Effect of Social Exclusion on State Explicit & Implicit Self-esteem and the Moderating role of Trait Self-esteem

This study aimed to examine the effect of social exclusion on state self-esteem at both implicit and explicit levels and the moderating role of trait implicit and explicit self-esteem in this relation. It was an experimental study with one between-subjects factor (acceptance, rejection). Participants were 110 individuals (80% women) with a mean age of 27.4 years who participated in this study voluntarily and online in fall 1400. They first responded to measures of explicit and implicit trait self-esteem then received the social exclusion manipulation by "writing about previous experience" and finally responded to measures of explicit and implicit state self-esteem. Rosenberg self-esteem scale (Rosenberg, 1965) and single-item self-esteem scale (Donnellan et al., 2015) were used to measure explicit self-esteem. Implicit Association Test (Greenwald & Farnham, 2000) and Name-Letter Test (Kitayama & Karasawa, 1997) were used to assess implicit self-esteem. Consistent with sociometer theory, implicit state self-esteem was lower in response to the rejection condition compared to the acceptance condition. In contrast, explicit state self-esteem was not different between the acceptance and rejection conditions. One possible explanation for this finding is the activation of conscious defense mechanisms to protect self-esteem in response to the experience of social rejection. The effect of social exclusion on implicit state self-esteem was not moderated with either explicit or implicit trait self-esteem. whereas the effect of social exclusion on explicit state self-esteem was moderated with both explicit and implicit trait self-esteem. The effect of social exclusion on explicit state self-esteem was moderated such that explicit state self-esteem of participants with either high implicit or low explicit trait self-esteem was less vulnerable to the experience of social exclusion. Differences of explicit and implicit state self-esteem in response to social exclusion in different levels of explicit and implicit trait self-esteem need further investigation.