Class 8: Personality (Part 2) Flashcards
Self-Esteem
Evaluations of ourselves (i.e., how good we feel about ourselves)
Where does self-esteem come from?
According to the sociometer theory, it comes from our assessments of relational value
Sociometer theory? (Leary & Baumeister, 2000)
Self-esteem comes from our relational value
What is the connections between self-esteem and attachment styles?
Both influenced by relationship and measures of individual differences
Secure individuals have greater self-esteem compared to their insecure counterparts
NOT ON EXAM
Relation between Self-Esteem and Relational Value
Harris & Orth (2020)
Study Objective
Meta-analysis with available LONGDITUDINAL data to examine the prospective effect of social relationships on self-esteem AND the prospective effect of self-esteem on social relationships
Relation between Self-Esteem and Relational Value
Harris & Orth (2020)
Method
Inclusion criteria in meta analysis:
- assessment on self esteem
- longitudinal assessment (at least on two occasions)
- continuous measure of social relationships
E.g., closeness, intimacy, relationship satisfactions, relationship quality, popularity, time spent with partner, sociometric nominations, network size
Relation between Self-Esteem and Relational Value
Harris & Orth (2020)
Results
Relationships AND self-esteem reciprocally predicted each other over time with similar effect sizes
The effects held across age, gender, ethnicity, and time lag between assessments
Why and how does self-esteem shape relationship initiation?
- According to ‘Risk Regulation Model’ (Murray, Holmes, & Collins, 2006) people must balance the goal of seeking closeness to a romantic partner against the opposing goal of minimizing the likelihood and pain of rejection.
- Relationship imitation has the potential for rejection.
- People with low (vs high) self-esteem are in self-protective mode and focus a lot on minimizing the pain of rejection-What they might not realize is that this focus on minimizing rejection contributes to lower relationship satisfaction
Low Self-Esteem people might come across as cold during relationship initiation
Sinson et al. (2015)
Study Objective
- Examined whether people with lower self-esteem responded differently when faced with social threat vs control
- The social threat in this case was the threat if rejection in the context of potential romantic initiation
- Single, young adult participants completed an initial survey with Rosenberg’s (1965) Self-Esteem Inventory and were asked to film a short introductory video
Low Self-Esteem people might come across as cold during relationship initiation
Sinson et al. (2015)
IV/procedure
Independent variable (social threat)
- Social threat (possibility of rejection)
- Informed them that they would be interacting with an opposite-sex participant int the other room via video camera introductions, and they might meet their interaction partner face-to-face
- Control
- film an introductory videotape to give them “some insight into what the participant before them had to do”, no one would watch their introductory video, no chance of meeting the person in video
After learning about these procedures, participants filmed introductory video (discussed several general topics)
e.g., What’s your dream job?
Low Self-Esteem people might come across as cold during relationship initiation
Sinson et al. (2015)
DV/Procedure
Dependent variable
- Participants behavior during their introductory videos was the focus of the research
- rated each participants use of four warm behaviors: smiles, maintains eye contact, laughs, touches face AND four cold behaviors: crosses legs, folds arms across chest, avoids eye contact, acts disinterested
- rated each participant’s attractiveness, likability, and approachability
Low Self-Esteem people might come across as cold during relationship initiation
Sinson et al. (2015)
Results
Social threat caused higher self-esteem individuals (HSEs) to exhibit a warming up behavioral response but caused lower self-esteem individuals (LSEs) to exhibit a cooling-down behavioral response, according to both observer-reports and self-reports, which in turn led observers to like HSES more than LSEs (i.e., rated as more likable, attractive, and approachable)
Accurately perceived lower self-esteem during relationship initiation is associated with lower chance of success
(Kerr & Human, 2024)
Study Objective
Assessed self-esteem (actual and perceived by other) and liking in two different first impression contexts.
