Self-Esteem: The Holy Grail of Psychology?

Question 1

What is the Self-Esteem Craze?

Answer 1

1983 -The Rise of John Vasconcellos
- Had imposter syndrome
- Interested in raising ppls self esteem

Looked for link between self esteem and social issues in “Toward A State Of Self-Esteem”

Question 2

What did John Vasconcellos’ “Toward A State Of Self-Esteem” Report find?

Answer 2

High SE correlates with
*Happiness
*Productivity
*Success
*balanced State Budget

Low SE correlates with
*Crime crime
*Teen pregnancy
*Pollution

Quote: “All of societies ills can be explained by an epidemic of low self-esteem”

(A lot of Backlash from this report)

Question 3

Methodological Issues

1. Measuring Self-Esteem

Answer 3

There are many different definitions of self-esteem

Question 4

How does William James define self esteem?

Answer 4

Self-esteem =Success / Pretensions.

(Values people use to judge their own success / perfomance)

Question 5

Explain the three types of self-esteem?

State vs Trait

Global vs Specific

Implicit vs Explicit

Answer 5

State vs Trait
*State self-esteem: current feelings about the self
*Trait self-esteem: typical level of self-esteem across situations

Global vs Specific
*Global self-esteem: how the individual values the self
*Specific self-esteem: self-evaluation in specific areas of life

Implicit vs Explicit
*Implicit self-esteem: unconscious evaluations of the self
*Explicit self-esteem: conscious evaluations of the self

Question 6

What did they find about individual levels of self esteem? (trait)

(Diff between high and low trait SE)

Answer 6

Reliable individual differences in self esteem
especially in trait (typical lvl across situations)

High Trait Self-Esteem
*Use confidence-building strategies
*Strive to stand out in social situations

*Low Trait Self-Esteem
*Use protective self-presentation
*Seek to fit in
*High on rejection-sensitivity

Question 7

What happened in the study on low trait self esteem people? (relationship study)

Answer 7

In relationships, if give abstract vs specific feedback to low self esteem ppl

they prefer the abstract
“I love you for who you are”

Not trust specific
“I love your hair”
- Might tie self worth to hair: they’ll only love me if my hair is pretty

Question 8

How do we develop individual differences in self esteem? (ex. high or low in a trait)

Answer 8

1. Age (most ppl only start developing differences after 8, rises till 60 then slow decline)
2. Developmental factors
   Quality of home environment is important
   *Quality of parenting, cognitive stimulation, physical home environment
   (home life predicts self esteem at 27)

Question 9

Methodological Issues

2. Correlation vs causation

Explain these theories

1. Self-Verification Theory
2. Dominance Theory
3. Terror Management Theory

Answer 9

Self-Verification Theory
*Functions to confirm whether we are aligning with how we see ourselves

Dominance Theory
*Functions to signal dominance and status in a social group

Terror Management Theory
*Acts as an existential buffer to death and suffering

Question 10

2. Correlation vs Causation

What is Sociometer Theory?

Answer 10

*Fundamental desire is to be accepted and belong to groups

*SE is a measure of our ‘relational value’ (how liked we are)

*SE is not a need but rather the output of a system that monitors and responds to events through acceptance/rejection

Question 11

2. Correlation vs Causation

How did they test sociometer theory?

Answer 11

Participants do self questionnaires with five participants
- other ppl read theirs

Assigned in group or alone

Told assignment was randomly or other ppl’s perception of you

FOUND: Not being chosen for the group lowered self esteem (only when told it was other ppl’s perception of you)

So yes! Rejection lowers self esteem

Question 12

How did they Test sociometer theory (in three other studies)

1. sensitivity
2. Influence
3. Trait self-esteem

Answer 12

*Sociometer sensitivity

*How does SE respond to a wider range of feedback beyond rejection and acceptance? *Sociometer is best at detecting subtle differences in treatment
* If given neutral / rejection = SE stays low
*As acceptance increases, so does self esteem (for certain ppl)

*Social influence
*Do some people have SE that is immune to social influence?
*Nope!

*Trait self-esteem
*Does trait self-esteem also reflects people’s perceived relational value?
*Yes! Trait self-esteem correlates highly with people’s perceptions of the degree to which they are valued, accepted, and supported by other

Question 13

Is this claim true?

Claim: High SE makes people physically attractive

Answer 13

Diener & Wolsic (1995) found no significant correlation between ratings of attractiveness and self-esteem, but self-reported physical attractiveness was strongly related to self-esteem

Question 14

Is this claim true?

Claim: High SE leads to improved academic performance

Answer 14

*Skaalvikand Hagtvet (1990) found that doing well in school one year led to higher self-esteem the next year, whereas high self-esteem did not lead to performing well in school.

*High global self-esteem in grade 6 predicted lower academic achievement in grade

Question 15

Is this claim true?

