Abstract
From a viewpoint of identity negotiation framework (Swann, 1987), it was hypothesized that outcomes of the negotiation appear more clearly in the early ( = unstable) stage than in the stable stage of interpersonal relationship development. In study 1, we found that reflected self-appraisal was influenced by appraisal from one's partner in the early stage. In study 2, no such effects were found in the stable stage. These results supported our hypothesis. Furthermore, detailed analyses of specific components of self in the early stage revealed that the outcomes of negotiations on the cognitive component and the external cognitive one appeared more slowly than that of the affective one and that of the internal cognitive one, respectively. The former result is thought to reflect the difference of speed to process self-relevant information, and the latter result to reflect the difference of accessibility to each phase of self from others. According to these findings, we discussed a need for theoretical discrimination concerning structure of self-concepts and the implications of this study toward the future study on the self-process.
