Self-Discrepancy Theory

CORE DEFINITION

Higgins proposed that people hold three self-representations: the actual self, the ideal self, the person one hopes to become, and the ought self, the person one believes one is responsible for being. Discrepancy between actual and ideal tends to produce dejection and disappointment, the sense of missing a positive outcome. Discrepancy between actual and ought tends to produce anxiety and guilt, the sense of being punished by a negative outcome. The model locates the source of a feeling in the type of gap that dominates, which makes emotion a diagnostic rather than a noise. Qualification: the three selves are representations, and their relative weight varies across people and cultures.