Low Self-esteem Participants Research Articles

The influence of self-esteem on interpersonal and competence evaluations: electrophysiological evidence from an ERP study.

Using event-related potentials, this study examined how self-esteem affects neural responses to competence (interpersonal) feedback when the need for relatedness (competence) is thwarted or met. Participants with low and high self-esteem acted as advisors who selected one of two options for a putative advisee. Subsequently, they passively observed the advisee, accepted, or rejected their advice (i.e. interpersonal feedback) and received correct or incorrect outcomes (i.e. competence feedback). When interpersonal feedback was followed by competence feedback, high self-esteem participants showed a smaller P3 following incorrect than correct outcomes, irrespective of whether the advice had been accepted or rejected. However, low self-esteem participants showed this P3 effect only when the advice was rejected, and the P3 difference disappeared when the advice was accepted. When competence feedback was followed by interpersonal feedback, both low self-esteem and high self-esteem individuals showed a larger P2 for rejection than for acceptance and a larger late potential component for incorrect than correct outcomes. These findings suggest that when interpersonal feedback is followed by competence feedback, low self-esteem and high self-esteem individuals have a desire for self-positivity. When competence feedback is followed by interpersonal feedback, they may have motives for self-change. Our findings shed light on the motivational mechanisms for self-esteem and feedback.

Low self-esteem and the formation of global self-performance estimates in emerging adulthood

High self-esteem, an overall positive evaluation of self-worth, is a cornerstone of mental health. Previously we showed that people with low self-esteem differentially construct beliefs about momentary self-worth derived from social feedback. However, it remains unknown whether these anomalies extend to constructing beliefs about self-performance in a non-social context, in the absence of external feedback. Here, we examined this question using a novel behavioral paradigm probing subjects’ self-performance estimates with or without external feedback. We analyzed data from young adults (N = 57) who were selected from a larger community sample (N = 2402) on the basis of occupying the bottom or top 10% of a reported self-esteem distribution. Participants performed a series of short blocks involving two perceptual decision-making tasks with varying degrees of difficulty, with or without feedback. At the end of each block, they had to decide on which task they thought they performed best, and gave subjective task ratings, providing two measures of self-performance estimates. We found no robust evidence of differences in objective performance between high and low self-esteem participants. Nevertheless, low self-esteem participants consistently underestimated their performance as expressed in lower subjective task ratings relative to high self-esteem participants. These results provide an initial window onto how cognitive processes underpinning the construction of self-performance estimates across different contexts map on to global dispositions relevant to mental health such as self-esteem.

Neurocomputational mechanisms underpinning aberrant social learning in young adults with low self-esteem

Low self-esteem is a risk factor for a range of psychiatric disorders. From a cognitive perspective a negative self-image can be maintained through aberrant learning about self-worth derived from social feedback. We previously showed that neural teaching signals that represent the difference between expected and actual social feedback (i.e., social prediction errors) drive fluctuations in self-worth. Here, we used model-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to characterize learning from social prediction errors in 61 participants drawn from a population-based sample (n = 2402) who were recruited on the basis of being in the bottom or top 10% of self-esteem scores. Participants performed a social evaluation task during fMRI scanning, which entailed predicting whether other people liked them as well as the repeated provision of reported feelings of self-worth. Computational modeling results showed that low self-esteem participants had persistent expectations that others would dislike them, and a reduced propensity to update these expectations in response to social prediction errors. Low self-esteem subjects also displayed an enhanced volatility in reported feelings of self-worth, and this was linked to an increased tendency for social prediction errors to determine momentary self-worth. Canonical correlation analysis revealed that individual differences in self-esteem related to several interconnected psychiatric symptoms organized around a single dimension of interpersonal vulnerability. Such interpersonal vulnerability was associated with an attenuated social value signal in ventromedial prefrontal cortex when making predictions about being liked, and enhanced dorsal prefrontal cortex activity upon receipt of social feedback. We suggest these computational signatures of low self-esteem and their associated neural underpinnings might represent vulnerability for development of psychiatric disorder.

