The Impact Of Self-Affirmation On Well-being: An Empirical Study

Empirical Findings on Homogeneous Groups

Recently we conducted an experiment with 540 undergraduate student participants; it was a random sample where a group was kept under controlled condition while the other group was in the state of the self-affirmation. We collected the data from them with the help of a survey where the questionnaire was designed to judge their hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. The purpose of this exercise was to understand the impact of the self-affirmation on the well-being quotients of the respondents. In order to ensure a sample to minimize the variables, we chose a sample with an average age of 21.3 years. In the current report, we are presenting and discussing some of the issues that came in front of us after the study of this empirical data.

The empirical findings of this survey gave us some conclusions related to the behavior of otherwise homogeneous groups. There are many common factors between the group mates that can be taken into an account. For instance, the immediate surroundings where they are living are same. They are studying in the same university where the educational environment is just the same. The culture of a place is very crucial for the well-being of an individual. It is a general observation that when people share space with like-minded people and people with the same economic status, their self-affirmation remains on the higher side. However, things may change when the difference is high, here the factors like inferiority complex and the superiority complex can become the causative factors to strengthen or destroy the feeling of the self-affirmation (S.katherien Nelson, 2014).

Self-affirmation is also a subject to peer pressure or the peer acceptance. While conducting this research in order to follow the clause of the confidentiality we never shared the results with any of the participants (Aaron Springer, 2018). This secrecy also helped us in bringing out less adulterated spontaneous responses. These less adulterated responses helped us in adding conformity in our results. In the previous paragraph, we mentioned that the presence of superiority or inferiority complex is minimal and this is why we have overcome a major road barrier in the path of the spontaneous responses for the judgment of the self-affirmation.

The scope of this study is applicable to the people from all walks of the life because the barometers or the metrics are general, they are not subject specific. For instance, we can talk about a survey connected to the fear of the heights. Various subjects may have various experiences about it. In order to keep it general we never made it subjective (Michael D. Robinson, 2017). An exam for a student is equivalent to a sales presentation for a CEO.  This survey also covers various age groups, the youngest of the respondent is 17 years old whereas o the higher side we have a respondent who is 71 years old. This spectrum of the age group and the line of the variation indicate that most of our findings are universal in nature and have a justifiable age difference in the sample.  

Applicability to People from All Walks of Life

We failed to bring in maximum numbers of the standard demographic factors in our randomized survey. It is true that since we are doing a survey by dividing a set of people in two groups of “under control” subject and “subjects under self-affirmation.” For a better and steady comparison, we always need a homogenous layer of the respondents. However, this homogeneity also created a contrived group for us. On a surface level, it covers the variable nature of the groups. However, the absence of variables makes it a study confined to a particular field. It means some of our findings may be true for the university campus; however, they might lose their relevance once we will increase the size of the sample or try to increase its demographic and geographic periphery.

Many external factors can bring in a variation in the self-integrity of a subject. Self-integrity is flexible in nature (Rothausen, 2013). The value of self-integrity varies from domain to domain. For instance, all the students preparing for the half-yearly exams may have anxiety where self-affirmation of their preparedness can be an issue; however certain students may feel better prior to the exams of their favorite subjects.  

Another limitation is connected with the gender specification of the sample. The number of the female respondents is on the higher side, it is almost the double in comparison with the male respondent. Though it will not bring a major difference in the mindsets reading of the subjects because in the terms of the occupation they are sailing in the same boat and feeling the same type of pressures. However, while presenting the empirical side of the data or the findings, this number will show a theoretical inclination towards the females.

While conducting any research about self-affirmation and its impact we need to take care of the variables that can impact the findings, it is a big limitation to our research because the perception of the self-affirmation is not a steady one (J.Son, 2012). According to many studies, such type of people becomes defensive while answering certain questions. They try to cover up their anxiety, and this miscalculation can bring a variance in the result. In order to keep a check on this, we introduced some questions where we allowed them to express more freely with the help of open-ended questions. We created a breathing space in our questionnaire with an intention to collect all spontaneous responses.  

