The pursuit of self-esteem: contingencies of self-worth and self-regulation

Successful self-regulation is defined as the willingness to exert effort toward one's most important goals, while taking setbacks and failures as opportunities to learn, identify weaknesses and address them, and develop new strategies toward achieving those goals. Contingencies of self-worth can facilitate self-regulation because people are highly motivated to succeed and avoid failure in domains of contingency. However, because boosts in self-esteem are pleasurable and drops in self-esteem are painful, protection, maintenance, and enhancement of self-esteem can become the overriding goal. Several pitfalls for self-regulation can result, especially when tasks are difficult and failure is likely. In this article, we describe a program of research examining these self-regulation pitfalls associated with contingent self-worth and suggest that learning orientations, particularly the willingness to embrace failure for the learning it affords, foster successful self-regulation even in people with highly contingent self-esteem.     

Your money or your self-esteem: threatened egotism promotes costly entrapment in losing endeavors

The present research explored egotism-maintaining favorable views of the self-as a motivation underlying entrapment in losing endeavors. Four studies suggested that threatened selfesteem would cause decision makers to invest and lose more money in a previously chosen course of action. Ego-threatened participants consistently lost more money than nonthreatened participants across diverse entrapping situations regardless of whether the outcome was ostensibly determined by luck (Experiments 1 and 4), ability (Experiment 2), or interpersonal competition (Experiment 3). Thus, pursuing favorable views of the self could be costly to decision makers' financial well-being and may produce self-defeating behaviors.     

The costly burden of an inauthentic self: insecure self-esteem predisposes to emotional exhaustion by increasing reactivity to negative events

Background and objectives: A long research tradition has investigated the impact of stress on university students by assuming that individuals have a limited reservoir of resources, and that negative events and circumstances progressively drain resources thereby producing exhaustion. A recent research tradition, instead, has focused on the detrimental consequences of discrepant levels of implicit (ISE) and explicit (ESE) self-esteem on the development of stress-related symptoms. The present research attempted to merge the aforementioned approaches, with the aim of explaining significant predictors of stress.

Design: Within the framework of a Longitudinal Structural Equation Model, we followed a moderated-mediated approach.

Method: A sample of university students (N?=?209; 66% females) completed a questionnaire battery including measures of ISE, ESE, perceptions of negative events, and emotional exhaustion. Participants were assessed once a week for eight consecutive weeks.

Results: ISE significantly moderated the relationship between ESE and negative events; in turn, the latter significantly predicted emotional exhaustion. Monte Carlo method for assessing mediation showed that negative events significantly mediated the relationship between incongruent self-esteem and emotional exhaustion.

Conclusions: The detrimental role of incongruent self-esteem has been corroborated. Practical implications and suggestions for future research dealing with stress in a university setting were provided.     

The healthy pursuit of self-esteem: comment on and alternative to the Crocker and Park (2004) formulation

J. Crocker and L. E. Park (2004) proposed both (a) that the importance of self-esteem lies more in how people strive for it rather than whether it is high or low and (b) that the benefits of pursuing self-esteem are of a limited, short-term nature and are outweighed by the significant costs that entail for functioning in multiple areas. The authors review research that raises questions about the validity of each of these assumptions. They conclude that findings are more consistent with a view in which (a) high self-esteem, or at least the avoidance of low self-esteem, is an important factor contributing to overall health and well-being and (b) the pursuit of self-esteem, when directed toward adaptive ends, can be instrumental in promoting long-term outcomes that are of value to both individuals and society. They also describe an integrative theoretical framework that encompasses both of these possibilities.     

The pursuit of Leonardo's constraint

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) identified two stimulus situations that cannot be painted faithfully on a canvas: (a) when two objects are located in the same direction with respect to the painter's head, and (b) when parts of a surface are visible to one eye, but occluded from the other eye. He analysed these situations in terms of rays being emitted from the two eyes and, aside from the origin of the rays, the projective geometry he used was correct. His analyses showed that what can be seen from two vantage points cannot be represented on a canvas, because a 'correct' painting must be created from a single 'station point'. He was struck by the consequence of this fact that the depth seen on a canvas cannot match that of viewing the scene with two eyes. Subsequent visual scientists focused on Leonardo's observation about the lack of vivid depth in a picture. We argue that a complete understanding of what we see in the two stimulus situations requires consideration of visual direction in addition to visual depth. More specifically, we argue that the visual directions of the two objects, (a) above, and the visual direction of the monocular areas, (b) above, are dependent upon the constraint that two opaque objects cannot be represented in the same direction. Demonstrations that readers can perform, and that support this argument, are provided on the Perception website at http://www.perceptionweb.com/perc0102/ono.html.     

The pursuit of the natural

In recent years, it has become common to defend science against charges of bias against the supernatural by explaining that science must remain methodologically natural but does not assume metaphysical naturalism. While such a response is correct, some details about the distinction between methodological naturalism and ontological or metaphysical naturalism have been lacking, as has a clear understanding of the distinction between the methodological restriction of science to natural explanations and naturalistic claims about the scope of those methods. We still require an account of the natural that explains well why science is restricted to giving naturalistic methods, and why the pursuit of natural explanations is not tantamount to the assumption that only natural causes exist. I suggest that the distinguishing characteristics of the natural are not metaphysical at all but broadly epistemological, concerning goals of intersubjectivity and predictability. I argue that by focusing on naturalistic goals we can better explain why the pursuit of natural explanations need not presume any purely natural metaphysics. But I also suggest that the adoption of natural methods is not entirely metaphysically neutral, as it is associated with values that may be more closely associated with some metaphysical views than others.     

