Stable and unstable components of self-evaluations: Individual differences in self-appraisal responsiveness to feedback

Individuals who rated themselves favorably or unfavorably on the dimensions of creativity and intelligence (or high or low in global self-esteem) in a mass-testing situation subsequently received either positive or negative feedback pertaining to their performance on a ''creative intelligence'' task. Immediately following, participants rated themselves on dimensions related to task performance as well as on unrelated dimensions (e.g., rude, shallow, polite, neat). Half the participants were asked to base their ratings on how they typically felt about themselves (typical self-appraisals); the rest were asked to base their ratings on how they currently felt (current self-appraisals). As predicted, whereas typical self-appraisals did not differ as a function of the feedback received, current appraisals did, but only among individuals who had previously rated themselves as relatively low in creativity and intelligence. Moreover, these differences emerged on trait dimensions that were unrelated to creativity and intelligence as well as on those that were related. Among individuals who had previously rated themselves unfavorably, self-esteem related affect also differed as a function of the feedback they received. When global self-esteem was used as the grouping factor, the results differed somewhat, but still supported the basic conclusion that feedback has a greater effect on the current appraisals of low than of high self-esteem individuals. Discussion centered on the existence of both stable and unstable components of self-evaluations, different forms of feedback generalization, and individual differences in self-appraisal responsiveness to evaluative information.