The Effect of Unconditional Self-Acceptance and Explicit Self-Esteem on Personal Explanatory Style

The present study aimed to explore the relationship between unconditional self-acceptance (USA), explicit self-esteem (ESE), and explanatory style of success and failure in an experimental ego-provoking situation. We simulated a public speaking task with randomly assigned different feedbacks for participant’s performance. The sample consisted of 188 university students. In the main analysis, we tested the hierarchical regression model with positive/negative feedback, USA, and ESE measures in the first, and interaction between USA, ESE, and feedback in the second step of analyses. USA is not a significant predictor of explanatory style, either individually or in interaction with feedback. ESE does not represent a significant predictor of explanatory style independently; however, it moderates the relationship between positive feedback and explanatory style, especially in the domain of personalization. Participants with higher ESE scores tend to show more internal attribution in the case of positive feedback.