Self-affirmation moderates effects of unrealistic optimism and pessimism on reactions to tailored risk feedback

References

• Blanton , H , Axsom , D , McClive , KP and Price , S . 2001 . Pessimistic bias in comparative evaluations: A case of perceived vulnerability to the effects of negative life events . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 27 : 1627 – 1636 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Blanton , H , Cooper , J , Skurnik , I and Aronson , J . 1997 . When bad things happen to good feedback: Exacerbating the need for self-justification with self-affirmations . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 23 : 684 – 692 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Brewer , NT , Cuite , CL , Herrington , JE and Weinstein , ND . 2004 . Risk perceptions and their relation to risk behavior . Annals of Behavioral Medicine , 27 : 125 – 130 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Cohen , J . 1992 . A power primer . Psychological Bulletin , 14 : 155 – 159 .
   Google Scholar
• Colditz , GA , Atwood , KA , Emmons , K , Monson , RR , Willett , WC Trichopoulos , D . 2000 . Harvard report on Cancer Prevention, Volume 4: Harvard cancer risk index . Cancer Causes and Control , 11 : 477 – 488 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Croyle , RT , Sun , Y and Louie , D . 1993 . Psychological minimization of cholesterol test results: Moderators of appraisal in college students and community residents . Health Psychology , 12 : 503 – 507 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Davidson , K and Prkachin , K . 1997 . Optimism and unrealistic optimism have an interacting impact on health-promoting behavior and knowledge changes . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 23 : 617 – 625 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Dillard , AJ , McCaul , KD and Klein , WMP . 2006 . Unrealistic optimism in smokers: Implications for smoking myth endorsement and self-protective motivation . Journal of Health Communication , 11 : 93 – 102 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Epton , T and Harris , PR . 2008 . Self-affirmation promotes health behavior change . Health Psychology , 27 : 746 – 752 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Galinsky , AD , Stone , J and Cooper , J . 2000 . The reinstatement of dissonance and psychological discomfort following failed affirmation . European Journal of Social Psychology , 30 : 123 – 147 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Harris , PR , Griffin , D and Murray , S . 2008 . Testing the limits of optimistic bias: Event and person moderators in a multi-level framework . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 95 : 1225 – 1237 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Harris , PR and Napper , L . 2005 . Self-affirmation and the biased processing of threatening health-risk information . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 31 : 1250 – 1263 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Helweg-Larsen , M and Shepperd , JA . 2001 . Do moderators of the optimistic bias affect personal or target risk estimates? A review of the literature . Personality and Social Psychology Review , 5 : 74 – 95 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Klein , WM . 1996 . Maintaining self-serving social comparisons: Attenuating the perceived significance of risk-increasing behaviors . Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology , 15 : 120 – 142 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Klein , WMP . 2003 . Self-prescriptive, perceived, and actual attention to comparative risk information . Psychology and Health , 18 : 625 – 643 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Klein , WMP and Cooper , KL . 2008 . “ On the physical health costs of self-enhancement ” . In Self-criticism and self-enhancement: Theory, research, and clinical implications , Edited by: Chang , E . 141 – 158 . Washington, DC : American Psychological Association .
   Google Scholar
• Klein , WMP and Harris , PR . Self-affirmation enhances attentional bias toward threatening components of a persuasive message . Psychological Science , (in press)
   Google Scholar
• Klein , WMP and Monin , MM . 2009 . When focusing on negative and positive attributes of the self elicits more inductive self-judgment . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 3 : 376 – 384 .
   Google Scholar
• Koole , SL , Smeets , K , van Knippenberg , A and Dijksterhuis , A . 1999 . The cessation of rumination through self-affirmation . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 77 : 111 – 125 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Kreuter , MW and Strecher , VJ . 1995 . Changing inaccurate perceptions of health risk: Results from a randomized trial . Health Psychology , 14 : 56 – 63 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Liberman , A and Chaiken , S . 1992 . Defensive processing of personally relevant health messages . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 18 : 669 – 679 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Lipkus , I and Klein , WMP . 2006 . Effects of communicating social comparison information on risk perceptions for colorectal cancer . Journal of Health Communication , 11 : 391 – 407 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• McQueen , A and Klein , WMP . 2006 . Experimental manipulations of self-affirmation: A systematic review . Self and Identity , 5 : 289 – 354 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• McQueen , A , Vernon , SW , Myers , RE , Watts , BG , Lee , ES and Tilley , BC . 2007 . Correlates and predictors of colorectal cancer screening among male automotive workers . Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention , 16 : 500 – 509 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Radcliffe , NM and Klein , WMP . 2002 . Dispositional, unrealistic, and comparative optimism: Differential relations with knowledge and processing of risk information and beliefs about personal risk . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 28 : 836 – 846 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Rosenthal , R and Rosnow , RL . 1991 . Essentials of behavioral research: Methods and data analysis , 2nd , New York : McGraw-Hill .
