Brown Chapter 8 (3) Flashcards
3 meanings of self-esteem
- global self-esteem
- self-evaluations
- feelings of self-worth
global self-esteem **
-a personality variable that captures the way people generally feel about themselves
state self-esteem (global )
the way people generally feel about themselves
self-evaluations
- the way people evaluate their various abilities and attributes
- the way people evaluate or appraise their abilities and personality characteristics
feelings of self-worth
- momentary emotional states, particularly those that arise from a positive or negative outcomes
- positive: feeling proud
- negative: humiliated and ashamed
cognitive approach…self-esteem is
-an overall evaluation of oneself
- information integration
- an evaluation based on emotions
-a more or less conscious decision people make regarding their worth as a person
affective response to self-esteem
self-esteem made up belonging and mastery feelings, which develop early in life
Rosenberg self-esteem scale
- developed to assess global self-esteem
- focuses on people’s general feelings toward themselves, without referring to any specific quality or attribute
Problems with self-report measures of self-esteem: self-presentational concerns and defensive processes
- Self-presentational concerns: Rather than rating how they really feel about themselves, people may distort their responses to create a particular impression
- Defensive processes: people may be fooling themselves by defensively claiming to feel better about themselves than they really do
what is implicit self-esteem?
f
how can implicit self-esteem be measured? describe different tasks
- name letter effect: like own initials more than letters not in their name
- signature size effect
- Self-esteem IAT: how fast individuals associate positively o negatively valenced words with self
is the relation between implicit & explicit self-esteem strong?
f
secure and defensive high self-esteem
-secure: positive self-views that are secure and confidently held
secure and defensive high self-esteem… how are they likely to react to criticism
- secure: positive self-views that are secure and confidently held
- defensive high self-esteem: positive self-views that are fragile and vulnerable to threat, leads people to zealously promote and protect their self-esteem
damaged self-esteem …what does it predict
- negative self-views that are discrepant from non-conscious vies of self
- predicts: psychological distress, depression, suicidal ideation, loneliness
Narcissism… what is it?
- exaggerated sense of self-importance, entitlement
- grandiose, exhibitionistic, manipulative
differentiate the trait and the personality disorder
-show less perspective taking and low empathetic concern
how is narcissism related to self-esteem
- defensive self-esteem = contingent self esteem = shame = unstable self-esteem
- dissociated implicit and explicit self-esteem = continent self esteem = hubristic pride= unstable self-esteem
what are the two main phenotypes of narcissism,?
- narcissistic grandiosity: entitlement and absorption; associated with sense of superiority and perfection
- narcissistic vulnerability: hypersensitivity to rejection and criticism, associated with shame, rages and avoiding relationships
2 components of self-esteem
- sense of belonging
- sense of mastery
sense of belonging
- feeling that one is unconditionally loved and valued simply for who one is
- gives a secure base in life
- do not occur at a conscious level
- more intuitive
sense of mastery
- more personal in nature
- involves the perception that one is having an impact on the world
- the feeling we get when we are immersed in an activity or are striving to overcome some obstacle
strange situation
Measure of how children reacts when separated from and reunited with caregiver
3 attachment styles
- secure
- anxious/ambivalent
- avoidant
secure
- closeness to the mother and independence
- lack of concern with being abandoned
- Eager to see mother when she returns
- mastery and belonging needs met
anxious/ambivalent
- Have difficulty separating; unwilling or afraid to explore the environment
- Become distressed and upset when mother leaves
- Cling to mother and show signs of insecure dependence when mom returns
- sense of mastery but not belonging
avoidant
- Avoid or ignore mother altogether
- Little difficulty separating and little distressed when mom leaves
- Show little interest in mom when she returns; prefer to play alone
- Evade intimacy and closeness with their mothers
- sense of belonging but not mastery
which attachment style is associated with the highest level of self-esteem
secure
authoritarian parenting style
- parents always try to be in control and exert their control on the children.
- Set strict rules to try to keep order and usually do this without much expression of warmth or affection
-children are compliant and submissive, low self-esteem
permissive parenting style
- parents give up most control to their children.
- Make few, if any, rules, and the rules that they make are usually not consistently enforced
- children aggressive and act out
authoritative parenting style
- parents help children learn to be responsible for themselves and to think about the consequences of their behavior.
- provide clear, reasonable expectations for their children and explanations for why they expect their children to behave in a particular manner
Crocker, Voelkl Testa, and Major (k1991) design
- African American college students completed a questionnaire regarding their attitudes, values, and personal qualities
- Told response would be shown to another person (said to be Caucasian) and learn whether the other person liked them or not = unseen condition
- told the other person could see them through a one-way mirror and either be aware or not aware of the participant’s race = seen condition
Crocker, Voelkl Testa, and Major (k1991) results and conclusions
- Unseen condition: A.A felt good about themselves when told the other person liked them, and bad when other person did not like them
- Seen condition: feelings toward themselves did not change as a function of the feedback they received
- conclusion: students attributed the evaluation they received to their race, not their personality
sociometer theory
we want to avoid social exclusion & self-esteem lets us know how we stand with others
terror management theory
- we need meaning in life to overcome death anxiety
- self-esteem can help buffer us from this existential anxiety
Relationship between self-esteem and taking negative feedback personally
- Low self-esteem = felt good when succeeding, felt bad about themselves when failed/ take failure personally, humiliates them and makes them feel ashamed of themselves
- High self-esteem = feelings did not depend so much on whether they had just succeeded or failed
unstable high self-esteem
- Represents a kind of pseudo or defensive high self-esteem
- Feel good about themselves only when things are going well
- A disguised form of low self-esteem
Relationship between self-esteem and risk-taking behavior
- Low self-esteem people avoid taking risks more
- bothered by negative self-relevant feedback, pursue a psychologically safer (but potentially less rewarding) strategy
Tice 1991 design
-Participants told they were going to take a test that measured an important intellectual ability
○ Self-protection condition: told test could clearly detect low ability but could not clearly identify high ability
○ Self-enhancement condition: told test could clearly identify high ability but could not clearly detect low ability
Gave participants time to practice before taking the test
Tice 1991 results
○ Low self-esteem: handicapped themselves by not practicing when they believed that failure could clearly disclose low ability
-High self-esteem: handicapped themselves by not practicing when they believed that success could clearly reveal high ability
Tice 1991 conclusions
○ Low self-esteem people use self-handicapping to avoid the perception that they have low ability (form of self-protection)
○ High self-esteem people use self-handicapping to augment the perception that they have high ability (form of self-enhancement)
