Four experiments explored how extraversion’s connection with self-esteem may depend on specific self-enhancement strategies. Participants’ self-esteem threatening feedback indicating that they had performed poorly on a vocabulary or emotional intelligence test. In Experiment 1, participants (N = 80) were randomly assigned to either a control condition (no self-enhancement) or a downward social comparison condition. The procedures for Experiments 2 (N = 470) and 3 (N = 514) were similar, adding a self-serving attribution condition (Experiments 2 and 3) and Basking-in-Reflected-Glory (BIRG) condition (Experiment 3). Across the experiments, extraversion was more related to self-esteem under downward social comparison versus other conditions. BIRGing produced higher self-esteem in Experiment 3 across extraversion levels. Experiment 4 (N = 355) focused on downward social comparison versus control, and provided evidence that an increased perception of being similar to the comparison targets may partially explain extraversion’s self-esteem link. Theoretical implications concerning both extraversion and self-enhancement are discussed.
AshtonM. C.LeeK.PaunonenS. (2002). What is the central feature of extraversion? Social attention versus reward sensitivity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 245–252.
2.
BakkerB. N.LelkesY. (2018). Selling ourselves short? How abbreviated measures of personality change the way we think about personality and politics. The Journal of Politics, 80, 1311–1325.
3.
BeauregardK. S.DunningD. (1998). Turning up the contrast: Self-enhancement motives prompt egocentric contrast effects in social judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(3), 606–621.
4.
ByrneD. (1971). The attraction paradigm. Academic Press.
5.
CampbellW. K.SedikidesC. (1999). Self-threat magnifies the self-serving bias: A meta-analytic integration. Review of General Psychology, 3, 23–43.
6.
CarlsmithJ. M.EllsworthP. C.AronsonE. (1976). Methods of Research in Social Psychology. Addison-Wesley.
7.
ChandlerJ.MuellerP.PaolacciG. (2014). Nonnaïveté among Amazon Mechanical Turk workers: Consequences and solutions for behavioral researchers. Behavior Research Methods, 46(1), 112–130.
8.
CialdiniR. B.BordenR. J.ThorneA.WalkerM. R.FreemanS.SloanL. R. (1976). Basking in reflected glory: Three (football) field studies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 34, 366–375.
9.
CialdiniR. B.RichardsonK. D. (1980). Two indirect tactics of image management: Basking and blasting. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 39, 406–415.
10.
CostaP. T.Jr & McCraeR. R. (1992). Normal personality assessment in clinical practice: The NEO Personality Inventory. Psychological Assessment, 4, 5–13.
11.
EdwardsJ. R.LambertL. S. (2007). Methods for integrating moderation and mediation: A general analytical framework using moderated path analysis. Psychological Methods, 12, 1–22.
12.
EysenckH. J. (1967). The biological basis of personality. Thomas.
13.
EysenckH. J. (1990). Biological dimensions of personality. In PervinL. A. (Ed.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 244–276). Guilford.
14.
FestingerL. (1954). A theory of social comparison processes. Human Relations, 7, 117–140.
15.
FrancisL. J. (1997). The relationship between Rosenberg’s construct of self-esteem and Eysenck’s two-dimensional model of personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 21, 483–488.
16.
FurrR. M.RosenthalR. (2003). Evaluating theories efficiently: The nuts and bolts of contrast analysis. Understanding Statistics: Statistical Issues in Psychology, Education, and the Social Sciences, 2(1), 33–36.
17.
GibbonsF. X.BuunkB. P. (1999). Individual differences in social comparison: Development of a scale of social comparison orientation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 76(1), 129–142.
18.
GilbertD. T.GieslerR. B.MorrisK. A. (1995). When comparisons arise. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(2), 227–236.
19.
HeathertonT. F.PolivyJ. (1991). Development and validation of a scale for measuring state self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 60(6), 895–910.
20.
