Self-esteem, Social Inclusionary Status, and Inhibition of Rejection

Two studies examined the activation of acceptance and rejection cognitions following inclusion and exclusion for high self-esteem (HSEs) and low self-esteem individuals (LSEs). In Study 1, participants were primed with inclusion and exclusion words via words on a computer screen, whereas, in Study 2, participants were included or excluded from a laboratory work group. In both studies, participants completed a lexical decision task (LDT) with acceptance and rejection words as the targets of interest. We found that HSEs inhibited thoughts of rejection following both exclusion and inclusion; they were slower at recognizing rejection words following inclusion and exclusion primes compared to control primes. For LSEs, we found that rejection and acceptance words were equally accessible across prime conditions suggesting that they are vigilant for signs related to how others view them across situations.