The Nature of Implicit Self-esteem: Evidence from Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST)

YANG Fu-Xi; LIANG Ning-Jian; CHEN Jin

PDF(519 KB)

Journal of Psychological Science ›› 2013, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (6) : 1375-1382.

The Nature of Implicit Self-esteem: Evidence from Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST)

Author information +

History +

Abstract

Researches have shown increasing interest in implicit self-esteem in the past few years because it was demonstrated that implicit self-esteem was one of the most important components of the self and had many clinical implications. The main indirect tool used to measure implicit self-esteem these years was Implicit Association Test (IAT). However, IAT had some limitations in measuring implicit self-esteem, the most important of which was that it can only detect a relative attitude toward oneself contrast to his/her attitude toward others instead of his/her pure implicit self attitude. The Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST) developed by De Houwer (2003) could solve this problem. With randomly sampled 109 undergraduate students as subjects, using the EAST (De Houwer, 2003) developed in recent years as a indirect measure of implicit attitude, this study focused on the effectiveness of EAST on implicit self-esteem measurement and hence explore the nature of implicit self-esteem. The results indicated that: (1) people were prone to associate themselves with positive evaluating or feelings and associate others with negative evaluating or feelings, which indicated the nature of implicit self-esteem; (2) the implicit self-esteem effect could be expected to be unconscious positive evaluation for the self; (3) the implicit self-esteem effect was significantly stronger on trials where the self-referent stimulus was the name of the participant than on trials where the self-referent stimuli were generic words, demonstrating that names were more representative for the concept self than self-referent generic words; (4) participants’ implicit attitude toward others’ names was less negative than their implicit attitude toward other-referent generic words, indicating they held relatively neutral attitude toward others’ name, which had some Chinese culture implication. The present study demonstrates that EAST is valid to detect implicit self-esteem and it can measure individuals’ intensity and direction of implicit attitude toward themselves and others. EAST provides a new valid instrument for the studies on implicit self-esteem, although there is some suggestions to be followed when researchers are using it.

Key words

implicit self-esteem / Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST) / Implicit Association Test (IAT)

Cite this article

EndNote

Ris (Procite)

Bibtex

Download Citations

The Nature of Implicit Self-esteem: Evidence from Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST)[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2013, 36(6): 1375-1382

References

[1]蔡华俭..内隐自尊效应及内隐自尊与外显自尊的关系[J].心理学报,2003,35:796-801
[2]蔡华俭..外显自尊、内隐自尊与抑郁的关系[J].中国心理卫生杂志,2003,17:331-336
[3]蔡华俭, 杨治良..内隐自尊的稳定性——成败操纵对内隐自尊的影响[J].心理科学,2003,26:461-464
[4]常丽, 杜建政..内隐自尊的功能: 缓冲器, 还是滤波器[J].心理科学,2007,30:1017-1019
[5]耿晓伟, 郑全全..中国文化中自尊结构的内隐社会认知研究[J].心理科学,2005,28:379-382
[6]耿晓伟, 郑全全..自尊对主观幸福感预测的内隐社会认知研究[J].中国临床心理学杂志,2008,16:243-246
[7]耿晓伟, 张峰，郑全全..外显与内隐自尊对大学生主观幸福感的预测[J].心理发展与教育,2009,25:97-102
[8]梁宁建, 杨福义, 陈进..青少年内隐自尊与自我防卫关系研究[J].心理科学,2008,31:1082-1085
[9]吴明证, 杨福义..自尊结构与心理健康关系研究[J].中国临床心理学杂志,2006,14:297-299
[10]杨福义, 梁宁建..内隐自尊与外显自尊的关系: 多重内隐测量的视角[J].心理科学,2007,30:785-790
[11]杨福义, 梁宁建..早期经验对青少年内隐自尊的影响[J].心理科学,2008,31:556-561
[12]周帆, 王登峰..人格特质与外显自尊和内隐自尊的关系[J].心理学报,2005,37:100-105
[13]De Houwer, J..The extrinsic affective Simon task[J].Experimental Psychology,2003,50:77-85
[14]De Jong, P. J., & Maastricht, U..Implicit self-esteem and social anxiety: differential self-favouring effects in high and low anxious individuals[J].Behaviour Research and Therapy,2002,40:501-508
[15]De Houwer, J., Crombez, G., Koster, E. H. W., & De Beul, N..Implicit alcohol-related cognitions in a clinical sample of heavy drinkers[J].Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry,2004,35:275-286
[16]Degner, J., & Wentura, D..The extrinsic affective Simon task as an instrument for indirect assessment of prejudice[J].European Journal of Social Psychology,2008,38:1033-1043
[17]Dijksterhuis, A..I like myself but I don’t know why: Enhancing implicit self-esteem by subliminal evaluative conditioning[J].Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,2004,86:345-
[18]Ellwart, T., Becker, E. S., & Rinck, M..Activation and measurement of threat associations in fear of spiders: An application of the extrinsic affective Simon task[J].Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry,2005,36:281-299
[19]Epstein, S., & Morling, B. (1995). Is the self motivated to do more than enhance and/or verify itself? In M. H. Kernis (Ed.), Efficacy, agency, and self-esteem (pp. 9–29). New York: Plenum
[20]Franck, E., De Raedt, R., & De Houwer, J..Activation of latent self-schemas as a cognitive vulnerability factor for depression: The potential role of implicit self-esteem[J].Cognition and Emotion,2008,22:1588-1599
[21]Greenwald, A. G., & Banaji, M. R..Implicit social cognition: Attitude, self-esteem, and stereotype[J].Psychological Review,1995,102:4-27
[22]Greenwald, A. G., McGhee, D. E., & Schwarz, J. L. K..Measuring individual differences in implicit cognition: The implicit association test[J].Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,1998,74:1464-1480
[23]Greenwald, A. G., & Farnham, S. D..Using the implicit association test to measure self-esteem and self-concept[J].Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,2000,79:102-1038
[24]Huijding, J., & De Jong, P..A modified Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST) to assess the affective value of pictorial stimuli: No influence of age and educational level[J].Psychologica Belgica,2005,45:241-255
[25]Jordan, C. H., Spencer, S. J., & Zanna, M. P..Types of high self-esteem and prejudice: How implicit self-esteem relates to ethnic discrimination among high explicit self-esteem individuals[J].Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin,2005,31:693-702
[26]Rothermund, K, & Wentura, D..Figure-ground asymmetries in Implicit Association Test[J].Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie,2001,48:94-106
[27]Szeto, Andrew C. H., Sorrentino, Richard M., Yasunaga, S., Otsubo, Y., Kouhara, S., & Sasayama, I. (2009). Using the implicit association test across cultures: A case of implicit self-esteem in Japan and Canada. Asian Journal of Social Psychology, 12, 211-220
[28]Teigh, S., Schnabel, K., Banse, R, & Asendorf, J. B..Assessment of multiple implicit self-concept dimensions: Using the Extrinsic Affective Simon Task (EAST)[J].European Journal of Personality,2004,18:495-520
[29]Vater, A., Schr?der-Abé, M., Schütz, A., Lammers, Claas-Hinrich, & Roepke, S..Discrepancies between explicit and implicit self-esteem are linked to symptom severity in borderline personality disorder[J].Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry,2010,41:357-364
[30]Voss, A., & Klauer, K. C..Cognitive processes in the extrinsic affective Simon task: A task-set switching account of East effects[J].Experimental Psychology,2007,54:71-82