1. Does Self –Threat Promote Social Connection? Psychology Of Group Dynamics DPSD2 0903A 18 Jan 2010

2. Contents Overview Of Studies Study 1 Study2 Study3 Study4 Study 5 Study 6 Limitations Recommendations Conclusion The End

4. Examine whether initial social motives differed for people with high self-esteem vs. low self-esteem.

5. Hypothesized that HSE appearance contingent participants would express greater desire for social contact with close others following self threat while LSE avoid any forms of affiliation.

6. Expected the combination of trait self-esteem and appearance contingency of self-worth would shape responses to self-threat.

8. HSE- Expected to want to affiliate with close others

10. 100 graduate students (66 women, 34 men)

11. Participants were put in private cubicles to answer questionnaires

12. They are then assigned to 1 of 2 experimental conditionsAppearance threat condition Control condition

14. Participants were ordered pen down their flaws in self, namely their physical or body appearance which made them feel insecure or dissatisfied.

15. Control condition

16. Participants were told to observe the objects around the room where they are seated, think about all of it and again, list it down in a piece of paper provided.Afterwards, they indicated their desire to engage in various activities with close others. Participants were debriefed and dismissed.

18. Gender, race age were included as covariates in all studies.

19. As expected, HSE participants wants to affiliate more with close others and the otherwise for LSE.

20. The CSW for HSE is so much higher while for LSE, there were no effect observed.

22. Participants wrote an essay about dissatisfying appearance, rather than just the negatives

23. Elucidate the psychological mechanism which triggers appearance threats

25. 123 students (86 women, 37 men)

26. Seated in a private cubicle, as it is in study 1

27. Student wrote essays on the physical/body/face that they do not like about themselves

28. After the essay writing, students were provided with instructions that varied on experimental conditions : Neutral Self-affirmation Close relationship prime

30. List objects in the room

31. Self affirmation prime condition

32. List general strengths

33. Close relationship prime condition

35. Responses were eliminated. However, needs for self-esteem and sense of belonging were temporarily satisfied.

37. Participants receiving feedback from fellow participants.

40. Study 3 Results & Discussions: Results revealed only the predicted 3-way interaction between Self-esteem, Appearance CSW, and Condition . Among HSE participants in the appearance threat condition, having high appearance CSW was related to greater desire to be with close others . Among LSE participants in the appearance threat condition, having high appearance CSW was associated with less desire to engage in activities with close others. However, researchers had found an effect of appearance CSW among HSE participants in the negative competence feedback condition (i.e., high appearance CSW was associated with less desire for social contact).

42. HSE- Expected to have increased desire to affiliate with close other.

43. LSE- expected to avoid contact with both close and people in general as they perceived as a potential sources of rejection & negative evaluation.

45. Participants were told to write on the experience in relief by describing the situation where they hated how the appear to look like- Appearance threat condition

47. LSE avoided any form of contact.

48. It is also observed that, in the control condition appearance CSW was associated with greater desire to be with other people.

50. Improve their attractiveness

52. Seated at separate cubicles

53. RSE and appearance CSW scales

54. Randomly assigned to write an essay

55. They indicated their desire (1=not all to 7=very much)

57. The predicted three-way interaction

58. Pattern was not observed

59. Predicted HSE participants to have greater desire to engage in appearance activities

60. Overall results was……

62. Improve attractiveness

63. No direct or extensive contact with other people

64. Desires:

65. Diet or read fashion magazine

66. Alone, no involvement of interpersonal risk

67. Safe to receive a compliment about one’s appearance

69. Unexpected finding from the HSE appearance-contingent .

70. People with HSE perceived themselves as attractive and likable.

71. HSE appearance-contingent individuals may serve to maintain their already favorable self-perceptions of attractiveness and likeability.

73. Study 6 Method: 48 participants (24 women, 24 men) 1 female and 1 male in each session. Seated in separate rooms. Purpose of study was to…… They were brought together and then brought to separate rooms again. Randomly assigned for either positive or negative feedback. Manipulation checks and reported their desire to engage in appearance activities. Debriefed and dismissed.

75. Limitations Aim of this research was to identify the immediate motivational consequences of experiencing a threat to a domain of contingent self-worth, and to examine how these motivational consequences differed for people with HSE versus LSE. Accordingly, the dependent measures used captured a relatively direct, early-in-the-stream portrayal of people’s motivations. The studies reported here used relatively controlled and unambiguous forms of self-threat.

76. Limitations Another limitation pertains to the generalizability of the current findings. Another interpretation, however, is that the competence feedback .

77. Recommendations Future studies should examine the extent to which participants’ initial motivations lead to strategic behaviors aimed at social acceptance and self-enhancement. Future research might profitably examine whether self-esteem and contingencies of self-worth shape people’s tendency to view ambiguous social events as posing particular kinds of threats. Future studies would benefit from examining whether the specific domain on which people stake their self-worth has implications for the manner in which they cope with threat.

78. Conclusion Threats to the intellective self may motivate endeavors to restore one’s self-regard and sense of social belonging (MacDonald & Leary, 2005). People with HSE, who tend to feel positively regarded by others, responded to self-threat in a socially optimistic fashion, by seeking to affiliate directly with others as potential sources of reassurance and affirmation. In contrast, people with LSE, who tend to feel less positively regarded by others, responded in a socially cautious manner, by seeking to withdraw from others and to redress personal savors perceived to be deficient (i.e., by enhancing their attractiveness).

79. The End Thank You !!! Done by: Lithya Krishna Edora Mayangsari Chermaine Ng