Simulating other people can shift one's self-concept, an effect known as simulation-induced malleability. How does imagining others shift the self? We propose that the activation of self-knowledge is the key factor by which simulation of others alters one's self-concept. We test this possibility across four studies that each manipulate self-knowledge activation indirectly during simulation and measure the impact on subsequent self-ratings. Results demonstrate that increasing activation of self-knowledge during simulation is associated with increased self-concept change. People experienced greater self-concept change when simulating similar others (Studies 1 and 2). People also generalized simulation-induced changes to aspects of the self-concept that were semantically similar to the simulated content (Study 3). Finally, people who are less likely to recruit self-knowledge (i.e., older adults) during simulation were less susceptible to self-concept change (Study 4). These studies highlight self-knowledge activation as an essential component of the effects of simulation on self-rated change. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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模拟需要激活自我知识来改变自我概念。


模拟他人可以改变一个人的自我概念，这种效应被称为模拟诱导的延展性。想象他人如何改变自我？我们提出，自我知识的激活是模拟他人改变一个人的自我概念的关键因素。我们在四项研究中测试了这种可能性，每项研究都在模拟过程中间接纵自我知识激活，并测量对后续自我评价的影响。结果表明，在模拟过程中自我知识的激活增加与自我概念变化的增加有关。人们在模拟相似的他人时经历了更大的自我概念变化（研究 1 和 2）。人们还将模拟诱导的自我概念方面的变化推广到语义上与模拟内容相似的方面（研究 3）。最后，在模拟过程中不太可能招募自我知识的人（即老年人）不太容易受到自我概念改变的影响（研究 4）。这些研究强调自我知识激活是模拟对自我评价变化影响的重要组成部分。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 （c） 2025 APA，保留所有权利）。