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identity
You change your attitude to match your behavior.
Self-perception theory suggests that when your internal beliefs are unclear, you infer them by observing your own past actions.
A 1967 study found that people who were paid to express a specific opinion later adopted that opinion as their own. We act like observers of our own lives, building our identities from the outside in.
You become what you choose to do.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Bem, 1967
- What the check found
- The claim accurately captures the essence of Daryl Bem's 1967 paper, which positions self-perception as a way to infer attitudes when internal states are unclear.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.