Attention and memory biases for aggressive information in college students with fragile high self‐esteem

Abstract

In this study, we examined attention and memory biases for aggressive information in two groups of college students. Individuals with fragile high self‐esteem (n = 30) and individuals with secure high self‐esteem (n = 30) first performed a dot‐probe task investigating attention bias, followed by a memory task. Incidental free recall of words presented in the memory task was then completed to assess memory bias. Results revealed that individuals with fragile high self‐esteem exhibited significant attention and memory biases for aggressive words compared with secure high self‐esteem individuals. Attention bias for aggressive words was positively correlated with memory bias in individuals with fragile high self‐esteem, but no correlation was found for individuals with secure high self‐esteem. These findings suggest that individuals with fragile high self‐esteem selectively attend to and remember aggression‐related information. They may process information in ways that are congruent with an aggression‐related schema. This study reveals the aggressive cognitive processes of individuals with fragile high self‐esteem, which may be related to aggression.