Claim: High SE improves job performance

Answer 15

*Weak positive correlations between job performance and self-esteem.

*If High SE consistently improved performance in lab tasks, this would be easy to demonstrate

Question 16

Is this claim true?

Claim: High SE results in social success

Answer 16

“People with high self-esteem claim to be more popular and socially skilled than others, but objective measures generally fail to confirm this and in some cases point in the opposite direction”

• Ppl with high self esteem can be jerks, and have issues with how others see them

Question 17

What is the one claim that actually is true, about social ability and self esteem?

Answer 17

Social initiative: the tendency to initiate interpersonal contact

*Buhrmesteret al (1988) found high SE predicts speaking up and taking social initiative

Question 18

3. Conflicting Research

What is The Dark Side of Self-Esteem?

Answer 18

Theory that low SE leads to aggression and hostility

• High SE and Aggression = are linked
• People with low SE are less likely to take risks/stand out

Question 19

What did they find on Aggression and High Self-Esteem?

(Criminal study)

Answer 19

1. strong relationship between assaults and ego-threats
2. High (but unstable) SE reliably predicts violent offenses
   *Through ego threats

Question 20

What did they find on Aggression and High Self-Esteem?

(Group differences)

Answer 20

Men have higher SE and are more violent than women

*Depressed people have low SE and are less violent than control (non depressed ppl = more likely to be aggressive)

Question 21

3. Conflicting Research

What did they find with narcissism?

(High SE)

Answer 21

High SE becomes an all-encompassing need
*Grandiosity and sense of entitlement
*Pursued through achieving power and status

Question 22

3. Conflicting Research

What did they find with narcissism? (And social problems)

Answer 22

Often linked to social problems

*“Unmitigated agency” –David Bakan
*Hostility, aggression, mood swing

Question 23

What is grandiose vs vulnerable narcissism?

Answer 23

Grandiose:
- - Really think they deserve as much attention as possible
- How they view themselves

Vulnerable:
- - I deserve attention
- I wish I was getting all the attention
- Feel like they’re failing in some way

Question 24

3. Conflicting Research

What did they find with narcissism? (Grandiose vs vulnerable)

Answer 24

*Positive association between grandiose narcissism (NG) and explicit self-esteem

*Negative association between vulnerable narcissism (NV) and explicit self-esteem

*No correlation between NG/NV and implicit self-esteem

Question 25

3. Conflicting Research *What Mixed results did they find?

Answer 25

*High SE predicts both perpetrators of bullying and those who stand up to bullies *High SE predicted those most-likely and least-likely to cheat So two opposite ppl (can't be a bully and victim)

Question 26

What is an important question about self esteem?

Answer 26

Is it simply the quantity of self-esteem that matters, or is it where you stake your self-worth? Quantity VS is self worth only from SE

Question 27

3. Conflicting Research What are Contingencies of self-worth? - Where u tie SE - How u trade off SE

Answer 27

People tie self-esteem to success in specific domains *Where they ‘stake’ their self-worth (ex. external things, appearance / grades) *Academic, relational, physical trade-off: *Might be more motivated to work, but if fail = feel much worse *Focus on ‘proving oneself’ can undermine learning and relationships *E.g. students who base self worth in school will lead to more fluxuations (and this might not lead to better grades)

Question 28

What did they find with Study: Contingencies in adolescence ?

Answer 28

*Participants self-reported on the extent of their self-worth across four domains ***** *Found higher reliance on external validation predicts future depressive symptoms *Diathesis of social domain contingencies + social stressors predicting depressive symptom

Question 29

4. Researcher Bias *What was the bias with Vasconcellos guy?

Answer 29

had his political career tied to his theory that increasing self-esteem will improve society Had a task force say it's compelling, but also that the association is mixed (they were aware of how muddy the findings were) - Even evidence of them saying they weren't convinced of the findings

Question 30

What are the benefits and limits of self esteem?

Answer 30

Benefits of high SE *Initiative *Feeling good Limits of high SE *Potential link to violence and aggression *May be an outcome rather than antecedent *Does not necessarily correlate with success

Question 31

What is Fragile vs Stable Self-Esteem?

Answer 31

Fragile *Can be high but fluctuates *Attached to contingent domains Stable *Rarely fluctuates *Stable low SE associated with low self-concept clarity *Stable high SE associated with high SC

Question 32

What is Optimal Self-Esteem?

Answer 32

*Distinct from high SE *Self-esteem that is derived from a sense of authenticity *Authenticity: awareness, unbiased processing, action, and relation

Question 33

What is ”Non-contingent self-esteem” ?

Answer 33

*Self-as-process vs self-as-object *Self-esteem is not salient *Successes and failures do not implicate self-worth

Question 34

What are Paths to Optimal Self-Esteem? (how to increase)

Answer 34

*Mindfulness *Flow activities *Increased SCC