The researchers were interested in accuracy of impressions of self-esteem and looked at the difference between actual self-esteem (as rated by the individual) and perception of self-esteem from the zero-acquaintance partner
Accurately perceived lower self-esteem during relationship initiation is associated with lower chance of success
(Kerr & Human, 2024)
Hypothesis & Procedure
Hypothesis
- Forming an accurate first impression of an acquaintance’s personality promotes liking for high-self esteem people but lower liking for low self-esteem people
Procedure
- Measures of self-esteem and liking
- Assessed in speed-dating and platonic getting-acquainted contexts
Accurately perceived lower self-esteem during relationship initiation is associated with lower chance of success
(Kerr & Human, 2024)
Results
Accuracy was positively related to perceiver liking when targets were higher in self-esteem in the platonic context, but unrelated in the speed dating context.
Accuracy was negatively related to perceiver lining when targets were lower in self-esteem, regardless of context.
HEXACO
Six factor model of personality
In the simplist way of describing the differences with the Big 5, it is like the Big 5 measure, but adds a 6th factor, honest humility
What is honest-humility?
- “reflects the degree to which a person promotes - or doesn’t - their own interests above those of others.”
- e.g., sincerity, fairness, modesty, and (dis)interest in wealth and signs of status
Big 5
Openness
- receptive to new ideas, approaches and experiences
Conscientiousness
- degree of discipline and organization
Extraversions
- Preference for social interaction and lively action
Agreeableness
- Selfless concern for others, trusting
Neuroticism
- Focus on negative emotions
What Big 5 traits are associated with interpersonal attraction?
(Cemalcilar et al., 2018)
Study objective/Procedure overview
How do perceived and actual similarity of personality (Big 5) influence interpersonal attraction in zero-acquaintance situation?
Procedure
- had a brief encounter with another student (either face-to-face, FtF, or by looking at their Facebook page) and rated the personality and liking of the other person
What Big 5 traits are associated with interpersonal attraction?
(Cemalcilar et al., 2018)
Predictors/ Outcome variable
Predictors
- Big 5 personality perceptions of target person
- Accuracy of Big 5 personality perception (compared against self-reported personality completed before the encounter
Outcome variable
- Interpersonal Attraction (i.e., How much you would further like to interact the target socially)
- e.g., I would probably like talking to this person at a party.
What Big 5 traits are associated with interpersonal attraction?
(Cemalcilar et al., 2018)
Results
Openness was a significant predictor of interpersonal attraction for both (FtF and Facebook encounters)
Agreeableness was a significant predictor of interpersonal attraction in FtF encounters which fits with past research
Also, consistent with past research, perceived similarity was more important than actual similarity for both FtF and Facebook.
Do people prefer people with similar personalities or aspirational personalities?
Liu et al. (2018)
Study objective and Method
Study Objective
- Do people prefer partners who are similar to themselves (similarity preference) or people with more desirable trait levels than themselves (aspirational assortative preference)?
Method
- Used the HEXACO measure of personality using both self-report questionnaires and real-life data (personal profiles from dating website)
- conducted five studies across four countries (China, Denmark, Germany, and the US) with student and non-student samples.
Do people prefer people with similar personalities or aspirational personalities?
Liu et al. (2018)
results
Evidence for both similarity preference and aspirational assortive mating. More specifically,
- similarity preference was supported by all studies (self-report and dating profiles) concerning all HEXACO traits, particularly for Honest-Humility and Openness to Experience
- aspirational assortative preference was supported by all four self-report studies (though not the dating website study) concerning all HEXACO traits except for Openness to Experience.
- Aspirational assortative preference was particularly pronounced for Emotionality, Extraversion, and Agreeableness
Two Main Individual Differences
Gender
Cultural Differences
Are men and women really that different in relationships?
Does the evidence support this claim?
NO
While acknowledging there are some gender differences, the main take-away from evidence is that the differences BETWEEN women and men are smaller than the differences WITHIN women or within men.
