Self Esteem

Question 1

Definition

Answer 1

Self esteem is an attitude regarding one self . It refers to an evaluation of the self and their personal worth/value
Evaluation is key as it distinguished itself from self concept and efficacy

Question 2

Narcissism?

Answer 2

both refer to positive self evaluation
Narcissism and self esteem have similarities they are very different as high esteem ≠ narcissism. Measures of esteem do not distinguish this.
Self esteem considered the feelings of adequacy or good enough whereas narcissism view themselves as superior

Question 3

Narcissism (Campbell evidence)

Answer 3

Narcissism and self esteem measures actually are weakly correlated (Campbell, 2002)

Question 4

Wellbeing (evidence)

Answer 4

Esteem correlates to well being
Depression r = -.20-.70
Anxiety r = -.10 - -.70
Happiness r = .30 - .60

Question 5

Low esteem links

Answer 5

Low self esteem links to less clear self conceptions, set themselves unrealistic goals, remember past negatively, pessimistic.

Question 6

History (70,80)

Answer 6

70/80s esteem movement; low self esteem causes individual/societal dysfunction; high esteem is the “cure”

Question 7

History (Baumeister)

Answer 7

Baumeister 2003; evidence is weak, low r and issues of causality, no evidence of an epidemic of low esteem

Question 8

What is self esteem?

Answer 8

Self esteem is both a state and a trait

Question 9

Trait esteem

Answer 9

is a typical evaluation of yourself across time

Question 10

State esteem

Answer 10

is a moment to moment fluctuations of self eval.

Question 11

Measuring self esteem

Answer 11

Rosenberg Scale 1965; measures explicitly adequacy as well as measuring how they feel in current moments and not the past

Question 12

Threat on esteem
Research results and problems

Answer 12

Serves as evidence that esteem can fluctuate; often psychologists use students, this is a problem for research as it could base their esteem on intelligence, not as generalisable etc.

Question 13

Threat on esteem (Method)

Answer 13

in this specific study they measured esteem at 3 time points;
baseline T1
Informed about upcoming difficult exam T2
Receiving grades on exam T3

There was a dip in T2 from T1. T3 varied a lot due to varying results

Question 14

Manipulate esteem
Fake test

Answer 14

How can we manipulate esteem? Difficulty of the test? RAT; provide outcomes that will temporarily affect their esteem, in other words rig it.
“You will be shown three words and you have to find the fourth word that relates to the other 3
Soap shoe tissue ?
(Investigator mentions this is an easy question when in reality… it’s hard)
? = box”

Question 15

Fake scores manipulate esteem

Answer 15

False feedback is another manipulated method for esteem
Fake IQ tests

Question 16

Responses to esteem threat
Response to scores

Answer 16

Provided fake scores
Those given better scores recorded better esteem in locus of control, view on test, importance of scores, effort put in, abilities.

Question 17

Meta analysis of responses and reason

Answer 17

Two major responses; compensating & breaking

Question 18

Compensating reaction

Answer 18

minimisation, rejection, externalising reasons, downward comparison to lower scores, negative eval of others. More common in high esteem ppl

Question 19

Breaking reactions

Answer 19

acceptance of threat, put themselves down, internal locus of control , positive evaluation of others, more common in low esteem ppl
More healthy as they realise it’s in their control to fix

Question 20

Anticipation of threat

Answer 20

Responses occur when we sense potential esteem threat

Question 21

Anticipation of threat
Predictive validity

Answer 21

False info about test predictive validity: weak (no threat) v Strong (threat)

(EG someone said high scorers are more likely to be wealthy and you score low, you think ur a bum)

Question 22

Anticipated threat
Sample Qs

Answer 22

Sample questions: easy (success likely) or hard (failure likely)

Question 23

Anticipated threat
Self handicapping

Answer 23

any strat you think of to put obstacles in the way of preparing in order to make yourself feel better about preemptive failure

Question 24

Anticipated effort evidence Greenberg

Answer 24

Intended effort has shown to link to perceived likeliness of success

Question 25

Ways of referring to Self esteem

Answer 25

Global evaluations ; Rosenberg
Domain specific eval; appearance, academic competence, athletic ability

