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Genetic and Environmental Sources of Implicit and Explicit Self-Esteem and Affect: Results from a Genetically Sensitive Multi-group Design

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Abstract

In today’s world, researchers frequently utilize indirect measures of implicit (i.e., automatic, spontaneous) evaluations. The results of several studies have supported the usefulness of these measures in predicting behavior, as compared to utilizing direct measures of explicit (i.e., purposeful, deliberate) evaluations. A current, under-debate issue concerns the origin of these implicit evaluations. The present genetically sensitive multi-group study analyzed data from 223 twin pairs and 222 biological core families to estimate possible genetic and environmental sources of individual differences in implicit and explicit self-esteem and affect. The results show that implicit self-esteem and affect maintain a substantial genetic basis, but demonstrate little influence from the shared environment by siblings (e.g., shared familial socialization in childhood). A bivariate analysis found that implicit and explicit evaluations of the same construct share a common genetic core which aligns with the motivation and opportunity as determinants (MODE) model.

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Notes

  1. In line with De Houwer (2005), we use the terms direct and indirect for measurement procedures and the terms explicit and implicit for the measurement outcome.

  2. A further frequently used term is “name letter test.”

  3. In a strict sense, genetic and environmental components are only error-free as long as the error itself is randomly distributed and has no genetic and environmental sources.

  4. All values for kurtosis (rescaled to zero) and skewness were <|1.2| except for the signature height (kurtosis = 2.7). Nevertheless all values were in an acceptable range regarding recommendations of Bentler (2006; ±3) and Byrne (2010; ±5).

  5. We have also calculated bivariate models for significant correlations between indirect measures (IPT vs. GNL; IPA vs. INA), between direct measures of the same construct (EPA vs. ENA), as well as across psychological concepts (RSES vs. EPA, RSES vs. ENA, IPT vs. EPA, GNL vs. EPA, IPT vs. ENA, GNL vs. ENA). Results can be found in the online supplement.

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  1. Research Methods, Assessment, and iScience, Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz, Universitätsstraße 10, 78464, Constance, Germany

    Stefan Stieger

  2. Department of Basic Psychological Research and Research Methods, School of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Stefan Stieger, Ulrich S. Tran & Martin Voracek

  3. Department of Psychology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

    Christian Kandler

  4. Department of Applied Psychology: Health, Development, Enhancement and Intervention, School of Psychology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Jakob Pietschnig

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Stieger, S., Kandler, C., Tran, U.S. et al. Genetic and Environmental Sources of Implicit and Explicit Self-Esteem and Affect: Results from a Genetically Sensitive Multi-group Design. Behav Genet 47, 175–192 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10519-016-9829-8

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