{
  "id": 8780856,
  "title": "People with low implicit self-worth are quicker to notice subtle facial cues of anger and disgust",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/20/people-with-low-implicit-self-worth-are-quicker-to-notice-subtle",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-20T22:00:09.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PsyPost",
    "slug": "psypost",
    "url": "https://www.psypost.org/people-with-low-implicit-self-worth-are-quicker-to-notice-subtle-facial-cues-of-anger-and-disgust/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "People with diminished implicit self-worth, or a gap between conscious and unconscious self-esteem, tend to notice subtle facial expressions of anger and disgust earlier than others. This heightened sensitivity to potential social rejection is linked to poorer interpersonal well-being, according to research published in Personality and Individual Differences. Self-esteem is understood as how much a person values themselves, but psychologists separate this into two layers: explicit, which is conscious feelings of self-worth, and implicit, which refers to automatic, unconscious evaluations of the self. These two layers can sometimes be at odds, a phenomenon known as self-esteem discrepancy. Researchers led by Patrycja Korzeniowska of the University of Lincoln aimed to understand how these layers of self-evaluation shape people's perception of the social world. They found that participants with lower implicit self-esteem were able to detect expressions of anger and disgust at lower intensities, and were faster to detect fear. The gap between conscious and unconscious self-esteem also played a role, with larger discrepancies requiring less emotional intensity to spot anger and disgust, regardless of whether it was due to low conscious or high unconscious self-worth. While conscious self-esteem initially predicted quicker anger detection, this effect diminished when accounting for unconscious self-esteem, suggesting that different aspects of self-esteem influence rapid social-perceptual processes.",
  "summary": "People with hidden doubts about their self-worth are quicker to spot subtle facial expressions of anger and disgust. New research shows that unconscious self-esteem strongly influences how we perceive social cues and navigate relationships.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}