title: Genetic and Environmental Sources of Implicit and Explicit Self-Esteem and Affect: Results from a Genetically Sensitive Multi-group Design.
abstract: In today's world, researchers frequently utilize indirect measures of implicit (i.e., automatic, spontaneous) evaluations. The results of several studies have supported the usefulness of these measures in predicting behavior, as compared to utilizing direct measures of explicit (i.e., purposeful, deliberate) evaluations. A current, under-debate issue concerns the origin of these implicit evaluations. The present genetically sensitive multi-group study analyzed data from 223 twin pairs and 222 biological core families to estimate possible genetic and environmental sources of individual differences in implicit and explicit self-esteem and affect. The results show that implicit self-esteem and affect maintain a substantial genetic basis, but demonstrate little influence from the shared environment by siblings (e.g., shared familial socialization in childhood). A bivariate analysis found that implicit and explicit evaluations of the same construct share a common genetic core which aligns with the motivation and opportunity as determinants (MODE) model.
authors.affiliation: Research Methods, Assessment, and iScience, Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, 78464, Constance, Germany. stefan.stieger@uni-konstanz.de.|Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, School of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria. stefan.stieger@uni-konstanz.de.
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-7784-6624
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stieger
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kandler
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, School of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Ulrich S
authors.initials: US
authors.lastname: Tran
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Psychology: Health, Development, Enhancement and Intervention, School of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Jakob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pietschnig
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, School of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Voracek
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014427:Twins / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Environment; Genetically sensitive multi-group design; Genetics; Implicit measurement; Positive and negative affect; Self-esteem