The current study, the people constituting our sample is dependent variables. We intercepted this group on four different occasions after a time interval of a week. We repeated the same exercise on same people, the time interval and the sample thus become a dependent variable to add accuracy in our findings. The quotient for the well- being keeps on changing in accordance with the mindsets of the people and external factors that they are facing in the life. The psychological state of the mind of a person was out of control for us. In the current study we did not come up with measures to check the mindsets, they are a dark spot for us, however, they can be considered as the independent variables in our study.

Limitations of the Study

During the phase of the literature review, we came across many studies where they judged the impact of self-affirmation over the stress. Most of the studies suggest self -affirmation brings down the stress levels in an individual. On the same lines with the help of the current research, we wish to check the worth of the hypothesis.

Self-affirmation quotient is proportional to the level of the well-being of an individual. Higher self-affirmation quotient first leads to hedonistic well-being and eudaimonic well-being and as a reverse impact high hedonistic well-being and eudaimonic well-being leads to the high quotient of self-affirmation.  

A total of 540 undergraduate students (141 Males and 399 Females) from Western Sydney University were recruited via convenience sampling and participated in a study investigating the effects of self-affirmation on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. The participant’s age ranged from 17 to 71 years, and a mean age of 21.30 years (SD = 5.84). Participation was completed voluntarily as part of an assessment task.

Hedonic Well-being. The Modified Differential Emotions Scale (Fredrickson, Tugade, Waugh, & Larkin, 2003) is a 20-item scale that asked participants to rate the degree to which they felt a variety of positive emotions (e.g., “I have felt interested, alert, curious”) and negative emotions (e.g., “I have felt scared, fearful, afraid”). Participants were asked to rate each item on a five-point Likert scale (1 = Never, 5 = Most of the time). A higher score indicated more hedonic well-being.  

Eudaimonic Well-being. Participants completed an 18-item scale that measured meaning, relatedness, autonomy, flow, and competence. Sample items included “In the last seven days, I felt my choices were based on my true interests and values” and “In the last seven days, I felt close and connected with other people who are important to me”. Participants were asked to rate each item on a seven-point Likert scale (1 = Not at all, 7 = Very much). A higher score indicated higher levels of eudaimonic well-being.

The surveys were completed on the participant’s own personal electronic device using the Qualtrics Survey Platform. These personal electronic devices include, but were not limited to: computers, tablets, and mobile phones. Additionally, in the event that a participant did not have access to an electronic device then a pen and a printed paper version of the survey was provided.

Before testing began, participants were given an experiment information sheet and consent form to read then electronically signed via ticking a checkbox and typing their full name. Following this, demographic information (i.e., sex and age) was recorded and then participants have tested at the start of their Psychology: Behavioural Science Week Two Tutorials. This initial testing involved completing a number of surveys that included measures of eudaimonic and hedonic well-being which constituted the baseline measures.

At the start of Psychology: Behavioural Science’s Week Three Tutorial, the participants were randomly assigned to either a self-affirmation (n = 257) or control (n = 284) condition depending on whether their student number ended with an even or odd number. The self-affirmation condition requested participants to choose an important value and to describe three or four experiences that demonstrated that value for at least eight minutes. The control condition requested participants to write about what they had done yesterday and to be as detail-orientated as possible, but try to leave out emotions, feelings or opinions for at least eight minutes. Following this, participants then underwent the same measures of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being that they had previously completed in Week Two. At the start of Psychology: Behavioural Science’s Week Four Tutorial, the participants were reallocated (using Week Three’s randomization method) into the same condition as the one they were in for Week Three’s tutorial and then they repeated the same task again. Afterward, the participants completed the same measures of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being that they had completed previously in Week Two and Three. The Unit Coordinator then analyzed the data using SPSS version 22 (IBM Corp, 2013).

Dependent and Independent Variables

An independent samples t-test was conducted on hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. For hedonic well-being assumptions of normality and homogeneity of variance were met, and the t-test indicated a non-significant difference between the control and self-affirmation groups, t(539) = 0.30, p = 0.76. For eudaimonic well-being assumptions of normality and homogeneity of variance were met, and the t-test indicated a non-significant difference between the control and self-affirmation groups, t(539) = 0.36, p = 0.72. Descriptive statistics are given in Table 1.

