The power and limits of personal change: When a bad past does (and does not) inspire in the present.

Abstract

Observing other people improve their lives can be a powerful source of inspiration. Eight experiments explore the power, limits, and reasons for this power of personal change to inspire. We find that people who have improved from undesirable pasts (e.g., people who used to abuse extreme drugs but no longer do) are more inspiring than people who maintain consistently desirable standings (e.g., people who have never used extreme drugs to begin with), because change is perceived as more effortful than stability (Experiments 1a and 1b). The inspirational power of personal change is rooted in people's lack of access to the internal struggles and hard work that many others may endure to successfully remain 'always-good.' Accordingly, giving observers access into the effort underlying others' success in maintaining consistently positive standings restores the inspiring power of being 'always-good' (Experiments 2-4). Finally, change is more inspiring than stability across many domains but one: people who used to harm others but have since reformed (e.g., ex-bullies or ex-cheaters) do not inspire, and in many cases are indeed less inspiring than people who have never harmed others to begin with (Experiments 5-7). Together, these studies reveal how, why, and when one's past influences one's present in the eyes of others: having some "bad" in your past can be surprisingly positive, at least partly because observers assume that becoming "good" is harder than being "good" all along. (PsycINFO Database Record

Impression (Mis) Management When Communicating Success

“…Consequently, audiences might prefer to hear also about effort from others, because effort conveys warmth and relatability (Klein & O'Brien, 2017). However, impression managers might fail to anticipate this preference for effort because of their competence-focused selfevaluation.…”

Preschoolers find ways to resist temptation after learning that willpower can be energizing

“…Children who saw this model later performed better on a similar math exercise than children exposed to a model who performed well without initially struggling. Similarly, Leonard, Lee, and Schultz () found that infants exposed to an adult who struggled with and succeeded in using a set of toys persisted longer trying to get their own toy to function, compared to those who saw an adult use the toy with ease (see also Klein & O’Brien, ; Lin‐Siegler, Ahn, Chen, Fang, & Luna‐Lucero, ; Schunk & Hanson, ; Zimmerman & Blotner, ; Zimmerman & Ringle, ). These studies illustrate how responsive children can be to models who illustrate the process of overcoming challenges.…”

How strongly do moral character inferences predict forecasts of the future? Testing the moderating roles of transgressor age, implicit personality theories, and belief in karma

“…These results pertain specifically to the moral domain. Judgments about morality may have unique, and uniquely potent, implications for person perception and impression formation (Goodwin et al, 2014;Heiphetz, Strohminger, & Young, 2017;Uhlmann et al, 2015), and the perceived potential for dispositional change in the moral domain may be lower than it is for other traits and aptitudes, such as those pertaining to competence or self-control (Klein, 2015;Klein & O'Brien, 2017). If indeed the perceived capacity for dispositional change in the moral domain is low, it may have implications for expectations about redemption.…”

“…If indeed the perceived capacity for dispositional change in the moral domain is low, it may have implications for expectations about redemption. Redemption-the idea that sinners might be saved, and that once-bad people can become better-is a common theme in literature and mythology, is a hallmark of inspiring life narratives, and is tacitly reflected in the belief that, despite their failings, people are fundamentally good (Klein & O'Brien, 2017;McAdams, 2006;Strohminger, Knobe, & Newman, 2017). Although the vocabulary of redemption can be applied to many kinds of behavior change, the concept of redemption is most commonly understood to describe a change in moral character.…”