Open AccessTrait Self‐esteem Moderates Decreases in Self‐control Following Rejection: An Information‐processing Account
Author(s) -
vanDellen Michelle,
Knowles Megan L.,
Krusemark Elizabeth,
Sabet Raha F.,
Campbell W. Keith,
McDowell Jennifer E.,
Clementz Brett A.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
european journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.839
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1099-0984
pISSN - 0890-2070
DOI - 10.1002/per.1845
Subject(s) - psychology , trait , self esteem , self control , social rejection , social psychology , control (management) , task (project management) , developmental psychology , social relation , management , computer science , economics , programming language
In the current paper, the authors posit that trait self‐esteem moderates the relationship between social rejection and decrements in self‐control, propose an information‐processing account of trait self‐esteem's moderating influence and discuss three tests of this theory. The authors measured trait self‐esteem, experimentally manipulated social rejection and assessed subsequent self‐control in Studies 1 and 2. Additionally, Study 3 framed a self‐control task as diagnostic of social skills to examine motivational influences. Together, the results reveal that rejection impairs self‐control, but only among low self‐esteem individuals. Moreover, this decrement in self‐control only emerged when the task had no social implications—suggesting that low self‐esteem individuals exert effort on tasks of social value and are otherwise preoccupied with belonging needs when completing nonsocial tasks. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.