Christian H. Jordan

Secure and Defensive High Self-Esteem

Long-standing theories have suggested high self-esteem (SE) can assume qualitatively different forms that are related to defensiveness. The authors explored whether some high-SE individuals are particularly defensive because they harbor negative self-feelings at less conscious levels, indicated by low implicit SE. In Study 1, participants high in explicit SE but low in implicit SE showed the highest levels of narcissism--an indicator of defensiveness. In Studies 2 and 3, the correspondence between implicit and explicit SE predicted defensive behavior (in-group bias in Study 2 and dissonance reduction in Study 3), such that for high explicit-SE participants, those with relatively low implicit SE behaved more defensively. These results are consistent with the idea that high SE can be relatively secure or defensive.

Types of High Self-Esteem and Prejudice: How Implicit Self-Esteem Relates to Ethnic Discrimination Among High Explicit Self-Esteem Individuals

There is increasing recognition that high self-esteem is heterogeneous. Recent research suggests that individuals who report having high self-esteem (i.e., have high explicit self-esteem) behave more defensively to the extent that they have relatively low implicit self-esteem. The current studies test whether individuals with high explicit self-esteem are more likely to discriminate ethnically, as a defensive technique, to the extent that they have relatively low implicit self-esteem. The results support this prediction. Among participants with high explicit self-esteem, all of whom were threatened by negative performance feedback, those with relatively low implicit self-esteem recommended a more severe punishment for a Native, but not a White, student who started a fist-fight. In Study 2, this pattern was not apparent for participants with relatively low explicit self-esteem.

Intuition and the Correspondence Between Implicit and Explicit Self-Esteem

Four studies tested whether the perceived validity of intuition increases the correspondence between implicit and explicit self-esteem. Studies 1 and 2 found, with 2 different measures of implicit self-esteem, that people who chronically view their intuition as valid have more consistent implicit and explicit self-esteem. In contrast, people with relatively low faith in their intuition had a negative relation between implicit and explicit self-esteem, suggesting that they may overcorrect their explicit self-views for the potential bias posed by implicit self-esteem. In Studies 3 and 4, participants who were induced to view their intuition as valid reported explicit self-views (self-evaluations made under time pressure, or state self-esteem) that were more consistent with their implicit self-esteem. These results suggest that people experience implicit self-esteem as intuitive evaluations. The correspondence between implicit and explicit self-esteem among individuals who view their intuition as valid may suggest that these individuals incorporate implicit self-esteem into their explicit self-views.

The mask of zeal: Low implicit self-esteem, threat, and defensive extremism

Theorists have long proposed that vulnerable people turn to zeal in the face of perceived self-threats because doing so somehow masks the threats. The present study supports this idea, and suggests that low implicit self-esteem may be a key vulnerability that predisposes individuals toward defensive zeal. Undergraduate participants with low implicit self-esteem, as assessed by an Internet version of the Implicit Association Test, reacted to an experimentally manipulated academic threat with zeal about their opinions toward capital punishment, the US invasion of Iraq, and suicide bombing. Significant effects were found for two aspects of zeal—extremism and exaggerated estimates of social consensus for personal opinions. Results for each issue were independent of whether participants were in favor of, or against the issue.

Down-Regulating Narcissistic Tendencies: Communal Focus Reduces State Narcissism

Narcissism has been conceptualized as a set of coherent, mutually reinforcing attributes that orients individuals toward self-enhancement and positive self-feelings. In this view, reducing one element of narcissism—such as a greater concern for agency than communion—may situationally reduce narcissism in a state-like manner. Across five studies, we found that increasing communal focus toward others decreases state narcissism. In Study 1, participants induced to feel empathy reported less state narcissism. In Studies 2 to 4, participants primed with interdependent self-construal reported less state narcissism than control participants and those primed with independent self-construal. Furthermore, in Study 4, changes in state narcissism mediated changes in desire for fame and perceptions that others deserve help. Thus, changes in one element of narcissism may situationally reduce narcissistic tendencies. These findings suggest that narcissism is more state-like and context-dependent than previously assumed.

