Abstract
The present studies tested whether people, particularly those who are most vulnerable to self-threats as indicated by low implicit self-esteem, adopt and express minority opinions to compensate for self-uncertainty. In Studies 1 through 3, low implicit self-esteem participants who were made to feel uncertain about themselves as individuals (versus uncertain about a self-irrelevant issue in Study 1, certain about themselves in Study 2, or uncertain about their group memberships in Study 3) expressed more disagreement with others' opinions. Additionally, Study 3 demonstrated that this effect is specific to minority opinions and does not emerge on majority opinions. In Study 4, the relation between self-uncertainty and disagreement with others' opinions was strongest among participants with both low implicit and high explicit self-esteem, who respond to self-threats in particularly defensive ways.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1300-1309 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Journal of Experimental Social Psychology |
Volume | 48 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Nov 2012 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Defensiveness
- Minority opinions
- Self-esteem
- Self-uncertainty
- Threat
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Psychology
- Sociology and Political Science