Self-Esteem Flashcards
What is there overwhelming evidence for?
The higher the level of self-esteem - the more likely people will treat people kindly
What is the most common problem of low self esteem?
There is not once single psychological problem which cannot be traced back to the problems of low self-esteem
What would raising self-esteem do?
Solve many of the states problems, including crime teen pregnancy, drug abuse, social underachievement and pollution - from these results, book came out called: the social importance of self esteem
Is the research on self-esteem scientific?
Not really - usually come up with a hypothesis first but we know that self-esteem causes problems so already have the hypothesis - bad self esteem causes social problems, we know this is true. Problem is how do we determine that it is scientifically true - if we do research and it doesn’t support us, it might be science which is wrong - how can we do research in an area with such common sense knowledge?
What is Global self esteem?
James - certain average tone of self-feeling, which each one of us carries about ourselves, independent of the objective reasons we may have for satisfaction and discontent
How is global self-esteem captured?
By the Rosenberg scale - high self-esteem would be agreeing with items such as ‘I am satisfied with myself’
What is James’ formula for self-esteem?
You can’t fail if you don’t attempt it, and there is no humiliation, so our self-feeling depends on what we back ourselves to be and do:
self esteem = success divided by pretensions (aspirations)
so it may be increased by diminishing aspirations and increasing successes
What do self-discrepencies refer too?
Higgins - The different domains of the self
Actual self
Ideal self
Ought self
measured with: I am.. but I would like to be..
rate how big the discrepency is
What is implicit self-esteem?
A person’s disposition to evaluate themselves in a spontaneous, automatic, or unconscious manner - less conscious level, feelings we aren’t aware of
What do people with high implicit self-esteem do?
Associate positive words with the self more quickly
Associate negative words with the self more slowly
Show a greater liking for letters of the alphabet that are included in their first name/full name
Show a greater liking for the number of the day of the month they were born
What are measures of implicit self esteem and the problems?
RT tasks to positive or negative words
Liking for letters/numbers related to the self
They show poor convergent validity - may be more complex than having one single underlying dimension of positive or negative implicit evaluations of yourself
What are the features of high and self esteem?
Traditional view - positive view of self, being worthwhile, liking oneself and accepting weaknesses, feeling secure
VS
Alternative view - promoting self as better than others, denying threats to positive self-image - arrogance
What are the features of low and self esteem?
Traditional view: negative view of self, worthless, self loafing, insecure, psychological and behaviour problems
Alternative view: neutral self-evaluation, cautious self-presentation, uncertain about self - not agreeing or disagreeing with something
What are the alternative perspectives of self-esteem focussed on?
Whether it is about security or arrogance and defensiveness
