Postmodernism and the Self: How Social Saturation Influences Who We Think We Are
Abstract
The current research examined the role that social saturation plays in people’s
beliefs about the self. Specifically, the current studies examined whether “social
saturation” predicts the belief that people have multiple selves (as opposed to one single
true self). It was hypothesized that greater social saturation would lead to greater belief
in multiple selves and that this relationship would be mediated by reduced self-reflection
and increased perceived stress. A preliminary survey study (Study 1) using an adult noncollege
student sample supported these predictions, showing that individual differences
in social saturation positively predicted belief in multiple selves and that this relationship
was mediated by self-reflection and perceived stress. However, exploratory analyses
revealed that the relationship between social saturation and belief in multiple selves
became nonsignificant when controlling for perceived stress, suggesting that perceived
stress was driving this relationship. Two experimental studies (Studies 2 and 3) using
college students directly manipulated the objective context (high social saturation vs.
low social saturation), and revealed that the objective context of saturation did not result
in the subjective experience of saturation (i.e., overload). Trends in the data revealed that
participants in the high social saturation (vs. low social saturation) condition actually
reported less belief in multiple selves (Study 2), less self-alienation and more selfconcept
clarity (Study 3). Exploratory analyses revealed that both experimental studies
showed a similar pattern to the analyses in Study 1, such that greater perceived stress
was related to greater belief in multiple selves. Implications of both social saturation and stress for self-beliefs are discussed.
Citation
Hirsch, Kelly Anne (2014). Postmodernism and the Self: How Social Saturation Influences Who We Think We Are. Doctoral dissertation, Texas A & M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /152519.