What aspect of self-esteem did Ratliff and Oishi (2013) primarily focus on in their study?

Ratliff and Oishi (2013) focused on the distinction between implicit and explicit self-esteem in their study. Implicit self-esteem refers to automatic and unconscious evaluations of the self, while explicit self-esteem pertains to conscious and deliberate self-evaluations. This distinction is crucial because it allows researchers to understand how individuals perceive themselves on different levels and how these perceptions can influence behavior and social interactions.

In their work, Ratliff and Oishi examined how these two types of self-esteem could affect people's emotions, relationships, and overall psychological well-being. Their findings shed light on the complexities of self-esteem and highlight that it is not simply a uniform construct but rather consists of different dimensions that can impact individuals in varying ways.

The other options, although related to self-esteem, do not capture the specific focus of Ratliff and Oishi's research. Social self-esteem, global self-esteem, and peer-dependent self-esteem each examine different facets or contexts of self-esteem but do not address the critical comparison between implicit and explicit self-esteem that the study concentrated on.