Focus on Failure: The Involuntary Pull of Self-Threatening Information in People with Defensive Self-Esteem Jennifer L. S. Borton1, Mark A. Oakes2, Rohan Arcot1, Abigail Quirk1, & Rebecca Rees1 1 2 Introduction Autobiographical Memory and Self-Esteem People tend to recall past events in a way that constructs a coherent life story consistent with their self-concept. For those with high SE, positive past events feel closer to the present time than negative events do (Ross & Wilson, 2002). In addition to feeling temporally closer, positive self-relevant events are also remembered more vividly by those with high SE, because they are an important part of the self-concept (Conway & Pleydell-Pearce, 2000). Defensive Versus Secure Self-Esteem High self-esteem (SE), however, is not a unitary construct (e.g., Jordan et al., 2003; Kernis, 2003). Defensive self-esteem (SE), defined as a combination of high explicit and low implicit SE (Jordan et al., 2003), has a variety of negative correlates, including greater verbal defensiveness when discussing self-threatening events (Kernis et al., 2008) and increased attention to defensive words (Haddock & Gebauer, 2011). Given these findings, people with defensive SE may find negative self-relevant events more personally threatening than those with secure (high explicit and implicit) SE do, because such events are at odds with their conscious sense of self-worth. Consequently, they may more strongly encode and hence better recall such events. However, because these memories are threatening, they may attempt to distance their current self from them. Measures Self-Esteem Measures Explicit SE: Rosenberg (1965) Self-Esteem Scale Implicit SE: Self-Esteem IAT (Greenwald & Farnham, 2000) Memory Measures Memory Experiences Questionnaire (Sutin & Robins, 2007) (Cronbach’s as ranged between .73 and .95) Vividness (6 items): Visual clarity and intensity e.g., “My memory for this event is clear.” Coherence (8 items): Logical flow for the events in the memory e.g., “The order of events in this memory is clear.” Accessibility (5 items): How easily the memory can be retrieved e.g., “This memory just sprang to my mind when I read the instructions.” Sensory Detail (8 items): How well the senses are re-experienced e.g., “As I remember this event, I can hear it in my mind.” Emotional Intensity (6 items): The strength of emotions during recall e.g., “As I am remembering the experience now, my feelings are very intense.” Valence (6 items): Perceived positivity/negativity of memory e.g., “The overall tone of the memory is positive.” Visual Perspective (6 items): Recalled from 1st vs. 3rd person view e.g., “I see the experience in the memory through my own eyes.” Distancing (6 items): The degree of separation from the experience e.g., “I don’t have much in common with the person in the memory.” Subjective Temporal Distance (Ross & Wilson, 2002) Feels like yesterday Feels like a long time ago Feels very close Feels very distant Results defensive SE defensive SE I AM ME, MY, I, SELF I AM NOT THEY, THEM, THEIR, OTHER warmth joy sunshine smile happy friend agony vomit death evil disease pain negative I AM I AM NOT or or positive negative happy positive Figure 1. Relative to those with secure SE, those with defensive SE rated their self-threatening memory as significantly more accessible. (exp x imp SE interaction, b = -.24, p = .025) Figure 2. Relative to those with secure SE, those with defensive SE rated their self-threatening memory as subjectively closer in time (controlling for actual temporal distance). (exp x imp SE interaction, b = .20, p = .056) Defensive SE Hypotheses Relative to people with secure SE, those with defensive SE should: report greater vividness, coherence, accessibility, sensory detail, and emotional intensity for a self-threatening event in their past. attempt to distance themselves more from their self-threatening memory and report feeling as though their current self differs from the self in the memory. Figure 3. People with defensive SE reported greater emotional intensity for their self-threatening memory than people with secure SE, but only after first reporting their self-enhancing memory. (exp SE x imp SE x order interaction, b = -.49, p = .018) Discussion Self-threatening events may be particularly meaningful and attention-commanding for those with defensive SE, as they are at odds with their explicit views of themselves. The self-enhancing memory may have served as a self-affirmation, allowing those with defensive self-esteem to report more truthfully about their threatening memory. People with defensive self-esteem—despite their high explicit self-esteem—responded similarly to people with low explicit and implicit self-esteem. This finding underscores the importance of examining both explicit and implicit self-esteem. Procedure In Lab: SE Implicit Association Task Write about proud or shameful memory Memory Experiences Questionnaire Subjective Temporal Distance Measure Repeat for other memory Pre-lab online survey: Rosenberg SE Scale Memory Survey Participants: 94 Hamilton College students (52 women; mean age = 20.0 yrs) References Conway, M. 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