title: Never let them see you cry: self-presentation as a moderator of the relationship between exclusion and self-esteem.
abstract: A debate exists concerning whether exclusion harms self-esteem. We hypothesized that social exclusion does harm self-esteem, but that this effect is evident only when self-presentational concerns to "appear fine" are minimal or people are unable to alter their report of self-esteem. In the first three studies, participants' explicit and implicit self-esteem were measured following an exclusion or comparison condition where self-presentational pressures were likely high. Because respondents can easily control their reports on explicit measures, but not on implicit ones, we hypothesized that exclusion would result in lower self-esteem only when implicit measures were used. Results confirmed this hypothesis. In the final study, self-presentational concerns were directly manipulated. When self-presentational concerns were high, only implicit self-esteem was lowered by exclusion. But, when such concerns were low, this impact on self-esteem was seen on implicit and explicit measures. Implications for the sociometer hypothesis and the recent self-esteem debate are discussed.
authors.affiliation: 1Penn State Abington, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Michael J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Bernstein
authors.forename: Heather M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Claypool
authors.forename: Steven G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Taylor
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tuscherer
authors.forename: Donald F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Sacco
authors.forename: Christina M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D003142:Communication; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012649:Self Concept; D012934:Social Isolation / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: ostracism; rejection; self-esteem; self-presentation; social exclusion