ARE YOU WHAT YOU FEEL - THE AFFECTIVE AND COGNITIVE DETERMINANTS OF SELF-JUDGMENTS

Subjects recalled an affect-eliciting event that had occurred to them in either an achievement situation or an interpersonal situation. Reca lling a positive or negative achievement experience (for which subject s appeared to take personal responsibility) influenced judgments of th eir competence in achievement situations, whereas thinking about a pos itive or negative interpersonal experience (for which subjects appeare d to deny responsibility) did not influence judgments of their compete nce in social situations. On the other hand, both types of affect-elic iting experiences influenced subjects' judgments of their competence i n the domain to which these experiences had no direct implications, an d also judgments of their general self-esteem. Implications of these r esults for a more general conceptualization of self-esteem and its sta bility are discussed