SELF-IMMUNIZATION - EVIDENCE OF AUTOMATIC SELF-STABILIZING CONCEPT ADAPTATION

Processes of sell-immunization as a reaction to self-discrepant feedba ck were investigated. Immunization refers to adapting individual ''ope rationaliziations'' of self-relevant dispositions, emphasizing perceiv ed own competencies and disregarding perceived weaknesses. A fictitiou s intelligence test was administered, consisting of a set of heterogen eous modules. Subjects (N=71) received manipulated test results that w ere positive for some modules and negative for others. A semantic prim ing paradigm was used to assess the immunization process in a non-reac tive way. Accordingly, as a last module of the intelligence test, subj ects worked through a lexical decision task. Reaction times for words associated with positive modules were faster than reaction times for w ords associated with negative modules when the prime was the word ''in telligence''. These results were interpreted as indicating automatic s elf-stabilizing processes of concept adaptation.