Self-esteem, epistemic needs, and responses to social feedback

People with lower self-esteem (LSEs) suffer from poor relational well-being. This may occur, in part, because LSEs’ epistemic needs constrain their ability to benefit from positive social feedback. Consistent with this hypothesis, LSEs felt undeserving of positive social feedback, which undermined their relational well-being (Experiment 1). After receiving positive social feedback, LSEs displayed an equal preference for additional positive and negative feedback, and their willingness to pursue negative feedback predicted poor well-being (Experiment 2). However, LSEs did seize the opportunity to pursue additional positive feedback about a domain of personal strength, and when they did so, their well-being benefited (Experiment 3). These results help explain chronic self-esteem differences in relational well-being and suggest avenues for future well-being interventions.