Separating thoughts from the self by selling them to others: the moderating role of self-esteem / Separar los pensamientos del yo al venderlos a otros: el rol moderador de la autoestima

This research introduces a new approach for separating people from their thoughts by anticipating selling them to others. Participants were asked to write down either positive or negative thoughts about fast food on different pieces of paper. Then, participants were randomly assigned to role-play the part of either potential buyers or sellers for an advertising campaign. Finally, all participants indicated their self-esteem (as an additional predictor) and their attitudes towards fast food (as the dependent measure). For high self-esteem participants, anticipating selling thoughts to others reduced the impact of thoughts on attitudes, suggesting that distancing thoughts from a location with high validity (the self) reduced the perceived value of their thoughts. In contrast, for low self-esteem participants, anticipating selling thoughts increased their usage, suggesting that separating thoughts from a location with low validity (the self) increased the perceived value of those thoughts. These findings suggest that thoughts can be associated with high or low validity depending on individual differences in self-esteem.

I Am, Therefore I Buy: Low Self-Esteem and the Pursuit of Self-Verifying Consumption

Abstract The idea that consumers use products to feel good about themselves is a basic tenet of marketing. Yet, in addition to the motive to self-enhance, consumers also strive to confirm their self-views (i.e., self-verification). Although self-verification provides self-related benefits, its role in consumer behavior is poorly understood. To redress that gap, we examine a dispositional variable—trait self-esteem—that predicts whether consumers self-verify in the marketplace. We propose that low (vs. high) self-esteem consumers gravitate toward inferior products because those products confirm their pessimistic self-views. Five studies supported our theorizing: low (vs. high) self-esteem participants gravitated toward inferior products (study 1) because of the motivation to self-verify (study 2). Low self-esteem consumers preferred inferior products only when those products signaled pessimistic (vs. positive) self-views and could therefore be self-verifying (study 3). Even more telling, low self-esteem consumers’ propensity to choose inferior products disappeared after they were induced to view themselves as consumers of superior products (study 4), but remained in the wake of negative feedback (study 5). Our investigation thus highlights self-esteem as a boundary condition for compensatory consumption. By pinpointing factors that predict when self-verification guides consumer behavior, this work enriches the field’s understanding of how products serve self-motives.

Self-esteem modulates the ERP processing of emotional intensity in happy and angry faces.

Previous studies have shown that self-esteem modulates attentional responses to emotional stimuli. However, it is well known that emotional stimuli can vary in intensity. The main objective of the present study was to further investigate self-esteem related emotional intensity processing in happy and anger faces. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded while 27 high-esteem versus 27 low self-esteem participants carried out a visual oddball task, with neutral faces as the standard stimuli and deviant stimuli varying on valence (happy and anger) and intensity (40%, 70%, and 100% emotive) dimensions. The results showed only high self-esteem people, instead of those with low self-esteem, displayed significant emotion intensity effects for 100% than for 70% happy faces in P3 component. On the other hand, only people with low self-esteem exhibited pronounced intensity effects for anger faces in P3 amplitudes. Moreover, only people with low self-esteem displayed significant intensity effects for 100% compared to both 70% and 40% anger stimuli in N2 amplitudes at central sites. These findings indicate that high self-esteem individuals were typically more susceptible to highly as well as mildly positive stimuli yet less reactive to negative stimuli compared with people with low self-esteem.

Self-promotion hypothesis: The impact of self-esteem on self–other discrepancies in decision making under risk

This study aimed at investigating the role of self-esteem in self–other decision making under risk. A sample of 117 participants selected from 626 undergraduate students as a function of their Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale scores completed a modified version of the cups task, in which participants were required to choose between a risky and a sure option for themselves or others. We found that the participants with high self-esteem (HSE) made more risk-seeking decisions than those with low self-esteem (LSE), and participants made more risk-seeking decisions in loss situations than in gain situations. Furthermore, the LSE participants made more risk-averse decisions for themselves than for others in gain situations but made more risk-seeking decisions in loss situations. In contrast, HSE participants made more risk-seeking decisions for themselves than for others in gain situations but made more risk-averse decisions in loss situations. These findings revealed that self-esteem has a robust effect on self–other decision making. A self-promotion hypothesis was introduced to explain these findings.

