Self-Complexity: Aspects and Implications

• Self-complexity is determined by the number of self-aspects and the degree to which those aspects are distinct.
• High self-complexity: Many distinct self-aspects.
• Low self-complexity: Few, overlapping self-aspects.

Implications of Self-Complexity

• Affective spillover: Emotions from one self-aspect transfer to others.
• Affect extremity: Low self-complexity leads to more extreme emotional reactions.
• High self-complexity can buffer against stress.

Affective Spillover

• Emotions spread between self-aspects due to links and spreading activation.
• Low self-complexity results in more affective spillover.

Affect Extremity

• Low self-complexity: Greater spillover causes more extreme emotional reactions and changes in self-esteem, in response to both negative and positive life events.
• High self-complexity: Less spillover leads to greater emotional stability.

Self-Complexity Study 1

• Examined how self-complexity affects the relationship between failure and emotions.
• Self-complexity was measured via trait sort.
• Participants received bogus success/failure feedback on an analytic task.
• Current mood and self-esteem were then assessed.
• Results: Low self-complexity individuals showed the largest changes in mood and self-esteem following feedback, demonstrating spillover and affective extremity.

Self-Complexity Study 2

• Investigated whether low self-complexity is associated with more variation in mood over time.
• A field study monitored emotional swings over two weeks.
• Self-complexity was measured using trait sort.
• Participants completed a daily emotion diary for 14 days.
• Results: Low self-complexity correlated with greater variation in emotion ratings, suggesting mood fluctuation because life events have a larger impact on their self-concept.

Self-Complexity as a Stress Buffer

• High self-complexity may protect against negative consequences of stressful life events.
• This may explain why some people are more resilient to stress.

Stress Buffering: Study 3

• Explored if high self-complexity protects against the negative health effects of stress.
• Self-complexity was measured using a trait sort.
• Stressful events that students experienced were recorded.
• Indicators of negative health consequences measured were, depression, perceived stress, and illness symptoms.
• Results: High self-complexity individuals showed less depression, perceived stress, and physical symptoms after stressful events, demonstrating a buffering effect.

Summary of Self-Complexity

• Self-complexity influences mood, self-esteem, and vulnerability to stress-induced health outcomes.
• The organization of the self-concept, not just its contents, impacts important outcomes.

Mixed Evidence

• A review of 24 studies on self-complexity's buffering effects showed mixed results.
• 7 studies supported the stress-buffering hypothesis, 4 found the reverse, and the rest showed no effect.
• These mixed results may be due to moderating effects.

Differences in Well-Being Measures

• The positive effect of self-complexity is more consistent on mood and emotional stability, but mixed when measuring self-esteem or depression.

One Part of Definition of Self-Complexity

• The number of self-aspects positively affects well-being.
• The degree of distinction between self-aspects has no effect.

Integration of Self-Aspects

• High self-complexity is helpful if self-aspects are integrated into a coherent sense of self.
• Without integration, high self-complexity may lead to confusion about self.

Self-Concept Clarity (SCC)

• SCC measures how clearly defined, consistent, and stable the contents of one's self-concept are.
• It reflects how well you feel you know who you are.

Self-Complexity vs. SCC

• SCC is unrelated to self-complexity.
• A person can be high in self-complexity but low in SCC, having many self-aspects without clarity, consistency, or coherence.

SCC vs. Self-Complexity

• A person can be low in self-complexity but high in SCC, having few self-aspects with a high degree of clarity, consistency, and coherence.

SCC and Well-Being

• High SCC is associated with:
• Less rumination.
• Less loneliness.
• Lower depression and perceived stress.
• Higher emotional stability and self-esteem.
• Higher perception of meaning in life.
• Higher general life-satisfaction.
• SCC is important for well-being.

SCC and COVID-19

• High SCC people experienced fewer negative emotions during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• High SCC facilitates more adaptive responses during times of intense uncertainty and stress.

Factors Influencing SCC

• Age and changes to social roles can influence SCC.
• Academic/job changes, relationship changes, and hobby changes.

SCC and Role Transitions

• Role changes can lead to lower SCC.

Self Change x Positivity

• SCC depends on the amount of self-change and how positive the person feels about the change.
• Those who felt positively about the role transition showed no relationship between amount of self-change and SCC.
• For those who felt less positive, more self-change was associated with less SCC (more self-concept confusion).

Implications of Relationship Between SCC and Role Transitions

• Role transitions are one factor affecting SCC.
• Role entries and exits predict lower SCC if a person doesn't feel positively about how the new role has changed them.

Summary of SCC

• The organization of the self-concept can be understood in terms of self-complexity and self-concept clarity.
• Organization of self-concept matters for emotional life and well-being.
• High self-complexity is associated with less emotional spillover, more emotional stability, and may serve as a buffer against stress
• High self-complexity (i.e., many self-aspects) may only be helpful in the presence of high SCC.
• High SCC is associated with better well-being.
• Age and role transitions are associated with changes to SCC.