 Men and women are equally inclined to display this tendency, and it does not matter whether the self-views refer to characteristics that are relatively "immutable" (e.g., intelligence) or "changeable" (e.g., diligence), or whether the self-views happen to be "highly specific" (e.g., athletic) or "global" (e.g., low self-esteem, worthlessness).Furthermore, when people chose negative partners over positive ones, it is not merely in an effort to avoid interacting with positive evaluators (that is, out of a concern that they might disappoint such positive evaluators).Rather, people chose self-verifying, negative partners even when the alternative is participating in a different experiment.