Gender moderates the relation between implicit and explicit self-esteem

Relative to men, women are more strongly socialized to trust their feelings and intuitions. We thus expected that the association between implicit and explicit self-esteem would be stronger for women than for men. That is, if implicit self-esteem contains a large intuitive, experiential or affective component, then people who are in touch with their feelings and intuitions should be more likely to report explicit self-esteem scores that are congruent with their implicit self-esteem scores. Six studies supported this idea by showing that the association between implicit and explicit self-esteem is indeed stronger for women than for men. This finding held in three different cultures and for two different measures of implicit self-esteem. We discuss the implications of this finding for debates regarding the nature and validity of implicit self-esteem. © 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Who Would Pay for Facebook? Self Esteem as a Predictor of User Behavior, Identity Construction and Valuation of Virtual Possessions

Abstract. Self-presentation is a major preoccupation in Facebook. Users carefully construct their online profile and assiduously edit postings on their wall in order to strategically shape their online persona. This study examines some psychological antecedents and consequences of such actions. In particular, we propose that users ’ self-esteem affects their sense of agency and self-monitoring tendencies, with the former leading to a fuller description of their profile and the latter contributing to more frequent customization of their wall. In turn, these behaviors are hypothesized to contribute to users ’ personal and social identity respectively, en route to affecting their valuation of Facebook as a virtual possession. Structural equation modeling analysis of survey data (N=221) largely supports this model and reveals that the personal identity reflected in one’s Facebook account is a major predictor of the degree to which one values it as a possession. We discuss the implications of “I ” vs. “Me ” in self-esteem with regard to virtual possessions in social networking environments