   Google Scholar
• Schmeichel , BJ and Martens , A . 2005 . Self-affirmation and mortality salience: Affirming values reduces worldview defense and death-thought accessibility . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 31 : 658 – 667 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Schmiege , SJ , Klein , WMP and Bryan , AB . 2009 . The impact of comparative vs. objective feedback on risk perceptions and subsequent behavior . European Journal of Social Psychology , 39 : 1 – 14 .
   Google Scholar
• Shepperd , JA , Helweg-Larsen , M and Ortega , L . 2003 . Are comparative risk judgments consistent across time and events? . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin , 29 ( 9 ) : 1169 – 1180 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Sherman , DK and Cohen , GL . 2006 . “ The psychology of self-defense: Self-affirmation theory ” . In Advances in experimental social psychology , Edited by: Zanna , MP . Vol. 38 , 183 – 242 . San Diego, CA : Academic Press .
   Google Scholar
• Sherman , DK , Cohen , GL , Nelson , LD , Nussbaum , AD , Bunyan , DP and Garcia , J . Affirmed yet unaware: Exploring the role of awareness in the process of self affirmation . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , (in press)
   Google Scholar
• Sherman , DK and Kim , HS . 2005 . Is there an ‘I’ in ‘team’? The role of the self in group-serving judgments . Journal of Personality & Social Psychology , 88 : 108 – 120 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Steele , CM . 1988 . “ The psychology of self-affirmation: Sustaining the integrity of the self ” . In Advances in experimental social psychology , Edited by: Berkowitz , L . Vol. 21 , 261 – 302 . New York : Academic Press .
   Google Scholar
• Strecher , VJ , Kreuter , MW and Kobrin , SC . 1995 . Do cigarette smokers have unrealistic perceptions of their heart attack, cancer, and stroke risks? . Journal of Behavioral Medicine , 18 : 45 – 54 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Taylor , SE and Brown , JD . 1988 . Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health . Psychological Bulletin , 103 : 193 – 210 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• U. S. Preventive Health Services Task Force . 1996 . Screening for colorectal cancer (chapter 8) , Philadelphia : Williams and Wilkins .
   Google Scholar
• van der Velde , FW , van der Pligt , J and Hooykaas , C . 1994 . Perceiving AIDS-related risk: Accuracy as a function of differences in actual risk . Health Psychology , 13 : 25 – 33 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• van Koningsbruggen , GM and Das , E . 2009 . Don’t derogate this message! Self-affirmation promotes online Type 2 diabetes risk test taking . Psychology and Health , 24 : 635 – 649 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Weinstein , ND . 1980 . Unrealistic optimism about future life events . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 39 : 806 – 820 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Weinstein , ND . 1987 . Unrealistic optimism about susceptibility to health problems: Conclusions from a community-wide sample . Journal of Behavioral Medicine , 10 : 481 – 500 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Weinstein , ND and Klein , WM . 1995 . Resistance of personal risk perceptions to debiasing interventions . Health Psychology , 14 : 132 – 140 .
   PubMed Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Wiebe , DJ and Black , D . 1997 . Illusional beliefs in the context of risky sexual behaviors . Journal of Applied Social Psychology , 27 : 1727 – 1749 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar
• Wiesenfeld , BM , Brockner , J , Petzall , B , Wolf , R and Bailey , J . 2001 . Stress and coping among layoff survivors: A self-affirmation analysis . Anxiety, Stress and Coping: An International Journal , 14 : 15 – 34 .
   Web of Science ®Google Scholar