Journal article
Can Bad Be Good? The Attraction of a Darker Self
Psychological science, Vol.31(5), pp.518-530
05/2020
DOI: 10.1177/0956797620909742
PMID: 32315251
Abstract
To avoid threats to the self, people shun comparisons with similar-yet immoral, mentally unstable, or otherwise negatively viewed-others. Despite this prevalent perspective, we consider a contrarian question: Can people be attracted to darker versions of themselves? We propose that with self-threat assuaged, similarity signals self-relevance, which draws people toward those who are similar to them despite negative characteristics. To test this general idea, we explored a prevalent context that may offer a safe haven from self-threat: stories. Using a large-scale proprietary data set from a company with over 232,000 registered users, we demonstrated that people have a preference for villains-unambiguously negative individuals-who are similar to themselves, which suggests that people are attracted to such comparisons in everyday life. Five subsequent lab experiments (
= 1,685) demonstrated when and why similarity results in attraction toward-rather than repulsion from-negative others.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Can Bad Be Good? The Attraction of a Darker Self
- Creators
- Rebecca J Krause - Kellogg'sDerek D Rucker - Kellogg's
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Psychological science, Vol.31(5), pp.518-530
- DOI
- 10.1177/0956797620909742
- PMID
- 32315251
- ISSN
- 0956-7976
- eISSN
- 1467-9280
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 05/2020
- Academic Unit
- Marketing
- Record Identifier
- 9984420840602771
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