Departmental Papers (ASC)
Document Type
Technical Report
Date of this Version
4-2016
Publication Source
Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience
Volume
11
Issue
4
Start Page
621
Last Page
629
DOI
10.1093/scan/nsv136
Abstract
Self-affirmation theory posits that people are motivated to maintain a positive self-view and that threats to perceived self-competence are met with resistance. When threatened, self-affirmations can restore self-competence by allowing individuals to reflect on sources of self-worth, such as core values. Many questions exist, however, about the underlying mechanisms associated with self-affirmation. We examined the neural mechanisms of self-affirmation with a task developed for use in a functional magnetic resonance imaging environment. Results of a region of interest analysis demonstrated that participants who were affirmed (compared with unaffirmed participants) showed increased activity in key regions of the brain’s self-processing (medial prefrontal cortex + posterior cingulate cortex) and valuation (ventral striatum + ventral medial prefrontal cortex) systems when reflecting on future-oriented core values (compared with everyday activities). Furthermore, this neural activity went on to predict changes in sedentary behavior consistent with successful affirmation in response to a separate physical activity intervention. These results highlight neural processes associated with successful self-affirmation, and further suggest that key pathways may be amplified in conjunction with prospection.
Copyright/Permission Statement
© The Author (2015). This article is published Open Access under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com
Keywords
self-affirmation, fMRI, reward, positive valuation, emotion regulation
Recommended Citation
Cascio, C. N., O'Donnell, M. B., Tinney, F. J., Lieberman, M. D., Taylor, S. D., Strecher, V. J., & Falk, E. B. (2016). Self-Affirmation Activates Brain Systems Associated with Self-Related Processing and Reward and is Reinforced by Future Orientation. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11 (4), 621-629. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsv136
Included in
Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment Commons, Behavior and Behavior Mechanisms Commons, Biological Psychology Commons, Communication Commons, Medical Neurobiology Commons, Neurology Commons, Neurosciences Commons, Systems Neuroscience Commons
Date Posted: 15 June 2018