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Loving, Hating, Vacillating: Agreeableness, Implicit Self‐Esteem, and Neurotic Conflict
Author(s) -
Robinson Michael D.,
Wilkowski Benjamin M.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2006.00399.x
Subject(s) - agreeableness , psychology , neuroticism , distress , context (archaeology) , interpersonal communication , social psychology , developmental psychology , clinical psychology , personality , big five personality traits , extraversion and introversion , paleontology , biology
An implicit preference for the self over others may be beneficial when pursuing one's own desires but costly when adjusting the self to the desires of others. On the basis of this reasoning, the authors hypothesized that Agreeableness and implicit self‐esteem would interact in predicting measures of neurotic distress. Three studies and one meta‐analysis, involving 235 undergraduate participants, confirmed that high levels of implicit self‐esteem were beneficial (i.e., less neurotic distress) within the context of low levels of Agreeableness but costly (i.e., more neurotic distress) within the context of high levels of Agreeableness. Because findings were robust across various measures of Agreeableness, implicit self‐esteem, and neurotic distress, the interpersonal principles examined here appear to have broad relevance for understanding this particular form of intrapsychic conflict and its manifestation in neurotic distress. Results therefore support Horney's (1945) theory concerning the consequences of intrapsychic conflicts related to interpersonal motivation and cognition.