On The Self Affirmation Theory

The self affirmation theory is based a psychological premise wherein people are said to be motivated in order to maintain their integrity. According to the theory, the ultimate goal in life is actually to protect one’s self integrity and morality. In terms of integrity, it is actually the sense of how good and appropriate a person is. It refers to the behavior which is suitable to the culture or to a person.

According to most experts, the theory can explain while most people respond differently when their self integrity is threatened. People who will be responding to several threats will often be using psychological adaptation and affirmative self control in order to handle the situation. Because of their control, they will be able to cope with the events without resorting to any negative reactions. Through practicing self affirmation, people will be able to be more open to others and will handle all types of situations well.

Several institutions have used self affirmation theory in order to interpret any uncomfortable information associated with self identity

Since individuals have the need to protect self identity most institutions need to provide affirmation. Naturally, affirmation leads to the change and the careful consideration of heuristic processing. This means that affirmation is applied in order to carefully improve human identity. Several researches pointed out that cognitive dissonance can actually be removed if proper affirmations are applied in order to improve one’s self identity. Self affirmation increases the openness of individuals so that they will be susceptible to ideas and they will ease in everyday situations.

Such are the foundations of self affirmation theory.

A good example of practicing affirmation in an institution is in the hospital. Patients are afraid of their results since they might have a certain disease or their loved one might be undergoing invasive medical procedures. People try to resist the information shared by doctors and other medical personnel since they are afraid of the outcome. In this situation, doctors will need to ease up in order to encourage the patients to listen. Through self affirmation, they will be aware of any potential risk and they will be more willing to consider whatever happens. Self affirmation theory points out that the more motivated a patient is the more corrective reactions he will show.

Why people need affirmation, positive self affirmation will allow individuals to be more open about the news and about the reality of life. With it, people will be able to control their feelings and they will function more in the society. Employees will also have improved performance in various tasks once they have the right affirmations. They will also be able to relieve tension in the workplace and they will be less stressful thanks to self affirmation. The self affirmation theory is not only applied in the workplace but also in schools. Most school councilors are applying affirmation techniques to children in order to motivate them to study better. Teachers are also educated on the use of positive affirmation and on how to aid children understand their self.

Self-Affirmation Define

“By repeating an affirmation over and over again, it becomes embedded in the subconscious mind, and eventually becomes your reality. That is why you need to be careful what you think and believe, because that is exactly what you will get!” 

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