Understanding the role of implicit self-esteem in responses to positive feedback

Abstract

This study examined the effect of positive feedback (in the context of high scores received on an intelligence test) on positive and negative speeded self-ratings, positive and negative affect, and state self-esteem as a function of participants’ implicit self-esteem. One prior study found that participants with low explicit self-esteem and low implicit self-esteem felt worse after receiving positive feedback than participants with low explicit and high implicit self-esteem. The present study attempted to replicate this effect in addition to testing whether negative responses to positive feedback can be reduced by a correction procedure. Overall, this study failed to replicate the finding that participants with low explicit self-esteem respond differently to positive feedback as a function of their level of implicit self-esteem.