A Diffuse-Avoidant Identity Processing Style: Strategic Avoidance or Self-Confusion?

Abstract

Three studies were designed to investigate the strategic nature of a diffuse-avoidant identity style. In Study 1, individuals with a diffuse-avoidant identity style were differentiated from their informational and normative counterparts primarily by a reliance on strategies that enabled them to avoid self-relevant conflicts and problems and by the use of self-handicapping attributions that enabled them to excuse and rationalize negative self-relevant feedback. Study 2 revealed that diffuse-avoiders strategically attempted to circumvent self-diagnostic information by engaging in behaviors beforehand (i.e., listening to noise) that later could be used to obscure the causal bases of their performance on an evaluative task. Study 3 indicated that diffuse-avoiders looked to others for information about how to act and present themselves in social situations and they endorsed Machiavellian tactics such as using flattery and deceit to advance their self-interest. Results are discussed in terms of the strategic nature of a diffuse-avoidant identity style.

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