Riding a wave of self-esteem: Perseverative tendencies as dispositional forces

Traits, defined in terms of dispositional forces, should be more consequential to the extent that the person favors old, activated behaviors to new ones. On the basis of this idea, the current studies measured individual differences in perseveration, defined in terms of tendencies toward response facilitation (i.e., RT speedup) when consecutive trials of choice reaction time tasks require repeated (versus switched) responses. Using global self-esteem as the trait measure of interest, we predicted and found that correlations between self-esteem and relevant outcome measures were particularly strong among individuals high in perseverative tendencies and particularly weak among individuals low in perseverative tendencies. The findings, involving three studies and 208 participants, provide a mechanism by which traits produce trait-relevant outcomes. Specifically, such trait–outcome relations are particular to those who display a tendency to repeat past responses in their cognitive transactions with the environment.