Examining the Effect of Message Style in Esteem Support Interactions: A Laboratory Investigation.

The Cognitive-Emotional Theory of Esteem Support Messages (CETESM) predicts that variations in both message content and message style will affect the outcomes of esteem support interactions. However, little research has focused on message style. The current experiment addresses this lacuna in the research by manipulating message style in a laboratory study examining esteem support interactions. Confederates were trained to provide esteem support to naïve participants in five different styles: low inductive, high inductive, low assertive, high assertive, and control. After the interactions, we assessed participants' state self-esteem, attributions and appraisals about the esteem-threatening event, and perceptions of conversational relevance to the esteem-threatening situation. Results indicated that the extent to which both inductive styles were used was associated with positive outcomes, including participant reports of state self-esteem, appraisals, and conversational relevance, whereas the extent to which the assertive styles were used was not associated with any dependent variables of interest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]