1. Introduction
Research Question:
How do attachment style and rejection sensitivity influence the
effect of self-affirmation on an individual’s response to social
rejection?
Past Literatures Shows:
(1) Self-affirmation has a positive effect on sense of security
and social behavior (Stinson, Logel, Shepherd, and Zanna,
2011)
(2) Self-affirmation intervenes in the threat-potential startle
response and behavioral inhibition system, thus decreasing
negative affect(Crowell, Page-Gould, and Schmeichel, 2015)
(3) Individuals that are anxiously attached or high in rejection
sensitivity respond to social rejection with high negative
affect(Kang, Downey, Iida, and Rodriguez, 2009)
Rationale:
If self-affirmation increases positive affect and decreases
threat-response activation, can it reduce the heightened
negative affect experienced by individuals with high rejection
sensitivity and anxious attachment when faced with social
rejection?
Hypotheses:
Main Effect: The participants in the Self-Affirmation condition
will mark a higher number of positive emotion choices on the
PANAS-X scale compared to those not in the self-affirmation
condition.
Moderator Effect: Individuals that score high in anxious
attachment will select fewer negative emotions in PANAS-x if
they are in the Self-Affirmation condition as compared to those
that score high in anxious attachment that are in the non Self-
Affirmation condition.
Moderator Effect: Individuals that score high in rejection
sensitivity will select fewer negative emotions in the PANAS-X
scale if they are in the Self-Affirmation condition as compared
to those that score high in rejection sensitivity that are in the
non Self-Affirmation condition.
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Drs. Woods and LaGuardia for
the energy they dedicated to this class. Many thanks to
Jeff Hunger for always making himself available to us in
our times of need.
Results
Self-Affirmation Condition x Anxious
Attachment on Response to Social Rejection
Ø No significant main effect of the self-affirmation
condition on the response to social rejection (as measured
by PANAS-X).
Ø No significant effect of anxious attachment on
responses to social rejection.
Ø There was no significant interaction effect on response
to social rejection
Self-Affirmation Condition x Rejection
Sensitivity on Response to Social Rejection
Ø No significant main effect of the self-affirmation
condition on the response to social rejection (as measured
by PANAS-X).
Ø No significant effect of rejection sensitivity on responses
to social rejection.
Ø There was no significant interaction effect on response
to social rejection
Conclusions
Directions for Future Research
Ø Intentional recruitment of anxiously attached
individuals in order to more properly observe the
desired effect.
Ø Further investigation on RSQ and self-affirmation,
as RSQ appeared to be effected by the manipulation.
Ø Possible revision of the specific self-affirmation task
(more specific rules/directions) in order to ensure that
the participant is actively engaged in the task.
Conclusion: Although there were no significant
effects of self-affirmation on participants’ affect, prior
literature supports the positive influences of self-
affirmation on anxiously attached and rejection
sensitive individuals, making further research
beneficial.
Jocelyn
Lopez,
Sydney
Wigglesworth,
Emma
Teresko,
Neha
Pearce,
&
Gerardo
Gonzalez
–
Psy.
120L
Spring
2015
Design
Independent Variable
Ø self-affirmation: self-affirmation manipulation vs. no manipulation
Dependent Variable
Ø response to three rejection-based vignettes via the PANAS-X scale (guilt, sadness, self assurance subscales)
Moderators
Ø Level of anxious attachment
Ø Anxiety subscale of Adult Attachment Scale (Collins 1990)
Ø E.g. “In relationships, I often worry that my partner will not want to stay with me”
Ø Rejection Sensitivity
Ø Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire
Ø Participants rated their level of concern/anxiety about how another would respond to an ambiguous situation (e.g. you ask your
parents to come to an occasion that is important to you)
Literature Cited
Ø Stinson, D. A., Logel, C., Shepherd, S., & Zanna, M. P. (2011).
Rewriting the self-fulfilling prophecy of social rejection: Self-
affirmation improves relational security and social behavior up to 2
months later. Psychological Science, 22(9), 1145-1149.
Ø Crowell, A., Page-Gould, E., & Schmeichel, B. J. (2015). Self-
affirmation breaks the link between the behavioral inhibition system
and the threat-potentiated startle response. Emotion, 15(2),
146-150.
Ø Kang, N. J., Downey, G., Iida, M., & Rodriguez, S. (2009).
Rejection sensitivity: A model of how individual difference factors
affect the experience of hurt feelings in conflict and
support. Feeling hurt in close relationships. (pp. 73-91) Cambridge
University Press, New York, NY.
No significant interaction of self-affirmation and anxious attachment
on guilt response to social rejection[F(1,44)= 0.033,n.s.].
No significant interaction of anxious attachment and self-
affirmation on self-assurance response to social rejection
[F(1,44)=0.084,n.s.].
No significant interaction effect of self-affirmation and anxious
attachment on sadness response to social
rejection[F(1,44)=2.293,n.s.].
Discussion
Main Findings
Ø The self-affirmation manipulation did not produce a
significant main effect on participants’ affect in
response to social rejection.
Ø There was no significant main effect of level of
anxious attachment on participants’ affect in response
to social rejection.
Ø There was no significant interaction between the self-
affirmation condition and level of anxious attachment
on participants’ affect in response to social rejection.
Ø There was a marginal effect of the self-affirmation
condition on rejection sensitivity as measured by the
Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire (Downey, G &
Feldman, S. I. 1996)
Limitations
Ø Effects of awareness on self-affirmation, such that
awareness may hinder the impact of self-affirmation
(Sherman et al. 2009).
Ø Low levels of anxious attachment in sample.
Ø Attachment scale focus on romantic relationships
Materials and Methods
Participants
Ø 44 UCSB undergraduates enrolled in Psy 120L
Ø Males: 17, Females: 27
Ø Mean Age: 21
Procedure
Ø Participants take Anxiety Subscale and are randomly split
into one of the two self-affirmation conditions
Ø Self-affirmation task: rank 11 values from most to least
important (creativity, social skills, sense of humor)
Ø Self-affirmation manipulation: write about most important
Ø Control: write about least important
Ø Participants read three rejection-based vignettes, each of
which is followed by the PANAS-X
Ø Rate to what extent the person in the story feels these
emotions
Ø Participants take Rejection Sensitivity Questionnaire