A relationship between self-esteem and persuasibility.

It was found that Ss high in self-esteem were influenced more by optimistic communications than by threatening communications, while Ss low in self-esteem showed the opposite pattern. These results occurred only among Ss who received communications from sources dissimilar to Ss with respect to personality characteristics. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communication modality as a determinant of persuasion: The role of communicator salience.

Reports 2 studies, using a total of 304 university students, in which a likable or unlikable communicator delivered a persuasive message via writing, audiotape, or videotape. In both studies the likable communicator was more persuasive in video- and audiotape than in writing, but the unlikable communicator was more persuasive in writing. Thus, communicator likability was a significant determinant of persuasion only in the broadcast modalities. Other findings suggest that Ss process more communicator cues when exposed to video- and audiotape messages than when exposed to written ones and that communicator-based (rather than message-based) cognitions predicted opinion change primarily in video and audiotape conditions rather than in written ones. It is concluded that video- and audiotapes enhance communicator-related information, so that communicator characteristics exert a disproportionate effect on persuasion when messages are broadcast. Findings are also discussed in relation to "vividness" phenomena. (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communicator physical attractiveness and persuasion.

In a field setting, each of 68 physically attractive or unattractive male and female communicator Ss (undergraduates) delivered a persuasive message to 2 undergraduate target Ss of each sex. Results indicate that attractive (vs unattractive) communicators induced significantly greater persuasion on both a verbal and behavioral measure of target agreement. In addition, female targets indicated greater agreement than male targets. Data gathered from communicator Ss during an earlier laboratory session indicate that physically attractive and unattractive communicators differed with respect to several communication skills and other attributes relevant to communicator persuasiveness, including GPA, Scholastic Aptitude Test scores, and several measures of self-evaluation. These findings suggest that attractive individuals may be more persuasive than unattractive persons partly because they possess characteristics that dispose them to be more effective communicators. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-esteem, mood, and self-evaluation: Changes in mood and the way you see you.

Three studies found that self-esteem moderates the relation between mood and self-evaluation. In Study 1, a standard mood-induction procedure was used to induce positive, negative, or neutral moods in low self-esteem (LSE) Ss and high self-esteem Ss. Afterward, Ss evaluated their specific qualities and characteristics (e.g., How smart are you? How kind are you?). Both self-esteem groups evaluated themselves favorably in a positive mood, but LSE Ss were more apt to lower their self-evaluations in a negative mood. Study 2 found a similar, though weaker, pattern using a noncognitive, musical mood induction; Study 3 found that these effects occur with variations in naturally occurring mood over a 6-wk period. The authors suggest that the tendency for LSE people to respond to negative mood with self-depreciation contributes to psychological distress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationship between self-esteem and response style.

Response preferences of 30 high, 30 middle, and 30 low self-esteem undergraduate Ss on the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory (SCII) were analyzed to examine relationships between sex, self-esteem, and response style. Based on discriminant analyses, significant results indicated that like and dislike preferences discriminated between self-esteem groups but not between sex groups. Ss of high and middle self-esteem groups responded more often with like preferences, while Ss of the low self-esteem group responded more often with dislike preferences across all sections of the SCII. Inspection of the Your Characteristics section revealed that high and middle self-esteem Ss attributed strengths to themselves more frequently than did low self-esteem Ss. Two-way ANOVAs of Ss' profile scores revealed significant self-esteem effects but not significant sex and interaction effects. Compared with test profiles of low self-esteem Ss, test profiles of high and middle self-esteem Ss exhibited greater differentiation and provided more helpful information regarding particular interests and occupational areas for further vocational exploration. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-esteem and counterfactual thinking.

Two studies examined the relation between self-esteem and counterfactual thinking (consideration of "might-have-been" alternatives to reality). Ss imagined themselves in scenarios with another actor that resulted in either success or failure. Ss then "undid" the outcome by altering events that preceded the outcome. Following success, high self-esteem (HSE) Ss were more likely than low self-esteem (LSE) Ss to mutate their own actions. Following failure, LSE Ss were more likely than HSE Ss to mutate their own actions. Also, the structure of counterfactuals was influenced by outcome valence but not by self-esteem: Subtractive structures (in which antecedents are removed) were elicited by success, whereas additive structures (in which antecedents are added) were elicited by failure. The importance of the self and individual differences in self-esteem to counterfactual thinking is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Taylor MAS and group conformity pressure.

