Associations Between Messaging, Reactance, and Self-Esteem

This paper explores the effect of messaging type and reactance on the receptiveness individuals have towards a message meant to boost their self-esteem. A 2 (Messaging: Implicit | Explicit) x 2 (Reactance: High | Low) between-subjects study was conducted to test the hypothesis that an indirect (implicit) message will have the most positive effect on self-esteem when people experience low reactance compared to people who receive direct (explicit) messages and experience high reactance. To test these hypotheses, we recruited 708 psychology students. We found that messaging type did not influence self-esteem, nor a messaging type by reactance condition interaction. However, we found that reactance, when high, had a more positive effect on self-esteem than when low. In conclusion, a message inducing a high reactance is more receptive than a message inducing low reactance.