When compliments do not hit but critiques do: an fMRI study into self-esteem and self-knowledge in processing social...

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Social Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Self-perception significantly impacts interpersonal interactions and responses to social feedback.
• Understanding the interplay between self-esteem, feedback characteristics, and neural/affective responses is crucial for addressing interpersonal difficulties.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how feedback valence, consistency with self-knowledge, and global self-esteem affect affective and neural responses to social feedback.
• To explore the neural underpinnings of self-referential and other-referential processing in response to social cues.

Main Methods:

• Utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to record brain activity in 46 participants with varying self-esteem levels during a social feedback task.
• Administered negative, intermediate, and positive feedback, assessing participants' mood and the perceived applicability of the feedback.
• Employed trial-by-trial analyses to integrate neural and affective responses with the applicability of individual feedback words.

Main Results:

• Lower self-esteem correlated with lower mood, particularly after receiving non-applicable negative feedback.
• Higher self-esteem was associated with increased activation in the posterior cingulate cortex and precuneus (self-referential processing) for applicable negative feedback.
• Lower self-esteem showed decreased activation in medial prefrontal cortex, insula, anterior cingulate cortex, and posterior cingulate cortex (self-referential processing) during positive feedback, and reduced temporoparietal junction activation (other-referential processing) for applicable positive feedback.

Conclusions:

• Self-esteem and the consistency of social feedback with self-knowledge are key determinants of affective and neural responses.
• Findings highlight the potential relevance for understanding and treating interpersonal problems in individuals with low self-esteem and negative self-views.