title: Self-Esteem Depends on the Beholder: Effects of a Subtle Social Value Cue.
abstract: The idea that self-esteem functions as a gauge or "sociometer" of social value (Leary & Baumeister, 2000) is supported by research on direct social feedback. To examine if the sociometer model is relevant to more subtle social value cues, the implicit self-esteem of women was assessed a week after an interaction with an experimenter. Consistent with the sociometer model, Week 2 self-esteem depended on a subtle social value cue encountered during Week 1. When the Week 1 experimenter wore a t-shirt celebrating larger bodies (i.e., "everyBODY is beautiful"), heavier women had higher self-esteem than lighter women in Week 2. As hypothesized, this effect was relationship-specific, occurring only when the same experimenter administered Week 1 and 2 sessions.
authors.affiliation: Tufts University.
authors.forename: Max
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Weisbuch
authors.forename: Stacey A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Sinclair
authors.forename: Jeanine L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Skorinko
authors.forename: Collette P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Eccleston