Self-Concept Structure and the Quality of Self-Knowledge

This article explores the hidden vulnerability of individuals with compartmentalized self‐concept structures by linking research on self‐organization to related models of self‐functioning. Across three studies, college students completed self‐descriptive card sorts as a measure of self‐concept structure and either the Contingencies of Self‐Worth Scale, Likert ratings of perceived authenticity of self‐aspects, or a response latency measure of self‐esteem accessibility. In all, there were 382 participants (247 females; 77% White, 6% Hispanic, 5% Black, 5% Asian, 4% Native American, and 3% other). Consistent with their unstable self‐evaluations, compartmentalized individuals report greater contingencies of self‐worth and describe their experience of multiple self‐aspects as less authentic than do individuals with integrative self‐organization. Compartmentalized individuals also make global self‐evaluations more slowly than do integrative individuals. Together with previous findings on self‐clarity, these results suggest that compartmentalized individuals may experience difficulties in how they know the self, whereas individuals with integrative self‐organization may display greater continuity and evaluative consistency across self‐aspects, with easier access to evaluative self‐knowledge.