Through the looking glass darkly? When self-doubts turn into relationship insecurities

The authors argue that individuals regulate perceptions of their relationsh ips in a self-protective way, finding virtue in their partners only when th ey feel confident that their partners also see virtues in them. In 4 experi ments, the authors posed an acute threat to low and high self-esteem indivi duals' feelings of self-worth (e.g., guilt about a transgression, fears of being inconsiderate or intellectually inept). They then collected measures of confidence in the partner's positive regard and acceptance (i.e., reflec ted appraisals) and perceptions of the partner The results revealed that lo w self-esteem individuals reacted to self-doubt with heightened doubts abou t their partners' regard, which then tarnished impressions of their partner s. In contrast, high self-esteem individuals reacted to self-doubts by beco ming more convinced of their partners' continued acceptance, using their re lationships as a resource for self-affirmation.