An Exploration On The Methodological Validity And Theoretical Hypothesis Of Implicit Self-esteem

Implicit self-esteem was a new concept proposed in 1995. In this paper, a review was presented on the definition, categories, measures and the current research situations of implicit self-esteem. Then, two experiments were designed. And Implicit Association Test (IAT) was employed to measure implicit self-esteem. In study 1, to explore the relationship between implicit self-esteem and explicit self-evaluation, subjects were manipulated to report explicit self-evaluation under high or low cognitive load. The conclusion was: Implicit self-esteem corresponded with explicit self-evaluation, but only when subjects were evaluating themselves under high cognitive load. It showed the separation between implicit and explicit self-esteem. Implicit self-esteem was automatic and unconscious. At the same time, it confirmed the validity of IAT. In study 2, to test the buffer hypothesis, subjects received "success" or "failure" feedback. The conclusions were: People with high implicit self-esteem were satisfied with themselves whenever they had received "failure" or "success" feedback. And they had significantly higher satisfaction when they had received "success" feedback than they had received "failure" feedback. However, people with low implicit self-esteem were satisfied with themselves when they had received "success" feedback, and they weren't satisfied with themselves when they had "failure" feedback. The differences between the two situations were significant. It showed that implicit self-esteem might not operate as a buffer, but as a filter. People with high implicit self-esteem could filter more negative effects than people with low implicit self-esteem against stress or threat. Therefore, the filter hypothesis was proposed. At last, the future views were discussed.