Part 2: self esteem and Mastery

Question 1

Self esteem

Answer 1

as one’s overall sense of worthiness as a person

studied heavily in both sociology and psychology

Question 2

Measuring self-esteem

Answer 2

Positively worded – good self esteem (self confidence)

Negatively worded – bad self esteem (self deprecation)

Question 3

General self-esteem

Answer 3

self-deprecation and self-confidence

Question 4

Baumeister concluded that

Answer 4

high self-esteem doesn’t appear to lead to better school performance in pupils

better grades appear to lead to better self-esteem

Question 5

The backfire

Answer 5

When college students who received bad grades on an initial exam were given positive feedback by a professor, they performed worse on the exams than students who did poorly and did not receive the feedback

Question 6

School and esteem

Answer 6

It appears that trying to boost self-esteem in the absence of accomplishment disincentivizes the need to perform well

Self-esteem may be a reinforcer for school performance

students who perform well may receive some benefit by feeling better about themselves

when we try to raise peoples self esteem in the absence of outside influences = they don’t have to try because there is no incentive to try

-If you perform well and it gives you a better sense of self, it gives you a reinforcement

Question 7

high self esteem does not appear to deter

Answer 7

deviant acts In childhood such as smoking, drinking or engaging in early sexual activity

may foster experimentation

Question 8

Among adults

Answer 8

Kids – academic
Adults – occupational

Ppl with high self esteem – more responsive to feedback

Experience failure, need to persist using a different strategy

Question 9

Observational studies

Answer 9

Observational studies of occupational performance are less clear

rewards and demands vary widely across
occupations, leading to differing relevance for self-esteem

whether self-esteem is the result of job performance, rather than a cause

Question 10

self-esteem contingencies

Answer 10

whether performance is occurring in a domain or category of outcomes on which one’s sense of self-worth depends

Question 11

Two principles: first

Answer 11

First, they point to the “self-enhancement” principle, in which “individuals are primarily self-enhancing and seek to maintain and enhance their self-esteem level”

In general we like to feel better about ourselves

Question 12

Two principles: second

Answer 12

Second, they point consistency theory, “with researchers suggesting individuals seek cognitive consistency or balance between their attitudes and behaviors”

Ex: Support gun control, but feel weird if you owned a gun
Cognitively uncomfortable to hold conflicting attitudes or behaviors

Question 13

The relevance of the first principles

Answer 13

first principle (self enhancement principle) suggests that people should want to perform well as a means of enhancing self-esteem

Question 14

The relevance of the second principles

Answer 14

suggests that people should want to perform based on their sense of self

Question 15

High relevance of self-esteem

Answer 15

when one’s job is highly relevant to self-esteem, there will be no effect of self-esteem

If doing well on your job really matters to you – self esteem should not affect your job performance because of the self enhancement principle

This is because both low and high self-esteem individuals will seek to maintain high levels of job performance

Both types of individuals will do this as a means of obtaining positive self-enhancement

Question 16

Low relevance of self esteem

Answer 16

However, when one’s occupation is not relevant to self-esteem will determine job performance

• Cognitive consistency kicks in
• Seek to self verify to enact consistency
• Acting poorly will not make you feel bad about yourself cause its not tied closely to who I am

This is because people with high self-esteem will seek to perform in a manner that confirms a high level of self-worth

because poor job performance will not have negative consequences for the self, low self-esteem individuals will be able to perform in a manner that self-verifies

Question 17

Findings

Answer 17

Self-esteem was associated with higher job performance, but only when workplace performance was not important to an individual’s self-esteem level

used peer ratings of job performance, thereby removing issues with high self-esteem influencing self-ratings of performance

Question 18

relevance of salience

Answer 18

role performance would have a stronger impact one one’s well-being when the role identity had a greater salience

When there is strong individual importance to the role identity, one will attempt to excel in the role

when the identity is less important = performance will diminish

Question 19

Leadership

Answer 19

self-esteem does not appear to contribute to leadership

in group settings, self-esteem results in greater tendency to speak up

This can then lead to higher ratings of group contributions

Question 20

Personal Relationship

Answer 20

because people with high self-esteem claim to be more popular than people with low self-esteem

self-esteem may act as “blinders,” so that people with high self-esteem see themselves as well-liked
Ex: ppl with high self esteem say yes – not a shock, they feel good about themselves so they will say yes

