The importance of these findings for academic settings is obvious.
Consider one study that examined college students ’reactions to a midterm
exam grade (Brockner, Derr, & Laing, 1987). The students took their first
exam for the class 5 weeks into the term and received their grade 1 week
later. The investigators found that high and low self-esteem students per-
formed almost identically on the midterm test. The researchers then divided
the students into those who had done well on the test (received an A or a B)
and those who had not done as well (received a C or lower). As shown inFigure 12.3, like the laboratory participants who received false feedback, low
self-esteem students who did well on the first test continued to perform well.
However, low self-esteem students who had not done well on the first testperformed significantly worse on the second exam.
Another study found that low self-esteem people do not have to actually
experience failure to show these negative effects; rather, they only have toimagine that they have failed (Campbell & Fairey, 1985). Participants in this
investigation were asked to imagine they had done well or poorly on a 25-
item anagram test. Low self-esteem people who imagined failing said they ex-pected to do poorly on a subsequent test, and indeed they performed more
poorly on the test than low self-esteem people who first imagined they had
done well.
How can we explain these reactions? One possibility is that people are
more likely to accept feedback consistent with their self-concept (Story,1998; Wood, Heimpel, Manwell, & Whittington, 2009; Wood, Heimpel,
Newby-Clark, & Ross, 2005). People with low self-esteem probably accept
the fact that they fail more than others. Consequently, it is easier for them to
Grade on Second Test
Did Well on
First TestLow
Self-EsteemHigh
Self-Esteem
Did Poorly on
First Test60708090100
FIGURE 12.3 Performance on Second Test as a Function of Self-Esteem
and Performance on First Test
Source: Adapted from Brockner et al. (1987).326 CHAPTER 12 The Humanistic Approach