Cascading Metaperceptions: Signal Amplification Bias as a Consequence of Reflected Self-esteem

Abstract

People expect intimate partners to understand their personality, including feelings of self-worth. These general assumptions about transparency may influence situation-specific estimates of how others view the self (i.e., metaperceptions). In contexts that elicit evaluative concerns, lower self-esteem individuals, who think their chronic self-doubts are obvious to partners, should believe that their partners will infer they are anxious, whether they are or not. In two studies, lower self-esteem individuals thought that their partners believed they experienced more evaluation anxiety in comparison to higher self-esteem individuals. These metaperceptions were exaggerated (signal amplification) and the association between self-esteem and metaperceptions was explained by reflected self-esteem, the belief that partners are aware of one's chronic self-esteem. We discuss implications for interactions with close others.