Question 21

The reality

Answer 21

ratings by peers and teachers, found no association between actual ratings of an individual and the individual’s self-esteem

under certain conditions high self-esteem people were rated as more disliked than others

Question 22

Ego Manipulation

Answer 22

introduced a condition in which individuals received negative feedback about themselves, and then introduced to a new person

When people with high self-esteem first received this negative self-news, they were rated as less likable than people with low self-esteem

Question 23

Ego repair

Answer 23

Seek out info that will verify my self-esteem

Goal is to protect their sense of self

emphasize self-reliance and less interpersonal interdependence, while the opposite is true of low self-esteem individuals

The high self-esteem person focuses on themselves to feel good and recover, which also serves to alienate others

If they receive negative feedback, act as jerks to protect themselves

Question 24

SIT relevance

Answer 24

individuals with high levels of self-esteem show greater bias towards their own in-groups

These findings are in line with self-identity theory

It is likely that greater group preferences will result when group membership coheres with a strong sense of self

Question 25

Some benefits

Answer 25

people with self-esteem appear to be more likely to initiate interpersonal contacts and relationships

people with high self-esteem are also more likely to terminate dissatisfying relationships

Question 26

Crime and violence

Answer 26

no clear findings for self-esteem and crime or violence

high self esteem supports ones intentions for good or ill

high self-esteem may serve in part as a proxy for narcissism or an inflated sense of self, can lead to anti-social behaviours

Question 27

Subjective well being

Answer 27

how you think you feel about your life

individual perceptions vs actual quality

Question 28

Job Experiences

Answer 28

self-esteem can have positive consequences for experiences of job quality, such as relationships at work and effort-reward imbalance

Question 29

Benefits of self-esteem

Answer 29

employment status

since a willingness to speak up and contribute probably helps one maintain a job or get another one

mental health

Question 30

Research on drug use

Answer 30

longitudinal study of adolescents does suggest that self-esteem is associated with lower risk of binge-drinking and drug use

Question 31

Self esteems appears to be the result of social

Answer 31

relationships as well as broader structural factors

Question 32

Family associations

Answer 32

positive parenting is generally associated with better self-esteem

Question 33

Friends

Answer 33

association between self-esteem and perceptions of personal relationships do not cohere in many cases with actual peer ratings

Question 34

Institutional influences

Answer 34

school

school performance appears to build self-esteem

that GPA and perceptions of the school environment were beneficially associated with self-esteem trajectories

Justice perceptions wiped out any apparent affect of security perceptions or victimization, suggesting that what is key is a perception of fairness in the school

Question 35

Religious involvement

Answer 35

both prayer and religious attendance were associated with higher self-esteem

part due to beliefs in a supportive higher power

religious involvement can provide a sense of a powerful other who supports the individual, which can enhance a sense of self

Question 36

Is self esteem important

Answer 36

self-esteem reflects how social relationships, institutional factors, and social stratification structure a sense of self

benefit mental health

Question 37

A sense of control/ Mastery

Answer 37

more important than self-esteem as both a social product and a social force

a set of beliefs held by individuals regarding the amount of control they have over what happens in their lives

Question 38

One problem with measures

Answer 38

perceptions of control often broke down Into a set of “empowered” and “powerless” perceptions

People who tend to agree or disagree create the appearance of distinct power and powerless perceptions

respond defensively

Question 39

Why is sense of control important

Answer 39

If you do not believe you have control you don’t try because there is no point – because it is external (beyond your control)

Strong sense of control – will attempt to do challenges and cope with the problems you have

Question 40

Instrumental persons

Answer 40

accumulate resources and to develop skills and habits that prevent avoidable problems and reduce the impact of unavoidable problems

Question 41

People who feel powerless will have

Answer 41

Reactive, passive orientation - try to forget about problems or hope it goes away

Question 42

Academic accomplishments

Answer 42

self-esteem was not associated with subsequent academic achievement

parental support and academic achievement were associated with subsequent self-esteem

Question 43

Academics and SoC

Answer 43

shaped by previous academic accomplishments and parental support

Previous accomplishments inform a sense of control, but a sense of control then motivates further accomplishments

Even when we take away previous academic accomplishments, SoC leads to better academic accomplishments

