The Perfect Match: Investigating the Role of Individual Strategy Preferences in Self-Esteem Regulation

Individuals employ different strategies to protect their self-esteem when confronted with a threat. Self-affirmation and self-protection are two prominent strategies discussed in the literature. Individuals appear to differ in their tendency and preference for using these strategies, indicating that personal differences significantly influence responses to self- esteem threats. This experimental study aims to examine whether individuals are better able to safeguard their self- esteem in response to a threat when they employ a preferred self-esteem regulation strategy rather than a strategy that does not align with their preference. 55 healthy German-speaking participants (18-50 years) will be recruited via SONA Systems, social media, and flyers. After providing demographic information, participants will complete the Spontaneous Self-Affirmation Measure, the Self- Enhancement Self-Protection Scale and the Six-Item State Self-Esteem Scale (SSES-6). Participants will then complete a deceptive verbal intelligence test and receive negative bogus feedback before reassessing self-esteem. They will then be randomly assigned to a self-affirmation or self-protection intervention. After the intervention, they will rate how well the task aligned with their usual approach to challenging situations. Finally, they will complete the SSES-6 again, followed by a Xenophobic Attitudes Questionnaire as a measure of defensiveness, before being debriefed.