Contingent Self-Worth and Social Information Processing: Cognitive Associations Between Domain Performance and Social Relations

The purpose of the research was to investigate the social information processing patterns of individuals with domain-contingent self-worth. We proposed that individuals with domain-contingent self-worth would associate cognitions about outcomes in that domain with cognitions about social relationships. We expected this to be a bidirectional relationship with domain outcomes associated with social outcomes and social outcomes associated with domain outcomes. We tested the hypothesis that individuals with domain contingent self-worth process outcomes in that domain with regard to social relationships. In Study 1, we found that individuals assume that domains of self-importance are important to others' social judgments. In Study 2, we found that individuals with appearance-contingent self-worth associate negative appearance words with social exclusion. And in Study 3, we found that when social exclusion is salient, individuals with virtue-contingent self-worth demonstrate increased accessibility of negative virtue words. Together, these studies demonstrate that individuals with contingent self-worth cognitively associate domain outcomes with social relationships.