Self-beliefs are systematically influenced by external social evaluations and often exhibit a positivity bias, preferentially integrating desirable over undesirable feedback. It remains unclear, whether actively generated social feedback through contextualized mental simulation produces a similar effect. Understanding this aspect of motivated cognition is critical, as such insights can inform safe, accessible simulation-based interventions to rehearse social interactions and enhance self-image.
Here, 36 participants first rated themselves on 40 personality traits and then engaged in guided mental simulation, imagining receiving desirable or undesirable feedback from relevant others across everyday social contexts (work, family, friends, strangers). They subsequently indicated the value of the freely simulated feedback and its realism before re-rating the traits.
Linear mixed-effects models showed that participants actively generated larger simulation gaps (i.e., the difference between initial self-ratings and indicated feedback) for desirable feedback than for undesirable feedback, suggesting a motivated inclination to simulate stronger positive evaluations. In turn, simulating desirable feedback elicited greater self-belief updating (i.e., the difference between post- and pre-ratings) than undesirable feedback. Notably, the simulation gap for desirable feedback positively predicted updating, whereas the undesirable one did not, reflecting a robust positivity bias. Moreover, participants rated desirable feedback as more realistic than undesirable feedback. Surprisingly, increasing simulation gaps reduced realism only for desirable feedback, underscoring subjective realism as a key factor in belief revision.
These findings demonstrate that contextualized mental simulation can enhance self-image, advancing the cognitive and motivational mechanisms of self-belief updating. To strengthen these conclusions, a preregistered replication with a larger sample is currently underway. This research highlights the practical benefits of simulation-based interventions, which can be performed individually and avoid the potential risks or negative effects of real social interactions, making them promising tools in clinical, educational, and performance-enhancement domains.