TITLE:
Self-Regulation to Maintain Moderate Self-Views: Prior Self-Regulation Increases Biases Related to Self-Esteem
AUTHORS:
Matthew T. Gailliot, Anne L. Zell
KEYWORDS:
Self-Esteem, Self-Views, Self-Control, Self-Regulation, Ego Depletion
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Access Library Journal,
Vol.1 No.8,
November
25,
2014
ABSTRACT: High self-esteem is associated with biases in which the person overestimates their positivity, whereas low self-esteem is associated with underestimations of one’s positivity. The current study examined whether these biases emerge more strongly when self-regulation is impaired. Participants first completed a task that either did or did not require self-regulation. They later interacted with another participant and indicated the extent to which they viewed themselves as having behaved positively during the interaction and to which the other participant viewed them positively. Higher self-esteem predicted a greater bias in overestimating the extent to which the other person viewed one positively, but this relationship was the strongest among participants who had completed the self-regulatory task. Past work has found that self-regulating impairs self-regulation later on. These findings therefore suggest that self-regulation is a mechanism through which personal biases are avoided and moderate views are maintained.