Self Esteem

Question 1

Self-Esteem

Answer 1

A positive attitude towards ourselves, can be understood as both a “trait” and a “state” People go to great lengths to gain it, spend tons of money on appearance, and it predicts every major aspect of people’s lives (tend to be happier, have more friends, work harder)

Question 2

Trait vs. State self-esteem

Answer 2

Trait: Something permeable/stable. State: Something that varies with the situation

Question 3

Above average effect

Answer 3

People tend to see themselves as “above average” on desirable traits, characteristics, and abilities. Funny, because it is statistically impossible

Question 4

Self-serving attributions

Answer 4

We tend to make internal attributions for our successes and external attributions for our failures/mistakes. In other words, we take credit for the good and blame others/the world for the bad. [Internal positive, external negative]

Question 5

Self-handicapping

Answer 5

Protecting the self from negative attributions and creating obstacles for ourselves so that we have an excuse if we do poorly (and we have an additional boost if we do well!) People are more likely to ask for failure so that they will at least have some outside excuse. People do this when they are uncertain about their own abilities.

Question 6

Performance Enhancing Drug Study

Answer 6

: When something is difficult people will find a way to make it even harder to fall back on.
Experiment described as studying drugs’ effect on intellectual performance
IV: Easy or difficult test of IQ, all P’s told they performed well (those in difficult condition should be surprised
DV: Choice of drug to take before a second IQ test:
“Activil” (performance enhancing) OR “Pandorcrin” (performance harming)
Results: Percentage of P’s who chose Pandocrin (harming) = When first test was easy: 13%, When first test was difficult 70%, In other words, P’s in the difficult condition self-handicapped because they were uncertain about their future performance

Question 7

Self-Affirmation

Answer 7

Coping with failures/deficiency in one domain of life by boosting one’s value in a different domain. People are very fluid about this and about holstering their value after a failure of another one.
-Pool of ‘feel good about yourself’ example.

Question 8

Upward and downward social comparisons

Answer 8

Our self-esteem depends on who we compare ourselves to. We often assess our own worth by comparing ourselves with others.
• ‘Upward’ comparison: Compare ourselves with those who are better off: decreases our self-esteem
• ‘Downward comparison’: compare ourselves with those who are worse off: increases our self-esteem

Question 9

BIRGing

Answer 9

BIRGing: ‘Basking in the reflecting glory of another person’
-We can gain self-esteem through our association with successful others.
• (e.g., friends and family members who excel, our favorite sports team.)
But a big question arises….
o If someone is better off than us,
• WHEN do we do an upward social comparison (thus lowering our self-esteem)?
• WHEN do we do BIRGing
The answer: The self-evaluation maintenance model

Question 10

Self-evaluation maintenance model

Answer 10

• Three important dimensions to consider: 1. Other’s performance (better/worse than own)
2. Other’s closeness (close/not close)
3. Relevance of dimension to our self-esteem (relevant/irrelevant)
o When the other does better, they are close, and they succeed in a domain relevant to our self-esteem → Upward Comparison ☹
• How can you maintain self-esteem?
 A. Improve your performance (other no longer better)
 Distance from other (other no longer close)
 Distance from domain (no longer relevant)
 Hurt other’s performance (other no longer better)

o When the other does better, they are close, and they succeed in an irrelevant domain → BIRG ☺

Question 11

Noise Shock Study

Answer 11

When ego was threatened, people were more aggressive toward critic=louder noise.
P’s measured on their trait narcissism
IV: receive criticism or praise
DV: aggression
Narsicssim higher on agression with ego threat and narcissism lower on agression with praise
– Self esteem concerns divert attention from other tasks, hurting performance

Question 12

Swimsuit Study

Answer 12

\:Women wearing swimsuits did far worse on test than women wearing sweaters.
Men and women took a math test. 
IV: Wear sweater or swim suit 
DV: Test performance
When women wore swimsuit, did worse

Question 13

Intrinsic vs. extrinsic self-esteem

Answer 13

Intrinisc: Values from deep down
Extrinisic: Meeting standards/expectations

Question 14

Self-esteem as an anxiety buffer (a terror management theory perspective)

Answer 14

Desire for self-presentation and uniquely human awareness of the inevitability of death lead to the potential for overwhelming terror. This is managed by cultural worldviews that lend life meaning; humans are uniquely aware of their own death, which creates potential for severe anxiety. people manage death anxiety by maintaining self-esteem— the sense that they’re valuable members of a meaningful universe.

Question 15

Strength Display Study

Answer 15

:P’s invested in physical strength squeezed harder than P’s not invested in strength with salience towards mortality. Men and Women previously selected for being either invested in or not in displaying physical strength.
IV: mortality salience or control
DV: strength output on a hand dysmeter
Results: higher mortality salience with invested physical strength, also higher control. Not invested lower in mortality salience than control.