ABSTRACT
The enduring symbol of completeness is something we have studied thus far only as an antecedent variable. We have employed enduring symbols, such as education or actual experience, in order to create compelling differences among respondents in degree of completeness. And in turn, we have used those differences as a basis for predicting what respondents would do with a situation set up for self-descriptions or attempted influence. These latter measures, of course, were taken as the self-symbolizing behaviors in the research we have discussed in previous chapters. The purpose here is to delve into the enduring symbol as an outcome of incompleteness. To what extent can the incomplete individual establish or exaggerate a pertinent enduring symbol? In the following several pages we will give some examples of how such a process might work, and then we will move toward the relevant theoretical issues.
