Self—ideal-self discrepancies on the MMPI: Consistencies over time and geographic region.

Abstract

On 2 widely separated college campuses, groups of male and female students took the MMPI under the standard instructions ("observed-self") and "idealself" mstructions. In both studies mean ideal-self descriptions were nearly identical, substantiating the notions advanced by others of a cultural stereotypical ideal self. Comparison of the observed-self with the ideal-self profiles indicated that the largest shifts were on the L, K, Si and Welsh's A scales, with other scales changing significantly. The attributes of the resultant ideal self suggest an inevitable falling short and consequent self-devaluation. The represser is discussed as one personality type whose self-picture is close to the ideal stereotype and thus does not experience self-devaluation to the same degree as others.