The moderating roles of self-esteem and self-construal in reaction to a threat to the self: evidence from the People's Republic of China and the United States

Abstract

The present research evaluated whether a well-established finding in the U.S.-based self-esteem literature (i.e., a positive relationship between trait self-esteem and self-protection following a threat to the self) was moderated by individuals' self-construal. Participants varying in self-esteem and degree of independent self-construal were studied in 2 different cultures: the United States and the People's Republic of China. Half of the participants received negative individual performance feedback, whereas the remaining half did not. For the U.S. sample (but not the People's Republic of China sample) as a whole, the authors observed a positive relationship between trait self-esteem and self-protection in response to negative feedback. However, the subset of participants from the People's Republic of China with more independent self-construals did exhibit a positive relationship between trait self-esteem and self-protection in response to negative feedback.