Abstract

The present research tests both corollaries of the self-esteem hypothesis, proposed by Hogg and Abrams (1990) as an integration of social identity theory. Personal self-esteem and ingroup status were experimentally manipulated, whereas ingroup identification was measured. Both corollaries were confirmed, but only in specific conditions: only participants with low personal self-esteem that highly identify with a low status group enhanced their self-esteem through outgroup derogation. These results demonstrate that the two corollaries can be combined and that the different types of self-esteem and ingroup identification should be taken into account to test their validity.