-identity • ego threat • threat to self-esteem
This version was published on August
1, 2009 Personality and Social Psychology Review, Vol. 13, No. 3,
151-164 (2009) |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
 |
|
Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