Birds of a Feather Sit Together: Physical Similarity Predicts Seating Choice

Across four studies, people sat (or reported they would sit) closer to physically similar others. Study 1 revealed significant aggregation in seating patterns on two easily observed characteristics: glasses wearing and sex. Study 2 replicated this finding with a wider variety of physical traits: race, sex, glasses wearing, hair length, and hair color. The overall tendency for people to sit beside physically similar others remained significant when controlling for sex and race, suggesting people aggregate on physical dimensions other than broad social categories. Study 3 conceptually replicated these results in a laboratory setting. The more physically similar participants were to a confederate, the closer they sat before an anticipated interaction when controlling for sex, race, and attractiveness similarity. In Study 4, overall physical similarity and glasses wearing similarity predicted self-reported seating distance. These effects were mediated by perceived attitudinal similarity. Liking and inferred acceptance also received support as mediators for glasses wearing similarity.

Automatic imitation is reduced in narcissists.

Narcissism is a personality trait that has been extensively studied in normal populations. Individuals high on subclinical narcissism tend to display an excessive self-focus and reduced concern for others. Does their disregard of others have roots in low-level processes of social perception? We investigated whether narcissism is related to the automatic imitation of observed actions. In the automatic imitation task, participants make cued actions in the presence of action videos displaying congruent or incongruent actions. The difference in response times and accuracy between congruent and incongruent trials (i.e., the interference effect) is a behavioral index of motor resonance in the brain-a process whereby observed actions activate matching motor representations in the observer. We found narcissism to be negatively related to interference in the automatic imitation task, such that high narcissism is associated with reduced imitation. Thus, levels of narcissism predict differences in the tendency to automatically resonate with others, and the pattern of data we observe suggests that a key difference is that high narcissists possess an improved ability to suppress automatic imitation when such imitation would be detrimental to task performance. To the extent that motor resonance is a product of a human mirror system, our data constitute evidence for a link between narcissistic tendencies and mirror system functioning.

Validating Power Makes Communal Narcissists Less Communal

What motivates communal self-enhancement? Paulhus and John [1998. Egoistic and moralistic biases in self-perception: The interplay of self-deceptive styles with basic traits and motives. Journal of Personality, 66, 1025–1060] posit that agentic and communal self-enhancement biases are independently motivated by needs for power and approval, respectively. In contrast, the agency-communion model of narcissism [Gebauer, J. E., Sedikides, C., Verplanken, B., & Maio, G. R. (2012). Communal narcissism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 103, 854–878] posits that communal narcissists’ communal self-enhancement is driven by the need for power. We examined whether validating a sense of power affects the communal behavior and self-perceptions of communal narcissists. We observed that communal narcissists behaved less communally (Study 1) and displayed less communal self-enhancement (Study 2) when their need for power is validated rather than threatened. Consistent with the agency-communion model of narcissism, these results suggest communal narcissists are indeed motivated by the need to validate power.

Narcissistic Reactions to Subordinate Role Assignment: The Case of the Narcissistic Follower

Narcissists aspire to be leaders and consequently may react negatively to being assigned a subordinate role, even though such roles may be integral to group functioning. In the first three studies, participants were assigned to a low status role (i.e., “employee”), high status role (i.e., “project manager”), or (in Studies 2 and 3) control condition. More narcissistic participants were less satisfied and discredited the role assignment more in the employee condition than in the project manager condition. Furthermore, more narcissistic participants displayed greater self-interest in the employee condition, relative to the project manager condition (Study 2), and less willingness to engage in behaviors to benefit the group in the employee condition, relative to the project manager and control conditions (Study 3). In Study 4, these findings were replicated in sports teams. Although there is nothing inherently negative about subordinate roles, narcissists perceive them negatively and react poorly to occupying them.

How implicit self-esteem influences perceptions of self-esteem at zero and non-zero acquaintance

Abstract People’s perceptions of others’ self-esteem correspond with others’ explicit self-esteem. We test whether implicit self-esteem also affects perceptions of self-esteem at zero and non-zero acquaintance. Targets completed measures of implicit and explicit self-esteem, had photographs taken, and completed self-related interviews. Unacquainted perceivers rated targets’ self-esteem after viewing varying degrees of information about targets (Study 1) or pre-selected high and low implicit self-esteem targets (Studies 2 and 3). When perceivers viewed photographs, only target explicit self-esteem predicted self-esteem ratings. However, when perceivers read targets’ interview transcripts, both target explicit and implicit self-esteem predicted self-esteem ratings. When targets described sensitive information, their apparent comfort and self-certainty were associated with ratings of their self-esteem. These cues, moreover, were valid indicators of implicit self-esteem.