People are motivated to establish and maintain a positive self-image. When people fail to attain their goals self-esteem is threatened, and this elicits the motivation to protect or repair self-esteem. We investigated whether success and failure to attain goals affects self-esteem if these goals were unconsciously activated. In three experiments, we tested and confirmed the hypothesis that self-esteem is indeed affected by success and failure to attain unconsciously activated goals. In two additional experiments, we demonstrated that people were motivated to protect or restore self-esteem after failure to attain an unconsciously activated achievement goal. © 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
CITATION STYLE
Bongers, K. C. A., Dijksterhuis, A., & Spears, R. (2009). Self-esteem regulation after success and failure to attain unconsciously activated goals. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 45(3), 468–477. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2008.12.007
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