Our findings challenge the notion that merely thinking about a romantic partner's success or failure has a substantial impact on implicit self-esteem; 78pct effect is smaller than in Ratliff and Oishi (2013)

Implicit self-esteem following a romantic partner's success: Three replications and a meta-analysis. Heather-Christina C. Hawkins, Tara L. Lesick, Ethan Zell. Personal Relationships, October 24 2021. https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12408

Abstract: Few studies have examined how social comparisons with one's romantic partner influence self-esteem. Ratliff and Oishi (2013) found that writing about a romantic partner's success versus failure lowered men's implicit self-esteem (i.e., automatic associations between the concepts self/other and good/bad). We conducted three replications of this research (two preregistered). In each replication, the effect of writing about a romantic partner's success was not statistically significant. Furthermore, a meta-analysis of our three replication studies yielded a small overall effect (d = 0.13) that was 78% smaller than the overall effect obtained by Ratliff and Oishi (2013). Our findings challenge the notion that merely thinking about a romantic partner's success or failure has a substantial impact on implicit self-esteem. Exploratory analyses, however, suggest that this effect may occur for men who are low in relationship satisfaction.