People desire to maintain positive self-esteem; however, some messages contain information that can directly conflict with the positive image we hold of ourselves or our social groups. Ego-defensive attitudes, attitudes that protect individuals from threats to identity, are hard to measure, due to their subconscious nature. To measure ego-defensive attitudes, Lapinski and Boster (2001) conceptualized the ego-defensive model, which maps the process by which individuals respond to counterattitudinal messages on topics in which they are heavily ego-involved. Although originally the model was tested with a threat to personal self-esteem, the current study will provide an additional test of the ego-defensive model and extend existing research by testing the model with an issue that challenges collective self-esteem: esteem derived from social identity, and more specific to this study, attachments to gender identity. Findings were not consistent with the entirety of the ego-defensive model: contrary to predictions, negative thoughts were negatively associated with instances of message discounting, and source derogation was not associated with overall attitudes towards the message. However, results indicated a strong positive relationship between message discounting and source derogation, as predicted. Those with high collective self-esteem in the threat condition responded with more positive thoughts and less negative thoughts relative to those with low self-esteem. Collective self-esteem was found to have a buffering effect, such that those high in collective self-esteem participated less in message discounting and source derogation, and have more overall positive attitudes towards the message.
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