Signi¢cant Others and the Self

We subscribe to the assumption that the self is fundamentally relationalÐthat is, entangled with signi®cant others Ðsuch that key elements of the self are experienced in relation to signi®cant others, even when others are not present. In our socialcognitive model of transference, transference occurs when a mental representation of a signi®cant other is activated by cues in a new person that resemble the other. As a result, the self in relation to this signi®cant other is activated, eliciting changes in affect, expectancies, motivations, and behaviors, as well as in the nature of the working self-concept, all re ̄ecting the version of the self one is when with the signi®cant other. Moreover, when people experience a threat to either a signi®cantother relationship or the self in the context of an encounter with a new person who triggers transference, this sets into motion self-regulatory processes, which play out in relations with the new person. Overall, we argue that the evocation of prior experiences with signi®cant others tells us something about the nature of the self, affect, and self-regulation that has implications for both resiliency and vulnerability.