We examined the impact of ethnic essentialism on psychological compatibility among minority and Han Chinese college students and investigated the roles of ethnic identity and self-construal. A moderated mediator analysis was used and a multigroup comparison of the moderated mediator model across ethnic groups was conducted. The results indicate that ethnic essentialism significantly and negatively predicts psychological compatibility. Ethnic identity acts as a competitive mediator between ethnic essentialism and psychological compatibility, partially weakening the negative predictive effect of ethnic essentialism on psychological compatibility. Higher levels of ethnic identity lessen the negative impact of ethnic essentialism on psychological compatibility. Individuals with high independent and interdependent self-construal show higher levels of ethnic identity when their ethnic essentialism is strong. Under conditions of high ethnic identity, both high independent and high interdependent self-construal individuals exhibit significantly higher levels of psychological compatibility. In addition, ethnic differences were found in the moderated mediation model regardless of whether the moderating variable was independent or interdependent self-construal. These findings suggest that stronger beliefs in ethnic essentialism are associated with lower levels of psychological compatibility.

Prior studies have demonstrated the detrimental effects of social exclusion on an individual’s self-perception. Nonetheless, existing literature has predominantly focused on its impact on global self-esteem, often neglecting the nuanced effects of various reasons for social exclusion on distinct dimensions of self-evaluation, such as agency and communion. Based on the Big Two model perspective, the present research aims to examine the differential impacts of social exclusion on the distinct dimensions of self-evaluation, namely agency and communion, considering the reasons for social exclusion. It is hypothesized that social exclusion affects different facets of self-evaluation—agency and communion—depending on the context of exclusion. Study 1 identified negative correlations between perceived social exclusion and self-evaluation measures through questionnaires, including global self-esteem and the self-concepts of agency and communion, within a sample of 483 participants (283 females). Studies 2a (n = 93; 75 females) and 2b (n = 91; 66 females), which employed a recall paradigm to manipulate social exclusion in the domains of communion and agency, respectively, revealed that communion exclusion diminished communal self-evaluation, and agency exclusion significantly reduced both agentic and communal self-evaluation. These findings highlight the necessity of distinguishing various types of social exclusion and their distinct effects on the dimensions of self-concept. The research has important implications for the development of interventions aimed at enhancing individual psychological well-being and promoting inclusive social environments.