Question 44

Self-esteem and SoC

Answer 44

are correlated

positive effects of self-esteem may be due in part to perceived control

Question 45

Socioeconomic rewards

Answer 45

individuals with higher perceived control have greater expectations for the socioeconomic rewards of education

showing how a sense of control can structure subsequent socioeconomic attainment

Question 46

Mental health

Answer 46

higher levels of control tend to exhibit lower levels of anxiety and depression, and higher levels of life satisfaction and happiness

that we are not in control of the good and bad things that happen to us can create demoralization and sadness, as well as greater nervousness and tenseness

Question 47

Esteem, control, and mental health

Answer 47

self-esteem and sense of control are separately associated with lower symptoms of depression

each contributes to mental health

Question 48

Crime

Answer 48

focus on self control

Question 49

Sociological importance of sense of control

Answer 49

Through continued experience with objective conditions of powerlessness and lack of control, individuals come to learn that their own actions cannot produce desired outcomes

The more we experience powerlessness we learn that we are powerless

Question 50

Objective powerlessness

Answer 50

creates objective levels of powerlessness, individuals will in turn believe themselves powerless

inequality will be produced

Question 51

Structural contributors

Answer 51

sources of inequality are associated with perceived control

higher SES is associated with higher perceived control

Question 52

SES and SoC

Answer 52

Education important - by providing human capital and additional aspects of SES, such as income, financial strain, and employment

Loss of employment can decrease sense of control through loss of income and increases financial strain

Question 53

Work and status quality

Answer 53

show that higher-status jobs have qualities such as higher levels of schedule control, challenging, interesting and enriching work, and a higher level of trust, which enhance perceived control

higher status jobs are better for a SoC because the good outweighs the bad

Question 54

Work conditions and employment

Answer 54

job loss can lead to a loss of perceived control due to its subsequent effects on SES, simply having a job may not enhance perceived control

Jobs with higher levels of work quality and income lead to higher levels of perceived control when the employed are compared to the unemployed

Question 55

Race and ethnicity

Answer 55

report lower levels of perceived control than white individuals

due to SES differences
and discrimination plays a substantial role

Question 56

In Canada

Answer 56

tends to use visible minority

If you are visible racial or ethnic minority you are put in that category

This groups together people from many different backgrounds, preventing theoretical specificity

Question 57

Where we see differences in canada

Answer 57

visible minority ties individuals in Canada reported lower levels of perceived control

same with individuals born outside of Canada

people who felt they did not belong in Canada also had a lower sense of control

Question 58

Gender differences

Answer 58

not consistent across studies

men had higher levels of perceived control than men

education and income explained about a third of these differences

Question 59

Canadian differences

Answer 59

showed that with education and marriage taken into account, there were no differences between men and women

that with a number of SES, racial/ethnic, and health conditions controlled, women had higher mastery than men in Canada

Question 60

Are there gender differences?

Answer 60

in perceived control are highly conditioned by other factors

women may be more advantaged in general if various disadvantages were removed

Question 61

Contextual factors

Answer 61

larger contextual factors also shape SoC

Low SES tend to Have lower levels of SoC

residents of these neighbourhoods report more neighbourhood disorder

Question 62

neighbourhood disorder

Answer 62

perception of lack of social and physical social control (crime, graffiti)

reduces a sense of control because people are unable to establish a basic need of feeling safe and free of threat

perceptions of randomness in the environment can reduce a sense that ones environment can be controlled

Question 63

Altogether

Answer 63

different aspects of social structure and inequality, perceived control reflects levels of advantage or disadvantage

perceived control in turn affects psychological well-being

a SoC shows how inequality “gets in peoples heads” to affect their well-being

Question 64

Too much of a good thing?

Answer 64

there may be limits to psychological benefits of perceived control

decreases in psychological distress with higher levels of perceived control flatten, and psychological distress turns positive

Question 65

People with very high perceived control still have

Answer 65

lower distress than most people in the sample

Question 66

Distress is a little higher for people at the highest end of perceived control

Answer 66

than for people who are about three-quarters into the perceived control scale

Question 67

Wheaton

Answer 67

suggest that increases in distress occur at high levels of perceived control because we cannot control everything

People with a very high sense of control will attempt to express personal efficacy even in cases where doing so may not be possible, resulting in frustration and stress