Self‐Confrontation and Confrontation With Another as Determinants of Long‐Term Value Change¹

Abstract

An experiment was carried out to determine whether attempts to change values would be less successful under conditions of confrontation with a significant other than under conditions of private self‐confrontation. Rokeach's value change procedure was used to induce self‐dissatisfaction in two experimcntal groups, one under anonymous conditions and the other under non‐anonymous, face‐to‐face interaction with the experimenter. The rcsults confirm previously reported findings that significant long‐term changes in values can be brought about by inducing feelings of self‐dissatisfaction about contradictions within one's value‐attitude system. The findings also showed that changes in equality and freedom 8 to 9 weeks after the experiment were equally great under both anonymous and non‐anonymous conditions compared with a control condition. The results are discussed especially in relation to their practical implications for psychotherapy.