Ss with low anxiety "tend to question their own judgment more but still show 'normal conformity,' under strong pressure conditions… [those with high level of anxiety] become somewhat hostile and rigid and less amenable to conformity influence. Some general support is thus given to the findings… that increase in emotional tension reduces the effectiveness of persuasive communications." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Heuristic versus systematic information processing and the use of source versus message cues in persuasion.

In Exp I, 183 undergraduates read a persuasive message from a likable or unlikable communicator who presented 6 or 2 arguments on 1 of 2 topics. High involvement (HI) Ss anticipated discussing the message topic at a future experimental session, whereas low-involvement (LI) Ss anticipated discussing a different topic. For HI Ss, opinion change was significantly greater given 6 arguments but was unaffected by communicator likability. For LI Ss, opinion change was significantly greater given a likable communicator but was unaffected by the argument's manipulation. In Exp II with 80 similar Ss, HI Ss showed slightly greater opinion change when exposed to 5 arguments from an unlikable (vs 1 argument from a likable) communicator, whereas LI Ss exhibited significantly greater persuasion in response to 1 argument from a likable (vs 5 arguments from an unlikable) communicator. Findings support the idea that HI leads message recipients to employ a systematic information processing strategy in which message-based cognitions mediate persuasion, whereas LI leads recipients to use a heuristic processing strategy in which simple decision rules mediate persuasion. Support was also obtained for the hypothesis that content- vs source-mediated opinion change would result in greater persistence. (37 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Communicator attractiveness and opinion change.

Presented a tape recorded persuasive communication to 120 college and high school students while a photograph of a man identified as the speaker was projected onto a screen. 3 groups of ss listened to the communication in the presence of either (a) a photograph of an attractive communicator, (b) a photograph of an unattractive communicator, or (c) no photograph at all. 2 additional groups of ss did not listen to the communications, but filled out the postcommunication questionnaire only in the presence of (a) the photograph of the attractive speaker, or (b) the photograph of the unattractive speaker. Attractive male communicators were more persuasive that unattractive male or unpictured communicators. This effect was independent of differences in perceived expertness or trustworthiness of the communicator. Explanations in terms of distraction, contiguous pleasure, and liking are discussed. (french summary) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Opinion congruence with a negative source on one issue as a factor influencing agreement on another issue.

An experiment was designed to test the hypothesis "that a statement by a communicator of opinion congruence with the communicates on an issue of importance to them will facilitate the opinion-change effectiveness of a following, persuasive communication on a different topic." The data collected on 120 college student Ss tended to confirm the hypothesis. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety indices related to susceptibility to persuasion.

Scores from three different anxiety scales were obtained from a self-rating personality questionnaire given to male college students. Each scale was studied in relation to a behavioral measure of persuasibility obtained by observing the opinion changes shown by 53 Ss after each was exposed to a series of five persuasive communications. The results give little support to the hypothesis that persons with a high degree of neurotic anxiety are predisposed to be relatively resistant to persuasive communications. The hypothesis that persons with relatively strong feelings of personal inadequacy are predisposed to be relatively highly influenced by persuasive communications is supported at about the .10 level of significance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of group expectations and self-esteem upon self-evaluation.

This study explores the effect of a specific level of achievement upon an individual's evaluations of his performance when the achievement is relative to an aspiration level set by a group and to the member's stabilized expectations about himself as represented by his self-esteem. Ss were assigned to one of 4 conditions, composed of the combinations of high and low group expectations and relevance and non-relevance of task to the purposes of the group. Half of the Ss within each experimental condition were allowed to succeed and the other half made to fail. Several specific hypotheses within this framework were tested. "The group's expectations appear to have been more potent as a scale of reference than the individual's self-esteem in determining his evaluation of his performance. When the influence of the group was weakest (task was non-relevant) persons high in self-esteem… differed in the way they evaluated their performance. When the influence of the group was strongest (task was relevant) there was no difference in the way that persons high or low in self-esteem rated their achievement." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of behavioral (reinforcement) and advice-giving counseling on information-seeking behavior.

