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Self-esteem Modulates the P3 Component in Response to the Self-face Processing after Priming with Emotional Faces
Lili Guan1,2, Yufang Zhao2, Yige Wang2
1School of Psychology, Northeast Normal UniversityChangchun, China.
Frontiers in Psychology
|September 5, 2017
Summary
Individuals with low self-esteem show a weakened self-face processing advantage (SPA) when primed with emotional faces. High self-esteem buffers against this effect, maintaining the SPA.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Social Psychology
Background:
- The self-face processing advantage (SPA) demonstrates faster recognition of one's own face.
- Self-esteem may buffer against social evaluation threats that could impact the SPA.
- Neural evidence linking self-esteem, social threat, and SPA is limited.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how self-esteem modulates the effect of social evaluation threats on the SPA.
- To examine the neural underpinnings of this interaction using event-related potentials (ERPs).
Main Methods:
- 27 healthy Chinese undergraduate students participated.
- Participants were primed with emotional (angry, happy, neutral) or neutral faces.
- Target faces included self, friend, and stranger, with familiarity judgments required.
- Electrophysiological data, specifically P3 amplitudes, were recorded.
Main Results:
- Emotional face priming (angry, happy) reduced P3 amplitude differences between self-face and friend-face in low self-esteem individuals.
- High self-esteem individuals maintained a distinct P3 response to self-face, irrespective of emotional priming.
- This suggests emotional primes weaken the SPA in low self-esteem individuals.
Conclusions:
- Low self-esteem amplifies fears of social rejection, making individuals more susceptible to social evaluation threats.
- Emotional face priming can diminish the SPA in individuals with low self-esteem.
- High self-esteem acts as a protective factor, preserving the SPA even under social threat conditions.
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