Arguments linked to self gain credibility via generalized self-positivity.
Evidence
In experimental demonstrations of role-playing effects in persuasion, subjects are induced to present arguments supporting an arbitrarily assigned controversial position. Compared with control subjects who are exposed to similar arguments from an external source, role-playing subjects tend to credit greater validity to the novel arguments or to the position that those arguments support … The interpretation of this result as an implicit self-esteem effect is based on assuming, first, that the subject’s acceptance of the role-playing assignment creates a link of the assigned position to self (this is a psychological unit formation, in the sense of Heider, 1944) and, second, that positivity toward self generalizes to a positive evaluation of the assigned position. — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition, 121
Categorization
- XREF: Unit formation in Heider’s balance theory connects to the self-serving attributions and group-protection mechanisms catalogued across the MOC — the same ‘link to self’ logic that later work on self-anchoring in intergroup perception built on. — connects to: People self-select associates who validate their moral self-evaluations — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 109; Attributing negative feedback to prejudice protects rather than damages self-esteem — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1066; Trust of unknown others arises by generalizing from one’s own trustworthy self — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 158 (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Trust of unknown others arises by generalizing from one’s own trustworthy self
#expands(0.85) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 158 - People self-select associates who validate their moral self-evaluations
#expands(0.82) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 109 - Defaulting distrust of strangers follows from generalizing one’s own self-interested motives
#expands(0.74) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 757 - Attributing negative feedback to prejudice protects rather than damages self-esteem
#exemplifies(0.72) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1066