Conducted a 2 * 3 factorial nested design study in which 4 counselors provided reinforcement or persuasive advice-giving to increase information seeking by 20 high and 20 low self-esteem undergraduates. A nonactive control group of 10 Ss was included. The 2 experimental groups were scheduled for 2 counseling interviews 1 wk. apart. A 3rd structured interview was scheduled 2 wk. later so all Ss could report their information-seeking behavior outside the interviews. Results demonstrate that behavioral reinforcement counseling is superior to advice-giving on 4 criterion measures: (a) counselees exhibited significantly higher frequency of verbal information-seeking behavior in the interview; (b) they engaged more in eventual information-seeking activities outside the interview (frequency and variety); (c) verbal and "eventual" information-seeking behaviors were significantly and positively correlated (generalization effect); and (d) student-counselor talk ratio was significantly higher. (44 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

When ego threats lead to self-regulation failure: Negative consequences of high self-esteem.

The tendency for people with high self-esteem to make inflated assessments and predictions about themselves carries the risk of making commitments that exceed capabilities, thus leading to failure. Ss chose their performance contingencies in a framework where larger rewards were linked to a greater risk of failure. In the absence of ego threat, Ss with high self-esteem showed superior self-regulation: They set appropriate goals and performed effectively. Ego threat, however, caused Ss with high self-esteem to set inappropriate, risky goals that were beyond their performance capabilities so they ended up with smaller rewards than Ss with low self-esteem. The results indicate the danger of letting egotistical illusions interfere with self-regulation processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Direct and vicarious reduction of hostility.

"Fifty Ss participated in a simulated interaction in which each was verbally attacked by a standard tape recording. Under three experimental conditions Ss (a) sat in silence after the attack, (b) heard a third person denounce the attacker, (c) were permitted to communicate back to the attacker themselves… . Results demonstrated… more residual hostility for low self-esteem Ss who were not allowed to reply to the aggressor… and very little actual aggression shown by any of the Ss who were allowed to communicate back to the aggressor after the attack." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Resolving the relationships between placebos, misattribution, and insomnia: An individual-differences perspective.

Hypothesized that insomniacs who are more attentive to internal bodily processes would be more apt to yield a reverse placebo effect (i.e., go to sleep faster when given an "arousal" placebo and vice versa), whereas those attentive to external stimuli would be more likely to be directly influenced by the suggested effects of the placebo. 30 insomniac college students completed trait measures of private body consciousness, private self-consciousness, and self-esteem. Ss were given placebos to take before bedtime and were told that the capsules had arousing or relaxing side effects. As predicted, Ss with high private body consciousness exhibited a stronger reverse placebo effect than did Ss low on this dimension. Subsequent analyses revealed that this effect was entirely attributable to the low- rather than to the high-self-esteem Ss. (22 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Feminine self-esteem, self-ratings of competence, and maternal career commitment.

Conducted a study with 71 college females to examine the relationship between self-esteem (as measured by Coopersmith's Self-Esteem Inventory) and self-ratings of competence on Rosenkrantz's Sex-Role Stereotype Questionnaire. Comparisons were made of Ss whose mothers differed in work history and attitudes toward careers. Higher self-esteem was predicted for Ss who rated themselves highly on competence-related traits; this hypothesis was supported. Higher self-esteem and higher self-ratings on competence were expected for Ss whose mothers worked and Ss whose mothers desired a career. Findings were that maternal preference for a career had a positive effect upon Ss' self-esteem and evaluations of their own competence; maternal employment did not. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Self-evaluation and assessments of performance by self and others.

Explored the relationship between self-esteem, the perception of competence, and actual competence when performance is attributed to oneself or to someone else. 44 male and 43 female undergraduates with high and low self-esteem performed a concept-formation task and evaluated their performance; 1 wk later they either rerated their own performance after watching a videotape of their previous session or rated the videotaped performance of "another S," actually a model who mimicked their previous performance. High-self-esteem Ss perceived themselves as doing better on the task than low-self-esteem Ss, although their performance was actually comparable. The 2 groups' evaluations differed only when they thought they were assessing themselves and not when they felt they were evaluating someone else. Potential mechanisms accounting for the differences in self-evaluations are explored. (34 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)