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Beyond an Associative Conception of Automatic Self-Evaluations: Applying the Relational Responding Task to Measure Self-Esteem

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According to dual-process models, implicit self-esteem (SE) is based on automatic self-associations that can be measured with indirect techniques based on an associative conception of implicit cognition (e.g., Implicit Association Test; IAT). However, alternative theoretical proposals (e.g., relational frame theory; RFT) propose that implicit SE might not be based on automatic self-associations, but on implicit propositional self-evaluations that can be captured only with nonassociative implicit measures (e.g., Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure; IRAP). In the present study, both reliability and validity of a new propositional measure of implicit self-esteem (relational responding task; RRT) were assessed, and compared with the SE-IAT and with two self-report scales of self-esteem. In the first study, two alternative self-esteem RRTs (SE-RRT and RSE-RRT) were administered along with a SE-IAT and other scales, to assess reliability and validity issues. The results showed: 1) acceptable, though not optimal, reliability for both RRTs; 2) an adequate support for convergent validity, with significant correlations between implicit and explicit measures of SE; 3) the criterion validity was supported for the RSE-RRT (with significant correlations with all theoretically linked scales), although only partially supported for the SE-RRT (with a significant correlation only with depression; 4) RRTs were not significantly correlated with impression management and self-deception; and 5) incremental validity of implicit propositional SE on depression, controlling for automatic SE associations and explicit self-esteem. In a second study, it was experimentally demonstrated that SE-RRT showed levels of “fakeability” similar to a classical implicit self-esteem measure like the SE-IAT, and considerably lower than SE scales.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, via degli Apuli, 1, Rome, Italy

    Francesco Dentale

  2. Department of Social and Developmental Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy

    Michele Vecchione & Giorgia Spagnolo

  3. Department of Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Roma, Italy

    Valerio Ghezzi & Claudio Barbaranelli

  4. Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

    Eszter Szemenyei

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  1. Francesco Dentale
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  2. Michele Vecchione
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  3. Valerio Ghezzi
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  4. Giorgia Spagnolo
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  5. Eszter Szemenyei
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  6. Claudio Barbaranelli
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Correspondence to Francesco Dentale.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee (Ethical Committee of the Department of Dynamic and Clinical Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, n. 8/2018) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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In the revised version of this article we include Dr. Giorgia Spagnolo and Dr. Eszter Szemenyei because they contributed not only in collecting data, but they also contributed considerably in revising the manuscript and responding to reviewers’ comments.

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Dentale, F., Vecchione, M., Ghezzi, V. et al. Beyond an Associative Conception of Automatic Self-Evaluations: Applying the Relational Responding Task to Measure Self-Esteem. Psychol Rec 70, 227–242 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40732-020-00392-4

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