TY - JOUR
T1 - How Does Self-concept Clarity Influence Happiness in Social Settings?
T2 - The Role of Strangers Versus Friends
AU - Merdin-Uygur, Ezgi
AU - Abi, Gülen Sarial
AU - Gürhan-Canli, Zeynep
AU - Hesapci, Ozlem
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Self-concept clarity (SCC), defined as the extent to which the content of an individual’s self-beliefs is clearly and confidently defined and internally consistent, influences experiences in social relationships. This paper extends the previous literature on SCC by proposing and demonstrating that high-SCC individuals anticipate and experience more happiness than low-SCC individuals when they share a social setting with friends and anticipate and experience less happiness than low-SCC individuals when they share a social setting with strangers and that this is because of perceived interpersonal distance. A series of four studies, including both online studies and a field study, support these predictions. Alternative explanations of self-esteem and self-efficacy are also ruled out. The findings yield both theoretical contributions and practical implications.
AB - Self-concept clarity (SCC), defined as the extent to which the content of an individual’s self-beliefs is clearly and confidently defined and internally consistent, influences experiences in social relationships. This paper extends the previous literature on SCC by proposing and demonstrating that high-SCC individuals anticipate and experience more happiness than low-SCC individuals when they share a social setting with friends and anticipate and experience less happiness than low-SCC individuals when they share a social setting with strangers and that this is because of perceived interpersonal distance. A series of four studies, including both online studies and a field study, support these predictions. Alternative explanations of self-esteem and self-efficacy are also ruled out. The findings yield both theoretical contributions and practical implications.
KW - Self-concept clarity
KW - Perceived interpersonal distance
KW - Experience with strangers
KW - Experience with friends
KW - Happiness
KW - Self-concept clarity
KW - Perceived interpersonal distance
KW - Experience with strangers
KW - Experience with friends
KW - Happiness
UR - https://sfx-45cbs.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/45cbs?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&url_ctx_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_enc=info:ofi/enc:UTF-8&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rfr_id=info:sid/sfxit.com:azlist&sfx.ignore_date_threshold=1&rft.object_id=111021473081052
U2 - 10.1080/15298868.2018.1470563
DO - 10.1080/15298868.2018.1470563
M3 - Journal article
VL - 18
SP - 443
EP - 466
JO - Self and Identity
JF - Self and Identity
SN - 1529-8868
IS - 4
ER -