Handbook Of The Uncertain Self

This Handbook explores the cognitive, motivational, interpersonal, clinical, and applied aspects of personal uncertainty. It showcases both the diversity and the unity that defines contemporary perspectives on uncertainty in self within social and personality psychology. The contributions to the volume are all written by distinguished scholars in personality, social psychology, and clinical psychology united by their common focus on the causes and consequences of self-uncertainty. Chapters explore the similarities and differences between personal uncertainty and other psychological experiences in terms of their nature and relationship with human thought, emotion, motivation, and behavior. Specific challenges posed by personal uncertainty and the coping strategies people develop in their daily life are identified. There is an assessment of the potential negative and positive repercussions of coping with the specific experience of self-uncertainty, including academic, health, and relationship outcomes. Throughout, strategies specifically designed to assist others in confronting the unique challenges posed by self-uncertainty in ways that emphasize healthy psychological functioning and growth are promoted. In addition, the contributions to the Handbook touch on the psychological, social, and cultural context of the new millennium, including concepts such as Friedman’s "flat world," confidence, the absence of doubt in world leaders, the threat of terrorism since 9/11, the arts, doubt and religious belief, and views of doubt as the universal condition of humankind. The Handbook is an invaluable resource for researchers, practitioners, and senior undergraduate and graduate students in social and personality psychology, clinical and counseling psychology, educational psychology, and developmental psychology.

This Handbook examines contemporary research in social and personality on the determinants and consequences of self-uncertainty in social life.

This authoritative handbook reviews the state of the science of self-knowledge, a key emerging area in psychology. Leading investigators describe innovative theory and research that is shedding new light on how—and how accurately—people perceive their own traits, thoughts, feelings, behavior, and relationships. Coverage encompasses the behavioral, mental, biological, and social structures that underlie self-knowledge; approaches to studying self-beliefs in specific domains; and the motives and biases that influence accuracy. The volume explores the personal and societal benefits of self-knowledge and also considers possible ways to enhance it.

This book uses Dialogical Self Theory to respond to the challenges of climate change, well-being, and disenchantment of the world.

This is the first major volume dedicated to the processes by which people exaggerate their virtues, deemphasize their shortcomings, or protect themselves against threatening feedback. Leading investigators present cutting-edge work on the key role of self-enhancing and self-protective motives in social perception, cognition, judgment, and behavior. Compelling topics include the psychological benefits and risks of self-enhancement and self-protection; personality traits and contextual factors that make certain individuals more likely to hold distorted views of the self; innovative approaches to assessment and measurement; and implications for relationships, achievement, and mental health.

This book discusses individual differences in how people react to uncertainty. The authors show that while some people are relatively comfortable dealing with uncertainty and strive to resolve it (uncertainty-oriented), others are more likely to avoid uncertainty, preferring the familiar or the known (certainty-oriented). They go on to examine the implications of an uncertainty orientation for understanding processes of self-knowledge, social cognition and attitude change, achievement, motivation and performance, interpersonal and group processes, and issues relating to physical and psychological health concerns. Research is discussed which links this uncertainty orientation to each of these issues, raising important practical and theoretical questions for each. The book also considers possible implications for people of both orientations of living in times that may be characterized as being uncertain.

Extremism and the Psychology of Uncertainty showcases cutting-edge scientific research on the extent to which uncertainty may lead to extremism. Contributions come from leading international scholars who focus on a wide variety of forms, facets and manifestations of extremist behavior. Systematically integrates and explores the growing diversity of social psychological perspectives on the uncertainty extremism relationship Showcases contemporary cutting edge scientific research from leading international scholars Offers a broad perspective on extremism and focuses on a wide variety of different forms, facets and manifestations Accessible to social and behavioral scientists, policy makers and those with a genuine interest in understanding the psychology of extremism

Ostracism, Exclusion, and Rejection examines research into the related phenomena of ostracism, exclusion and rejection. Most individuals have experienced both sides of the coin: being ostracized and ostracizing others. People experience mild forms of ostracism on a daily basis, but some endure years and decades of being the social outcast. How does it feel to be shunned, left out, not wanted? Research suggests that even the mildest and briefest forms of ostracism are painful and have downstream consequences to our feelings of social connection. Longer-term ostracism has devastating consequences on individuals’ health and well-being. This innovative compilation covers how being cast out affects the brain and body chemistry, feelings and emotions, thoughts and beliefs, and behaviors. In addition to the primary focus on targets of ostracism, researchers also examine the motives and consequences of ostracizing. Social scientists from social psychology, developmental psychology, neuroscience, communication science, cross-cultural psychology, and anthropology tackle these questions with cutting-edge methods and provocative theories. A key volume for all in those fields, this book also presents applications from the schoolyard to the workplace, and sounds a much-needed call for further research on this universal behavior of all social animals.