Self-knowledge defenses to self-threats

We examined whether people use both shifts in the spontaneous self-concept (self-knowledge content) and in self-concept clarity (self-knowledge structure) to defend against salient self-threats, and identified relevant moderators of this process. In Study 1, women emphasized relational self-aspects in response to mortality salience, compared to men. In Study 2, high self-esteem individuals showed more polarized self-knowledge after mortality salience, while in Study 3 they became faster in their self-categorizations when faced with uncertainty, and more consistent and faster in their self-categorizations when faced with isolation, relative to those with low self-esteem. In the discussion, we focus on how these outcomes can be interpreted as meaning maintenance, clarify the role of self-esteem, and offer directions for future research.