Changes in Self-Definition Impede Recovery From Rejection

Abstract: Previous research highlights how adept people are at emotional recovery after rejection, but less research has examined factors that can prevent full recovery. In five studies, we investigate how changing one’s self-definition in response to rejection causes more lasting damage. We demonstrate that people who endorse an entity theory of personality (i.e., personality cannot be changed) report alterations in their self-definitions when reflecting on past rejections (Studies 1, 2, and 3) or imagining novel rejection experiences (Studies 4 and 5). Further, these changes in self-definition hinder post-rejection recovery, causing individuals to feel haunted by their past, that is, to fear the recurrence of rejection and to experience lingering negative affect from the rejection. Thus, beliefs that prompt people to tie experiences of rejection to self-definition cause rejection’s impact to linger.