JohnO. P.DonahueE. M.KentleR. L. (1991). The Big Five Inventory—versions 4a and 54. University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Personality and Social Research.
21.
JonesA. M.BuckinghamJ. T. (2005). Self–esteem as a moderator of the effect of social comparison on women’s body image. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 24(8), 1164–1187.
22.
JungC. G. (1971). Psychological types (HullR. F. C.BaynesH. G., Trans.). Princeton University Press. (Original work published 1923)
23.
KawashG. F. (1982). A structural analysis of self-esteem from pre-adolescence through young adulthood: Anxiety and extraversion as agents in the development of self-esteem. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 38, 301–311.
24.
LarsonJ. R. (1977). Evidence for a self-serving bias in the attribution of causality. Journal of Personality, 45, 430–441.
25.
LeeR. M.DeanB.JungK. (2008). Social connectedness, extraversion, and subjective well-being: Testing a mediation model. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 656–667.
26.
LeonardelliG. J.PickettC. L.BrewerM. B. (2010). Optimal distinctiveness theory: A framework for social identity, social cognition, and intergroup relations. In ZannaM. P.OlsonJ. M. (Eds.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 43, pp. 63–113). Academic Press.
27.
LucasR. E.LeK.DyrenforthP. S. (2008). Explaining the extraversion/positive affect relation: Sociability cannot account for extraverts’ greater happiness. Journal of Personality, 76, 385–414.
28.
LuhtanenR.CrockerJ. (1992). A collective self-esteem scale: Self-evaluation of one’s social identity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18(3), 302–318.
29.
MalouffJ. M.ThorsteinssonE. B.SchutteN. S.BhullarN.RookeS. E. (2010). The five-factor model of personality and relationship satisfaction of intimate partners: A meta-analysis. Journal of Research in Personality, 44, 124–127.
30.
MarigoldD. C.CavalloJ. V.HolmesJ. G.WoodJ. V. (2014). You can’t always give what you want: The challenge of providing social support to low self-esteem individuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 107(1), 56–80.
31.
MarkusH. (1977). Self-schemata and processing information about the self. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35(2), 63–78.
32.
MayerJ. D.SaloveyP.CarusoD. R.SitareniosG. (2003). Measuring emotional intelligence with the MSCEIT V2.0. Emotion, 3, 97–105.
33.
McCraeR. R.CostaP. T.Jr (1987). Validation of the five-factor model of personality across instruments and observers. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(1), 81–90.
34.
MillerC. B. (2009). Yes we did! Basking in reflected glory and cutting off reflected failure in the 2008 presidential election. Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, 9, 283–296.
35.
MillerD. T.RossM. (1975). Self-serving biases in the attribution of causality: Fact or fiction. Psychological Bulletin, 82(2), 213–225.
36.
MullerD.JuddC. M.YzerbytV. Y. (2005). When moderation is mediated and mediation is moderated. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89, 852–863.
37.
MurrayS. L.RoseP.BellaviaG.HolmesJ. G.KuscheA. (2002). When rejection stings: How self-esteem constrains relationship enhancement processes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83, 556–573.
38.
NussbaumA. D.DweckC. S. (2008). Defensiveness versus remediation: Self-theories and modes of self-esteem maintenance. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(5), 599–612.
39.
PaunonenS. V. (2003). Big Five factors of personality and replicated predictions of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(2), 411–424.
40.
PreacherK. J.RuckerD. D.MacCallumR. C.NicewanderW. A. (2005). Use of the extreme groups approach: A critical reexamination and new recommendations. Psychological Methods, 10(2), 178–192.
41.
RosenbergM. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. University Press.
42.
RossS. R.RauschM. K.CanadaK. E. (2003). Competition and cooperation in the five-factor model: Individual differences in achievement orientation. The Journal of Psychology, 137(4), 323–337.
43.
RyckmanR. M.HammerM.KaczorL. M.GoldJ. A. (1990). Construction of a hypercompetitive attitude scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 55(3–4), 630–639.
44.