Effect of self-esteem on social interactions during the Ultimatum Game

Self-esteem is an attitude formed by self-evaluation based on positive and negative aspects of oneself. Low self-esteem is a risk factor for psychiatric disorders and is especially associated with social difficulties. Recently, behavioral economics has allowed the quantitative study of social interactions. We investigated the association between self-esteem and interpersonal problems and whether self-esteem modulates behavior and emotions during an economic task, the Ultimatum Game (UG). In this task participants accept or reject fair/unfair monetary offers from others. Low (LSE, n=40) and high (HSE, n=45) self-esteem participants were assessed in their interpersonal problems and psychiatric symptoms using self-reported questionnaires, and were compared on their decision making and emotional response during the UG. LSE was associated with depression and anxiety symptoms. In addition, LSE was associated with interpersonal problems, especially in the domains of socially inhibited, nonassertive, overly accommodating, self-sacrificing and cold/distant. During the UG, LSE women reported more anger towards unfair offers than HSE women. Our findings suggest that low self-esteem individuals experience high distress by interpersonal problems in several domains. Importantly, low self-esteem in women seems to be associated with an accentuated emotional response to unfair social exchanges. These results may contribute to treat social difficulties in this population.

Social networking online and personality of self-worth: A meta-analysis

Social networking sites (SNSs) offer new avenues for interpersonal communication and self-presentation. We report a meta-analysis of 80 studies yielding 143 effect sizes on the effect of self-esteem, narcissism, and loneliness on SNS use. Total SNS use was higher among people low in self-esteem, high in narcissism, and high in loneliness. Further analyses revealed high narcissism to be linked to all SNS activities (status updates, posting photographs, interacting/commenting on others, and total friends). High self-esteem (not low) was linked to having more online friends but no other activities. Links were stronger in studies with lower proportions of females and participants from non-Western, non-individualistic countries. We speculate that effects are somewhat diluted among females and Western samples by multiple reasons for SNS use, and further that low self-esteem participants constitute the so-called “lurkers” (i.e., people who browse but do not reveal themselves).

Cast Away:Social Exclusion and Social Aggression – The Roles of Self-Esteem and Anger

Although some research has demonstrated that people with lower self-esteem are more aggressive, a review of this literature has suggested that aggression is also a high self-esteem trait, especially when considering the impact of social exclusion. Specifically, anger and aggression may result from the conflict experienced by individuals who are socially excluded but who have a high self-esteem. To examine this possibility, we tested a group of college students in which half were socially excluded and the others were not. We then measured anger and social aggression toward the excluders and toward a stranger. Students reporting relatively high levels of self-esteem were significantly more angry, but not aggressive after being excluded. In general, low self-esteem participants showed higher social aggression than those with high self-esteem. Also, socially excluded participants were more socially aggressive towards the excluders and non-socially excluded participants were more aggressive towards a stranger. The social aggression in lower self-esteem participants is seen as part of their overall critical nature and instead, an increase in anger is a more indicative reaction to social exclusion for those with higher self-esteem.

Self-enhancement biases, self-esteem, and ideal mate preferences

People seek ideal romantic partners who are similar to themselves. In this research, we tested whether this preference reflects a self-enhancement bias. Study 1 (N=40) found that people who like themselves a lot (i.e., high self-esteem people) were more likely to describe their ideal romantic partner in terms that matched their self-evaluations than were people whose self-feelings are more ambivalent (i.e., low self-esteem people). Study 2 (N=141) extended these findings by showing that low self-esteem participants who had just been given positive feedback about themselves were just as apt as high self-esteem participants to describe their ideal romantic partner in terms that matched their self-descriptions. Taken together, these findings suggest that the more that people like themselves, the more they will desire an ideal romantic partner who is just like them.

