Knowledge Bank

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.