Question 26

Contingent self esteem crocker 2002

Answer 26

Everyone stakes their worth on different things and we look to one domain; our esteem is contingent in those demains we stake in

Question 27

Socialised contingency

Answer 27

Is contingency a process of socialisation and things you learn as a child (parents force academic process)
Praise/reward or disciplinary consequences to esteem

Question 28

Contingency study

Answer 28

Surveyed 1418 ppl, 7 domains; approval of others, appearance, competition, academic, familial, virtue, god connection
found nearly all participant had a domain esteem was dependent on and the area people valued they also spent more time on.

Question 29

Contingency Graph Sommers 2002

Answer 29

further reinforced by Sommers 2002 contingency dependent esteem graphs; baseline similar to rejection and acceptance in non contingent study and big impact on contingent studies

Question 30

Self verification (Swann 1987)

Answer 30

prefer information that confirms self view
Partner preference for interaction (Swann et al 1992)
Low esteem preferred people with low views of them and vice versa for High esteem.

Question 31

Self enhancement approach (kunda 1990)

Answer 31

Motive to develop an esteem and maintain it; avoid things that take and approach things that maintain or provide

Question 32

Self enhancement direct and indirect (kunda 1990)

Answer 32

high esteem go to seek and are comfiendent they can do that, low esteem look for indirect enhancements by being close to people who are close to them and therefore raise their image.

Question 33

Self affirmation Steele 1988
& fluid compensation Brown 1991.

Answer 33

When we see threat we try to alieviate it by affirming ourselves in domains that haven’t been threatened. Fluid compensations (brown 1991) people who fail tests inflate their evaluation in other results or even in other concepts of life like social.

Question 34

Cross culture

Answer 34

Culturally bound (Heine et Al 1999) Some people argue that this is a western civilisation concept and socialised to internal western attributes
Self esteem marked lower in non western cultures.
The more people from japan were exposed to western cultures the more self esteem began to be a concept that was prevelant

Question 35

Cross culture Heine criticism (support for it being universal)

Answer 35

Self esteem is universal but how it’s attained differs from culture to culture; that could be a good explanation for Heines results as he is using Rosenbergs study, a western study. Explains why those who were exposed to western society appealed more to that study.

Question 36

Explicit & implicit self esteem measures

Answer 36

Explicit and implicit self esteem measures differ (Kityama 1997)
An example of an implicit one is the initials test.

Question 37

Contingency works cross culture

Answer 37

Contingent self esteem works cross culture too as we have esteem based on behaviours and goals that cultures promote; Asian cultures may look for those who go into medical professions more than western cultures and some may respect some sports, some may not.

Question 38

Debate
“Self esteem is the greatest sickness known to man” Albert Ellis

Answer 38

The point of this is that our pursuit of self esteem
Can be self destructive, have consequences and can be costly to the pursuit of other needs and goals.

Question 39

Autonomy of self esteem

Answer 39

sometimes self esteem isn’t for own purpose but to please others

Question 40

Competence

Answer 40

Mistakes, failure, criticism become threats rather than opportunities for growth

Question 41

Competence

Answer 41

Mistakes, failure, criticism become threats rather than opportunities for growth

Question 42

Relatedness

Answer 42

Can lead to defensiveness and distancing as well as being too self absorbed

Question 43

Good physical health

Answer 43

stress from obtaining esteem can lead to vices in order to cut corners, think steroids and doping in sports

Question 44

Unconditional self esteem?

Answer 44

people say we should be looking for this and being yourself is enough. Anything else is bonus.
Some people believe this would be pathological and not adaptive as no one would push themselves

Question 45

Self esteem never can be entirely unconditional (Greenberg 2008)

Answer 45

Bases of self worth instead should be realistic, flexible, attainable, etc

Values of female beauty standards are unrealistic, therefore have been unhealthy for ages.

Question 46

A solution?

Answer 46

Abandon unhealthy contingencies!