Promoting connection: Perspective-taking improves relationship closeness and perceived regard in participants with low implicit self-esteem

Previous research suggests that people with low implicit self-esteem may be less connected to their close relationship partners (e.g., Peterson & DeHart, 2013; DeHart, Pelham, Fiedorowicz, Carvallo & Gabriel, 2011). The current study suggests that this effect can be reduced with a perspective-taking manipulation. Results revealed that, in the control condition, people with low implicit self-esteem were less close to their relationship partners and reported lower perceived regard. In the perspective-taking condition, people high and low in implicit self-esteem did not differ in closeness or perceived regard. This was due to a significant increase in closeness and perceived regard among low implicit self-esteem participants in the perspective-taking (vs. control) condition. These findings replicate the negative relationship between implicit self-esteem and relationship closeness, while also offering a method by which this relationship can be attenuated.

Self-Affirmation Buffers Claimed Self-Handicapping? A Test of Contextual and Individual Moderators

Researchers have argued that the strategies individuals use for self-esteem regulation are interchangeable. In the present study, we examined whether previous self-affirmation reduces the amount of subsequent claimed self-handicapping. More importantly, we tested potential moderators of these effects. Following negative feedback on an intelligence test, 56 female college students were given the opportunity to affirm themselves either within the threatened intelligence domain or within a domain unrelated to the source of threat (e.g., musicality). Results revealed that subjects handicapped less when they had previously affirmed themselves in a domain which was unrelated to the threatening domain (contextual moderator). However, these effects were moderated by dispositional self-esteem (individual moderator). High self-esteem participants claimed fewer handicaps the more they felt self-affirmed whereas claimed self-handicapping among low self-esteem participants was not affected by previous self-affirmation. Altogether, our findings suggest certain limitations on the substitutability of self-protection processes.

Existential neuroscience: self-esteem moderates neuronal responses to mortality-related stimuli

According to terror management theory, self-esteem serves as a buffer against existential anxiety. This proposition is well supported empirically, but its neuronal underpinnings are poorly understood. Therefore, in the present neuroimaging study, our aim was to test how self-esteem affects our neural circuitry activation when death-related material is processed. Consistent with previous findings, the bilateral insula responded less to death-related stimuli relative to similarly unpleasant, but death-unrelated sentences, an effect that might reflect a decrease in the sense of oneself in the face of existential threat. In anterior parts of the insula, this 'deactivation' effect was more pronounced for high self-esteem individuals, suggesting that the insula might be of core importance to understanding the anxiety-buffering effect of self-esteem. In addition, low self-esteem participants responded with enhanced activation to death-related over unpleasant stimuli in bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal and medial orbitofrontal cortex, suggesting that regulating death-related thoughts might be more effortful to these individuals. Together, this suggests that the anxiety-buffering effect of self-esteem might be implemented in the brain in the form of both insula-dependent awareness mechanisms and prefrontal cortex-dependent regulation mechanisms.

Low self-esteem elicits greater mobilization of attentional resources toward emotional stimuli

Previous findings are generally consistent with the notion that individuals with low self-esteem tends to easily orient their attention on negative stimuli. The main objective of the present study was to further investigate the time course of attention deployment to positive (happy) and negative (angry) facial expressions in visual probe task using event-related potentials (ERP) technology in 15 high versus 15 low self-esteem participants while they viewed pairs of faces (e.g., happy face paired with neutral face or angry face paired with neutral face) shown for 500ms and followed by a probe. Behavioral results showed that individuals with low self-esteem simply had faster manual reaction times on the entire task. ERP results showed that individuals with low self-esteem, but not high self-esteem, displayed increased P1 and N1 activity to both happy and angry facial expression. These findings suggest that emotional stimuli (angry faces and happy faces) elicited greater mobilization of attentional resources in individuals with low self-esteem

Effects of self-esteem on electrophysiological correlates of easy and difficult math

The current study investigated the effects of easy versus difficult math on event-related potentials as a function of self-esteem in 28 undergraduate students. First, it was found that participants responded much more rapidly to an easy task. Second, the amplitude of P2 (150–300 ms) was more positive amplified in low self-esteem participants when compared to high self-esteem participants. Third, the difficult task elicited a greater N2 (300–450 ms) component than the easy task, but only in the low self-esteem participants. Finally, the easy task elicited a greater late positive component (LPC: 450–600 ms) compared with the difficult task and the difficult task elicited a greater LPC (900–1200 ms) components compared with the easy task separately, which were consistent with behavioral reaction times. We speculate that the difficult math might have induced more negative emotions in subjects with low self-esteem, and that low self-esteem individuals might be more susceptible to interpret the difficult task as threatening.

