Self-Evaluation Motives and Uncertainty Orientation: Asking the "Who" Question

An individual difference dimension, uncertainty orientation, is discussed as it relates to self-evaluation (specifically, self-assessment and self-verification). Research is presented suggesting that uncertainty-oriented people are best described in terms of self assessment motives and that self-verification may be more important for certainty-oriented people. The impact of factors like personal relevance and amount of self-knowledge may also be moderated by the person's uncertainty orientation. Analysis of these motives from an individual differences perspective raises a number of questions about the nature of these self-evaluation motives and suggests that the "who" question is likely to be as important as the "when" question in addressing the relative importance of these different motives.