The present study investigates the effect of ambiguous rejection(e.g., people are ignored by others)and obvious rejection(e.g., people are negatively evaluated by others)on predictions of future rejection. One hundred and thirty-seven male and female undergraduates were asked to imagine situations in which they were either accepted, rejected implicitly, or rejected explicitly, and to complete a questionnaire. The results suggest that social rejection lowered participants\u27 state self-esteem and boosted the perceived likelihood of future rejection by the rejecter. However, social rejection did not boost the perceived likelihood of future rejection by people they didn\u27t already know. Although there was no difference between ambiguous rejection and obvious rejection generally, males were less likely than females to lower their state self-esteem in cases of obvious rejection. The results are discussed from the perspective of sociometer theory
