The relationship between the significance of others and the strength of the linkage between self-representation and other-representation

This research examined the hypothesis that the strength of the linkage between self-representation and other-representation varies as a function of the significance of the other people involved in the linkage by analysis of the task facilitation paradigm (Klein et at., 1992) and analysis using an implicit effect of self-representation (Smith et at, 1999). An experiment using friends and fathers for the target persons was conducted with 51 participants. As a result, the strength of the linkage between self-with-father-representation and father-representation varied as a function of the degree of significance of the father. On the other hand, there was a strong linkage between self-with-friend-representation and friend-representation even though the degree of significance of the friend was low. It was thought that these results differ because the meaning of significance was different for father and friend. Moreover, we found a linkage between the father-representation and self-with-friend-representation. The results suggest that further examinations of the factors which determine self-other representation linkage are necessary.