Laboratory experiments have also provided support for the hypothesized effects of security priming on mental representations of self and others. For example, Baccus, Baldwin, and Packer (2004) showed that experimental priming with loving and accepting faces automatically increased the primed persons' sense of self-worth, even when they were unaware of the faces. Two other experimental studies showed that security priming can instill a sense of self-worth that renders defensive self-inflation unnecessary (Arndt, Schimel, Greenberg, & Pyszczynski, 2002; Schimel, Arndt, Pyszczynski, & Greenberg, 2001). In these studies, thoughts about either attachment figure availability (e.g., thinking about an accepting and loving other) or neutral thoughts were encouraged, and participants' use of particular self-enhancement strategies was then assessed. These strategies included self-enhancing biases in social comparison (Schimel et al., 2001) and defensive self-handicapping (Arndt et al., 2002). In both studies, momentary strengthening of mental representations of attachment figure availability weakened the tendency to make self-enhancing social comparisons or selfhandicapping attributions.