Implicit self-esteem and self-esteem discrepancy: Implications for dynamic facial expression sensitivity and psychological wellbeing

Background Facial cues of social acceptance and rejection play an important role in social interaction. Although explicit (self-reported) self-esteem (ESE) has been linked to social cue sensitivity, and implicit self-esteem (ISE) and self-esteem discrepancy size (SEDS; the absolute difference between standardised ESE and ISE) have been associated with biased interpretation of ambiguous facial expressions, their roles in perceptual sensitivity to facial expressions of acceptance and rejection remain unclear. Objective This study examined associations between ESE, ISE, SEDS, facial expression sensitivity, and psychological wellbeing. Methods Participants ( N = 225) completed an emotion detection task using morphed neutral-to-full-intensity facial expressions (disgust, anger, happiness, fear), alongside measures of psychological wellbeing, ESE (self-report), and ISE (implicit association test); age was controlled for in exploratory analyses. Hierarchical multiple regression and mediation analyses were conducted. Results Hierarchical multiple regression showed that lower ISE and higher SEDS predicted greater sensitivity to negative expressions. Mediation analyses indicated that greater sensitivity to disgust and anger corresponded to lower ISE and higher SEDS, which in turn corresponded to poorer relational wellbeing and higher autonomy, respectively. Implications These findings identify ISE and SEDS as factors shaping sensitivity to socially meaningful facial cues and associated dimensions of psychological wellbeing.