Abstract
Abstract The cognitive–emotional theory of esteem support messages predicts that message style will affect the outcomes of esteem support interactions. However, little research has focused on the effects of message style; that is, how esteem support messages are delivered. The present experiment addresses this lacuna by manipulating message style in a laboratory study examining face-to-face esteem support interactions. Confederates were trained to provide emotion-focused esteem support to naïve participants (N = 173) in four styles along the assertive–inductive dimension, in addition to a listening-only control condition. We then assessed the effect of the interaction on participants’ state self-esteem. Results indicated that emotion-focused esteem support improved state self-esteem more than listening support; however, there was no significant effect of message style. Post-interaction state self-esteem improvement was positively associated with the quantity of emotion-focused esteem support content provided during the interaction.
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