The gain-loss effect boosts self-esteem more than steady praise does.

Evidence

Displaced self-esteem appears to have been central to a well-known finding by Aronson and Linder (1965). In that experiment, a stimulus person who switched from criticizing to praising the subject was liked better than one who continuously praised the subject, even though the latter gave more total praise. Aronson and Linder proposed that the switch from criticism to praise prompted greater liking because it made the praiser seem more discriminating in interpersonal judgments. The present (related) interpretation is that the switch from criticism to praise provided a more potent boost to the subject’s self-esteem than did the continuous praise, with the return liking then being a second-order implicit self-esteem effect; that is, it further supported the subject’s self-esteem by boosting the credentials of the person who offered praise. — Anthony G. Greenwald and Mahzarin R. Banaji, Implicit Social Cognition, 164

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the gain-loss effect literature and to everyday intuitions about why rejection-then-affection feels stronger than constant warmth.