The dark side of ambiguous discrimination: how state self-esteem moderates emotional and behavioural responses to ambiguous and unambiguous discrimination.

Two experiments examine how experimentally induced differences in state self-esteem moderate emotional and behavioural responses to ambiguous and unambiguous discrimination. Study 1 (N=108) showed that participants who were exposed to ambiguous discrimination report more negative self-directed emotions when they have low compared to high self-esteem. These differences did not emerge when participants were exposed to unambiguous discrimination. Study 2 (N=118) additionally revealed that self-esteem moderated the effect of ambiguous discrimination on self-concern, task performance, and self-stereotyping. Results show that ambiguous discrimination caused participants with low self-esteem to report more negative self-directed emotions, more self-concern, an inferior task performance, and more self-stereotyping, compared to participants in the high self-esteem condition. Emotional and behavioural responses to unambiguous discrimination did not depend on the induced level of self-esteem in these studies.

[1]  J. Dovidio,et al.  The aversive form of racism. , 1986 .

[2]  Carol T. Miller,et al.  Coping with stigma and prejudice. , 2000 .

[3]  N. Ellemers,et al.  The Perils of Political Correctness: Men's and Women's Responses to Old-Fashioned and Modern Sexist Views , 2005 .

[4]  B. Major,et al.  Antecedents and consequences of attributions to discrimination: Theoretical and empirical advances , 2002 .

[5]  S. Fiske,et al.  Ethnic Identity Moderates Perceptions of Prejudice: Judgments of Personal Versus Group Discrimination and Subtle Versus Blatant Bias , 2001 .

[6]  C M Steele,et al.  Self-image resilience and dissonance: the role of affirmational resources. , 1993, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[7]  Glenn Adams,et al.  The detrimental effects of a suggestion of sexism in an instruction situation , 2006 .

[8]  Jeffrey D. Green,et al.  Affect and Self-Focused Attention Revisited: The Role of Affect Orientation , 1999 .

[9]  Cheryl R. Kaiser,et al.  A Theoretical Perspective on Coping with Stigma. , 2001 .

[10]  Jim Blascovich,et al.  Challenge and Threat During Social Interactions With White and Black Men , 2002 .

[11]  J. N. Shelton,et al.  Threatened identities and interethnic interactions , 2006 .

[12]  T. Postmes,et al.  Women's emotional responses to the pervasiveness of gender discrimination , 2003 .

[13]  Geraldine Downey,et al.  Sensitivity to status-based rejection: implications for African American students' college experience. , 2002, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[14]  L. Subich,et al.  Examining the Moderating Role of Self-Esteem in the Link between Experiences of Perceived Sexist Events and Psychological Distress. , 2004 .

[15]  M. Foster.  Positive and Negative Responses to Personal Discrimination: Does Coping Make a Difference? , 2000, The Journal of social psychology.

[16]  R. Baumeister.  Self-esteem : the puzzle of low self-regard , 1993 .

[17]  Cheryl R. Kaiser,et al.  Prejudice and self-esteem: A transactional model , 2003 .

[18]  Richard D. Harvey,et al.  Perceiving pervasive discrimination among African Americans: Implications for group identification and well-being. , 1999 .

[19]  J. Crocker,et al.  Social stigma and self-esteem: The self-protective properties of stigma. , 1989 .

[20]  Robert Hanna.  What is the self? , 2011, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[21]  Janet K. Swim,et al.  Sexism and racism: Old-fashioned and modern prejudices. , 1995 .

[22]  M. Rosenberg.  Conceiving the self , 1979 .

[23]  C. Steele,et al.  Stereotype threat and the intellectual test performance of African Americans. , 1995, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[24]  K. Sassenberg,et al.  Does Social Identification Harm or Serve as a Buffer? The Impact of Social Identification on Anger After Experiencing Social Discrimination , 2006, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[25]  Roy F. Baumeister,et al.  Self-esteem and responses to success and failure: Subsequent performance and intrinsic motivation , 1985 .

[26]  Shelley E. Taylor,et al.  Illusion and well-being: a social psychological perspective on mental health. , 1988, Psychological bulletin.

[27]  S. Bem.  The measurement of psychological androgyny. , 1974, Journal of consulting and clinical psychology.