Table 1

Mean Score on Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-being

The feeling of hedonic well-being is connected with a sense of comparison. We can feel better when we are in a group of equals or the people that are similar to us. This universally accepted fact also confirms itself in the findings. Where we can see that the value of the M for the controlled group is 2.55 and self-affirmation group holds this value on 2.54. The general overview of the result tells us that the values don’t follow any significant differences.  

The tests were repeated on four different occasions. The time interval between the occasions was one week in all the cases. In all, there were 20 items in the test. People were told to follow their immediate mindsets after certain intervals. This repetition of the exercise allowed us to examine four different responses on the scale of t-tests.

One of the primary concerns connected to the t-test was related to the huge variation in the findings. For instance, the self-integrity of a subject is an outcome of the activities that a person undertakes. The difference was negligible and this finding clearly shows that self-affirmation has minimal concerns with the hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-being under both the given circumstances that we forced upon the subjects (D Robinson, 2017).

The impacts of self-affirmation over the cognitive dissonance gives us an idea that self-affirmation does make a difference in the behavior. Cognitive dissonance can also be considered as a visible sign of the high or low count of self-affirmation.  Self-affirmation and cognitive dissonance also form following a cause, impact, and reaction based relation. Lack of self-affirmation brings a person under the influence of any complex, for instance, it may be an inferiority complex. This complex mixed with some other cultural or external factors can bring in a cognitive dissonance (Wasaya, 2016).

In the case of well-being, it is difficult to adjudge the levels of an individual on the basis of symptomatic observations. We are not able to identify certain specific behavior connected to the status of the well-being of a person. Self-affirmation count can be considered as an outcome of the sum of many conditions that causes happiness, sadness, satisfaction or dissatisfaction in the life of a person. However, when we see it in the reverse order means self-affirmation as the reason behind the well-being then things may change. Let’s assume a hypothetical condition where we invented a drug to induce self-affirmation in an individual. Then will this drug be able to improve the feeling of a well-being in an individual? The answer is yes, as a counselor if an expert can persuade a person in the domain of self-affirmation then it is likely that the same subject may start feeling the sense of well-being. In general, it will start from a hedonic well-being that can lead to a Eudaimonic Well-being once the things will move in the advanced stages (S.katherien Nelson, 2014).

Recently the maximum number of the studies has been done on the stress levels. Here they took stress levels as a variable one and self-affirmation as the variable two. Stress is a phenomenon that shows its biological and psychological impacts quite early. The results of most of the studies gave us this idea that better performance in the scale of the self-affirmation develops strength against the stress mechanism.  On a prima facie level we don’t find such concrete evidence in the results of our survey.

The feeling of the well-being is an intrinsic feeling. Let’s think about a realistic situation, we rarely think about our overall well-being. Both subjects and the researcher’s miscue well-being with momentary happiness or momentary sadness.

Aaron Springer, A. S. (2018). Leveraging Self-Affirmation to Improve Behavior Change: A Mobile Health App Experiment. JMR Publication, https://mhealth.jmir.org/2018/7/e157/.

D Robinson, M. E. (2017). The Happy Mind: Cognitive Contributions to Well-Being. New York: Springer.

J.Son, J. (2012). Volunteer Work and Hedonic, Eudemonic, and Social Well-Being. JSTOR , https://www.jstor.org/stable/23262183?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents.

Jerome, N. (2014). Application of the Maslow’s hierarchy of need theory; impacts and implications on organizational culture, human resource an employee’s performance. International Journal of Business and Management Invention, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/b0bc/c8ca45193eaf700350a8ac2ddfc09a093be8.pdf.

Michael D. Robinson, M. E. (2017). The Happy Mind: Cognitive Contributions to Well-Being. New York: Springer.

Rothausen, T. (2013). Hedonic and Eudaimonic Job-Related Well-Being. UST Open College of Business, https://ir.stthomas.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=ocbmgmtwp.

S.katherien Nelson, S. I. (2014). Beyond Self-Protection Self-Affirmation Benefits Hedonic and Eudaimonic Well-Being. Synapse, https://scinapse.io/papers/2101420338.

Wasaya, A. (2016). Impact of Brand Equity, Advertisement and Hedonic Consumption Tendencies on Cognitive Dissonance: A Mediation Study. International Journal of Marketing Studies, pp ( 154-155).

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