Implicit Self-Esteem, Explicit Self-Concept and Personality Traits Discrepancy

The present study investigated implicit self-esteem and its relationship to explicit self-concept and Big Five personality traits, using Greenwald and Farnham’s (2000) Implicit Association Test (IAT) for self-concept. Eighty undergraduate psychology students, age ranging from 18 to 55 years (M=22.53, SD=7.00), participated in the study at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Participant’s implicit self-esteem was assessed through an IAT, measuring reaction time (RT) to self-other and positive-negative words. Explicit self-concept was measured using the Rosenberg Self-Concept Scale (RSCS) and personality was assessed using the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R). RT of the pairings “self-positive” and “other-negative” as well as “self-negative” and “other-positive” were first added respectively and then subtracted to obtain an implicit self-esteem score. The latter scores were converted into Z-scores and subtracted from the RSCS scores to obtain the overall self-esteem discrepancy score between both implicit and explicit measures. The relationship between the IAT and RSCS as well as the overall self-esteem discrepancy (as measured by the IAT and RSCS) and the neuroticism factor (as measured by the NEO-PI-R) was investigated using Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient. A discrepancy between implicit and explicit aspects of self-concept were expected to show a positive relationship with NEO-PI-R Neuroticism factor and its six facets, but a negative relationship with the NEO-PI-R Extraversion factor. Correlations showed a strong positive correlation between NEO-PI-R Neuroticism and the discrepancy score (r=.51) and a positive medium-sized correlations with the NEO-PI-R Neuroticism facets: Depression (r=.48); Angry Hostility (r=.34); and Self-Consciousness (r=.44). As predicted, there was also a medium-sized negative relationship between the discrepancy score and the NEO-PI-R Extraversion factor (r=-.41). Further research is needed to replicate these results and to explore further relationships between neuroticism and implicit self-concept measures