Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
J Pers Soc Psychol. 2010 Sep;99(3):513-29. doi: 10.1037/a0018558.
Social risk elicits self-esteem differences in signature social motivations and behaviors during the relationship-initiation process. In particular, the present research tested the hypothesis that lower self-esteem individuals' (LSEs) motivation to avoid rejection leads them to self-protectively underestimate acceptance from potential romantic partners, whereas higher self-esteem individuals' (HSEs) motivation to promote new relationships leads them to overestimate acceptance. The results of 5 experiments supported these predictions. Social risk increased activation of avoidance goals for LSEs on a word-recall task but increased activation of approach goals for HSEs, as evidenced by their increased use of likeable behaviors. Consistent with these patterns of goal activation, even though actual acceptance cues were held constant across all participants, social risk decreased the amount of acceptance that LSEs perceived from their interaction partner but increased the amount of acceptance that HSEs perceived from their interaction partner. It is important to note that such self-esteem differences in avoidance goals, approach behaviors, and perceptions of acceptance were completely eliminated when social risk was removed.
社会风险会在关系建立过程中引发自尊心差异，从而影响标志性的社会动机和行为。具体来说，本研究检验了以下假设：自尊心较低的个体（LSE）避免被拒绝的动机导致他们自我保护地低估潜在浪漫伴侣的接受程度，而自尊心较高的个体（HSE）促进新关系的动机导致他们高估接受程度。5 项实验的结果支持了这些预测。在单词回忆任务中，社会风险增加了 LSE 回避目标的激活，而 HSE 的接近目标的激活增加，这表现为他们更倾向于使用可爱的行为。与这些目标激活模式一致，尽管所有参与者的实际接受线索保持不变，但社会风险降低了 LSE 从互动伙伴那里感知到的接受程度，但增加了 HSE 从互动伙伴那里感知到的接受程度。需要注意的是，当消除社会风险时，回避目标、接近行为和接受感方面的自尊心差异就会完全消除。
