Identity control theory (ICT), like self- discrepancy theories generally, assumes that people are motivated to verify their identities by seeking feedback from others which is not discrepant from their own self-views (Burke 1991; Burke and Stets 1999; Higgins 1987; Higgins, Klein, and Strauman 1985; Stets and Burke 1996; Swann 1983). When the dimen- sion of meaning that is relevant to the identi- ty is one of evaluation, people want others to evaluate them at the same level as they eval- uate themselves. Evaluations by others that are more negative than self-evaluations dis- confirm their identity and lead to negative self-feelings, as do evaluations that are more positive than self-evaluations(Swann, Pelham, and Krull 1989). In contrast, self-enhancement (SE) theo- ries suggest that people are motivated pri- marily to seek positive evaluations from oth- ers and to avoid negative evaluations. Jones (1973), for example, argued that people behave in a manner that leads to the mainte- nance or enhancement of their self-evalua- tion or self-esteem, and that individuals with low self-esteem ought to respond more favor- ably to positive evaluations from others than those with high self-esteem. Others have shown that people employ a number of strategies for enhancing their evaluations of themselves (Baumeister 1982; Brown, Collins, and Schmidt 1988; Kaplan 1975, 1980) These theoretical perspectives focus on persons’ motivation to seek to reduce dis- crepancy or to increase enhancement through their feedback from others; the two approaches also differ as to the consequences of the feedback for self-feelings. Although both ICT and SE theories suggest that people feel bad as a result of evaluations by others that are below the level of self-evaluation, they disagree on what happens when these evaluations are higher than self-evaluations. SE theories suggest that a person’s self- esteem is enhanced; discrepancy theories such as ICT suggest that people feel bad as a consequence of being overevaluated. These two motivations have been studied and discussed in the literature, and each has received some support. Yet we still lack a full Social Psychology Quarterly 2005, Vol. 68, No. 4, 359–374 Too Much of a Good Thing?* PETER J. BURKE MICHAEL M. HARROD University of California, Riverside Self-discrepancy (SD) theories and self-enhancement (SE) theories have focused pri- marily on people’s motivations to seek either self-consistent or self-enhancing feedback. The two sets of theories, however, also suggest different reactions to the feedback peo- ple receive from others. SE theories suggest that people react negatively to evaluations that are more negative than self-evaluations, but positively to evaluations that are more positive. SD theories, like identity control theory, suggest that people react negatively to either under- or overevaluation.We use data from newly married couples over the first three years of marriage to test these different predictions of SD and SE theories. The results indicate strong support for discrepancy theories overall, though an examination of potential moderators suggests that the discrepancy effect is larger when the relation- ship to the other is stronger.We discuss implications of these results for identity control theory. 359 * This paper was prepared for presentation at the annual meetings of the American Sociological Association held in Chicago in August 2002. The research reported here is based on data from a longi- tudinal study of first-married couples, “Socialization Into Marital Roles,” funded by NIMH grant MH46828, under the direction of Irving Tallman, Peter J. Burke, and Viktor Gecas.We would like to thank Jan E. Stets for her comments on an earlier ver- sion. Direct all correspondence to the first author at the Department of Sociology, University of California at Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521–0419; peter.burke@ucr.edu. #2586—Social Psychology Quarterly—VOL. 68 NO. 4—68404–burke Delivered by Ingenta to : peter burke Tue, 19 Sep 2006 22:32:36