[28]  K. Vohs,et al.  How Emotion Shapes Behavior: Feedback, Anticipation, and Reflection, Rather Than Direct Causation , 2007, Personality and social psychology review : an official journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

[29]  N. Ellemers,et al.  The Backlash of Token Mobility: The Impact of Past Group Experiences on Individual Ambition and Effort , 2004, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[30]  J. Greenberg,et al.  Why do people need self-esteem? Converging evidence that self-esteem serves an anxiety-buffering function. , 1992, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[31]  Janet K. Swim,et al.  Excuse me : What did you just say?! : Women's public and private responses to sexist remarks , 1999 .

[32]  S. Spencer,et al.  Contending with group image: The psychology of stereotype and social identity threat , 2002 .

[33]  B. Major,et al.  Perceiving personal discrimination: the role of group status and legitimizing ideology. , 2002, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[34]  B. Major,et al.  Attributions to discrimination and self-esteem: Impact of group identification and situational ambiguity , 2003 .

[35]  G. Downey,et al.  Sensitivity to Status-Based Rejection: Implications for African American Students' College Experience , 2002 .

[36]  M. Hogg,et al.  Intergroup behaviour, self-stereotyping and the salience of social categories , 1987 .

[37]  L. Thompson,et al.  Battle of the sexes: gender stereotype confirmation and reactance in negotiations. , 2001, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[38]  A. Furnham,et al.  Attributional versus preattributional variables in self-esteem and depression: a comparison and test of learned helplessness theory. , 1986, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[39]  Mark Snyder,et al.  Personality and social behavior , 1985 .

[40]  K. A. Dutton,et al.  Global Self-Esteem and Specific Self-Views as Determinants of People's Reactions to Success and Failure , 1997 .

[41]  J. D. Brown,et al.  The thrill of victory, the complexity of defeat: self-esteem and people's emotional reactions to success and failure. , 1995, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[42]  Naomi Ellemers,et al.  Self-Stereotyping in the Face of Threats to Group Status and Distinctiveness: The Role of Group Identification , 1997 .

[43]  A. Bandura.  Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. , 1982 .

[44]  Naomi Ellemers,et al.  Being different or being better? National stereotypes and identifications of Polish and Dutch students , 1996 .

[45]  N. Feather,et al.  Attribution of responsibility and valence of outcome in relation to initial confidence and success and failure of self and other , 1971 .

[46]  H. Blanton,et al.  Endorsing a negative in-group stereotype as a self-protective strategy: Sacrificing the group to save the self☆ , 2008 .

[47]  Joel Brockner,et al.  Self-esteem and reactions to failure: The mediating role of overgeneralization. , 1989 .

[48]  Jacquelien van Stekelenburg,et al.  The social psychology of protest , 1997 .

[49]  E. Rothblum,et al.  Do obese women have poorer social relationships than nonobese women? Reports by self, friends, and coworkers. , 1995, Journal of personality.

[50]  T. Heatherton,et al.  Development and validation of a scale for measuring state self-esteem. , 1991 .

[51]  J. B. Mcconahay,et al.  Modern racism, ambivalence, and the Modern Racism Scale. , 1986 .

[52]  Cheryl R. Kaiser,et al.  Expectations about the Future and the Emotional Consequences of Perceiving Prejudice , 2004, Personality & social psychology bulletin.

[53]  J. S. Shrauger,et al.  Self-Evaluations, Initial Success and Failure, and Improvement as Determinants of Persistence. , 1977 .

[54]  N. Branscombe,et al.  The Meaning and Consequences of Perceived Discrimination in Disadvantaged and Privileged Social Groups , 2002 .

[55]  S. Noh,et al.  Perceived discrimination and depression: moderating effects of coping, acculturation, and ethnic support. , 2003, American journal of public health.

[56]  Russell Spears,et al.  Put your money where your mouth is! Explaining collective action tendencies through group-based anger and group efficacy. , 2004, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[57]  R. C. Perez.  The effect of experimentally induced failure, self-esteem, and sex on cognitive differentiation. , 1973, Journal of Abnormal Psychology.

[58]  Jim Blascovich,et al.  On the Remote Associates Test (RAT) as an Alternative to Illusory Performance Feedback: A Methodological Note , 1984 .

[59]  D. Bem.  Self-Perception Theory , 1972 .

[60]  J. D. Campbell,et al.  Self-esteem and clarity of the self-concept. , 1990, Journal of personality and social psychology.