Compensatory nonconformity: Self-uncertainty and low implicit self-esteem increase adoption and expression of minority opinions

The present studies tested whether people, particularly those who are most vulnerable to self-threats as indicated by low implicit self-esteem, adopt and express minority opinions to compensate for self-uncertainty. In Studies 1 through 3, low implicit self-esteem participants who were made to feel uncertain about themselves as individuals (versus uncertain about a self-irrelevant issue in Study 1, certain about themselves in Study 2, or uncertain about their group memberships in Study 3) expressed more disagreement with others' opinions. Additionally, Study 3 demonstrated that this effect is specific to minority opinions and does not emerge on majority opinions. In Study 4, the relation between self-uncertainty and disagreement with others' opinions was strongest among participants with both low implicit and high explicit self-esteem, who respond to self-threats in particularly defensive ways.

The neural correlates of implicit self-relevant processing in low self-esteem: An ERP study

Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that implicit and explicit processing of self-relevant (schematic) material elicit activity in many of the same brain regions. Electrophysiological studies on the neural processing of explicit self-relevant cues have generally supported the view that P300 is an index of attention to self-relevant stimuli; however, there has been no study to date investigating the temporal course of implicit self-relevant processing. The current study seeks to investigate the time course involved in implicit self-processing by comparing processing of self-relevant with non-self-relevant words while subjects are making a judgment about color of the words in an implicit attention task. Sixteen low self-esteem participants were examined using event-related potentials technology (ERP). We hypothesized that this implicit attention task would involve P2 component rather than the P300 component. Indeed, P2 component has been associated with perceptual analysis and attentional allocation and may be more likely to occur in unconscious conditions such as this task. Results showed that latency of P2 component, which indexes the time required for perceptual analysis, was more prolonged in processing self-relevant words compared to processing non-self-relevant words. Our results suggested that the judgment of the color of the word interfered with automatic processing of self-relevant information and resulted in less efficient processing of self-relevant word. Together with previous ERP studies examining processing of explicit self-relevant cues, these findings suggest that the explicit and the implicit processing of self-relevant information would not elicit the same ERP components.

Effect of Self-awareness on Negative Affect Among Individuals with Discrepant Low Self-esteem

Past research suggests that individuals with discrepant low self-esteem (low explicit and high implicit self-esteem) may hold themselves against higher standards and judge themselves more critically when they fall short of those standards (Zeigler-Hill & Terry, 2007). We postulated that for discrepant low self-esteem individuals, self-awareness would activate their stringent standards and the fact that they have failed to meet those standards, thereby increasing negative affect. In this study, 144 participants completed implicit and explicit self-esteem measures, and half were then made to be self-aware by completing a task with a mirror in front of them for 3 minutes. We found that self-awareness increased negative affect among discrepant low self-esteem participants.

Shut Your Eyes and Think of Something Else: Self-Esteem and Avoidance when Dealing with Counter-Attitudinal Information

Two studies investigated the hypothesis that people with low self-esteem are more inclined to avoid information that is incongruent with value-relevant attitudes than people with higher levels of self-esteem. In Study 1 participants had the opportunity to postpone and potentially avoid reading a counter-attitudinal article. Results confirmed our prediction. Results of Study 2 indicated that low self-esteem participants performed better than high self-esteem participants on a distracting task when confronted with the prospect to receive counter-attitudinal information. These findings show that low self-esteem individuals tend to avoid information that is incongruent with an attitude that is strongly linked to their self-concept.