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When Do Ego Threats Lead to Self-Regulation Failure? Negative Consequences of Defensive High Self-Esteem

Traci Mann

University of California, Los Angeles

High self-esteem (HSE) is increasingly recognized as heterogeneous. By measuring subtypes of HSE, the present research reevaluates the finding that HSE individuals show poor self-regulation following ego threat (Baumeister, Heatherton, & Tice, 1993). In Experiment 1, participants with HSE showed poor self-regulation after ego threat only if they also were defensive (high in self-presentation bias). In Experiment 2, two measures—self-presentation bias and implicit self-esteem—were used to subtype HSE individuals as defensive. Both operationalizations of defensive HSE predicted poor self-regulation after ego threat. The results indicate that (a) only defensive HSE individuals are prone to self-regulation failure following ego threat and (b) measures of self-presentation bias and implicit self-esteem can both be used to detect defensiveness.

Key Words: self-esteem • implicit self-esteem • self-regulation • ego threat • defensiveness

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