Are you what you feel? The affective and cognitive determinants of self-judgments

• Published in: European journal of social psychology Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 63 - 77
• Main Authors: Levine, Stephen R., Wyer Jr, Robert S., Schwarz, Norbert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.01.1994; Wiley
• Subjects: Affect; Cognition; Judgement; Role; Self; Selfevaluation; Social competence; Social psychology
• ISSN: 0046-2772; 1099-0992
• DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.2420240105

Subjects recalled an affect‐eliciting event that had occurred to them in either an achievement situation or an interpersonal situation. Recalling a positive or negative achievement experience (for which Subjects appeared to take personal responsibility) influenced judgments of their competence in achievement situations. Whereas thinking about a positive or negative interpersonal experience (for which subjects appeared to deny responsibility) did not influence judgments of their competence in social situations. On the other hand, both types of affect‐eliciting experiences influenced subjects' judgments of their competence in the domain to which these experiences had no direct implications, and also judgments of their general self‐esteem. Implications of these results for a more general conceptualization of self‐esteem and its stability are discussed.