RyckmanR. M.ThorntonB.ButlerJ. C. (1994). Personality correlates of the hypercompetitive attitude scale: Validity tests of Horney’s theory of neurosis. Journal of Personality Assessment, 62(1), 84–94.
45.
SchmittD. P.AllikJ. (2005). Simultaneous administration of the Rosenberg self-esteem scale in 53 nations: Exploring the universal and culture-specific features of global self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 89(4), 623–642.
46.
ScollonC. N.DienerE. (2006). Love, work, and changes in extraversion and neuroticism over time. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91(6), 1152–1165.
47.
SedikidesC. (1993). Assessment, enhancement, and verification determinants of the self-evaluation process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(2), 317–338.
48.
SedikidesC.GaertnerL.ToguchiY. (2003). Pancultural self-enhancement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 84(1), 60–79.
49.
SedikidesC.StrubeM. J. (1997). Self-evaluation: To thine own self be good, to thine own self be sure, to thine own self be true, and to thine own self be better. In ZannaM. P. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 29, pp. 209–269). Academic Press.
50.
SolomonS.GreenbergJ.PyszczynskiT. (1991). A terror management theory of social behavior: The psychological functions of self-esteem and cultural worldviews. In ZannaM. P. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 24, pp. 93–159). Academic Press.
51.
SpencerS. J.JosephsR. A.SteeleM. (1993). Low self-esteem: The uphill struggle for self-integrity. In BaumeisterR. (Ed.), Self-esteem: The puzzle of low self-regard (pp. 21–36). Plenum.
52.
StanleyD. J.SpenceJ. R. (2014). Expectations for replications: Are yours realistic?Perspectives on Psychological Science, 9(3), 305–318.
53.
SwickertR.HittnerJ. B.KitosN.Cox-FuenzalidaL. (2004). Direct or indirect, that is the question. A re-evaluation of extraversion’s influence on self-esteem. Personality and Individual Differences, 36, 207–217.
54.
SwickertR.RosentretesC. J.HittnerJ. B.MushrushJ. E. (2002). Extraversion, social support processes, and stress. Personality and Individual Differences, 32, 877–891.
55.
TafjelH.TurnerJ. C. (1979). An integrative theory of intergroup conflict. In AustinW. G.WorchelS. (Eds.), The social psychology of intergroup relations (pp. 33–47). Brooks-Cole.
56.
TaylorS. E.BrownJ. D. (1988). Illusion and well-being: A social psychological perspective on mental health. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 193–210.
57.
TesserA. (1988). Toward a self-evaluation maintenance model of social behavior. In BerkowitzL. (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp. 181–227). Academic Press.
58.
TesserA. (2000). On the confluence of self-esteem maintenance mechanisms. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4(4), 290–299.
59.
UzielL. (2007). Individual differences in the social facilitation effect: A review and meta-analysis. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, 579–601.
60.
Van der LindenD.ScholteR. H.CillessenA. H.te NijenhuisJ.SegersE. (2010). Classroom ratings of likeability and popularity are related to the Big Five and the general factor of personality. Journal of Research in Personality, 44(5), 669–672.
61.
WatsonD.ClarkL. A.TellegenA. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063–1070.
62.
WheelerL. (2000). Individual differences in social comparison. In SulsJ. M.WheelerL. (Eds.), Handbook of social comparison (pp. 141–158). Springer.
63.
WillsT. A. (1981). Downward comparison principles in social psychology. Psychological Bulletin, 90, 245–271.
64.
WilsonA. E.RossM. (2000). The frequency of temporal-self and social comparisons in people’s personal appraisals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78(5), 928–942.
65.
WoodJ. V.TaylorS. E.LictmanR. R. (1985). Social comparison in adjustment to breast cancer. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49(5), 1169–1183.
66.
WuP. C.FooM. D.TurbanD. B. (2008). The role of personality in relationship closeness, developer assistance, and career success. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 73(3), 440–448.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