The pursuit of multiple goals

Juggling multiple goals is an inescapable reality of human life. Over the past two decades, the study of the nature of multiple (vs. single) goals has emerged to become an influential topic. To facilitate the understanding of the current state of the literature, this article presents an overview of the study of multiple goals. It first addresses the nature and impact of dual‐goal relations and reviews strategies people use to manage goal conflict (i.e., choosing, multitasking, and prioritizing). It then examines ways to conceptualize the relations among a collection of goals (i.e., goal structure), highlights emerging research in this area, and discusses factors that contribute to optimizing the pursuit of multiple goals. Throughout, the review highlights knowledge gaps and the need for future research to study subjective experiences in managing multiple goals.     

The effect of overt and covert narcissism on self-esteem and self-efficacy beyond self-esteem

Past literature has suggested a dual nature of trait based narcissism, comprising overt and covert forms. While several studies have examined the two subtypes in relation to self-esteem, very few studies have examined narcissistic subtypes and self-efficacy. 115 Psychology undergraduates filled in self-report measures of overt narcissism, covert narcissism, self-esteem and self-efficacy. Results demonstrated no significant relationship between overt and covert narcissism, suggesting two distinct subtypes. Overt and covert forms of narcissism were found to significantly contribute to self-efficacy beyond self-esteem. Further, overt narcissism positively predicted both self-esteem and self-efficacy beyond self-esteem. Conversely, covert narcissism was found to negatively predict self-esteem and self-efficacy beyond self-esteem. Overt narcissism subscale associations were also computed, with Power being associated with higher self-efficacy but not self-esteem, suggesting Power to be a more adaptive subscale. The Special Person subscale was associated with higher self-esteem but not self-efficacy, suggesting it forms the maladaptive core of overt narcissism. Exhibitionism was not associated with either self-esteem or self-efficacy. Results appear congruent with past literature, and have given an additional insight into the implications of trait based narcissism regarding self-efficacy. Findings appear to suggest trait based overt narcissism is a more adaptive construct to individual self-concept than covert narcissism.     

The role of self-esteem in affiliation

The role of self-esteem in a person's decision to initially affiliate with someone and subsequently maintain that affiliation was examined. A sample of 221 pairs of participants ("observers" and their "affiliates") were administered the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (M. Rosenberg, 1979), the Social Desirability Scale (D. Crowne & D. Marlowe, 1964), and a general interest questionnaire. The observers and most of their affiliates were undergraduate students enrolled at a southwestern U.S. university. Both at initial contact and during maintained affiliation, the observers with high self-esteem scores tended to affiliate with persons who scored significantly lower on self-esteem, and observers with low self-esteem scores tended to affiliate with persons who scored significantly higher on self-esteem. The authors concluded that a person's level of self-esteem may play an important role in his or her choices of affiliates.     

An implicit theory of self-esteem: The consequences of perceived self-esteem for romantic desirability

The provision of information appears to be an important property of self-esteem as evidenced by previous research concerning the status-tracking and status-signaling models of self-esteem. The present studies examine whether there is an implicit theory of self-esteem that leads individuals to assume targets with higher levels of self-esteem possess more desirable characteristics than those with lower levels of self-esteem. Across 6 studies, targets with ostensibly higher levels of self-esteem were generally rated as more attractive and as more desirable relationship partners than those with lower levels of self- esteem. It is important to note, however, that this general trend did not consistently emerge for female targets. Rather, female targets with high self-esteem were often evaluated less positively than those with more moderate levels of self-esteem. The present findings are discussed in the context of an extended informational model of self-esteem consisting of both the status-tracking and status-signaling properties of self-esteem.     

Locus-of-hope and life satisfaction: The mediating roles of personal self-esteem and relational self-esteem

Research has demonstrated that hope is linked to better psychological well-being; however, little research has been conducted to examine the mechanisms underlying the link between hope and psychological well-being. The current study examined whether two types of self-esteem (personal and relational) would mediate the relationship between four loci-of-hope (internal, family, peers, and spiritual) and life satisfaction among Hong Kong and Macau college students (n = 1008). Structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses. Consistent with the hypotheses, both personal self-esteem and relational self-esteem partially mediated the effects of internal hope on life satisfaction. Moreover, relational self-esteem mediated the effect of external-family locus-of-hope on life satisfaction. Interestingly, a suppressing effect of personal self-esteem on the relationship between external-peers locus-of-hope and life satisfaction was found. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.     

The robust self-esteem proxy: Impressions of self-esteem inform judgments of personality and social value

People use impressions of an evaluative target’s self-esteem to infer their possession of socially desirable traits. But will people still use this self-esteem proxy when trait-relevant diagnostic information is available? We test this possibility in two experiments: participants learn that a target person has low or high self-esteem, and then receive diagnostic information about the target’s academic success or failure and positive or negative affectivity (Study 1), or watch a video of the target’s extraverted or introverted behavior (Study 2). In both experiments, participants’ impressions of the target’s traits accurately tracked diagnostic information, but impressions also revealed an independent self-esteem proxy effect. Evidently, the self-esteem proxy is robust and influences person perception even in the presence of vivid individuating information.     

The strategic pursuit of moral credentials

Moral credentials establish one's virtue and license one to act in morally disreputable ways with impunity (Monin & Miller, 2001). We propose that when people anticipate doing something morally dubious, they strategically attempt to earn moral credentials. Participants who expected to do something that could appear racist (decline to hire a Black job candidate in Studies 1 and 2, or take a test that might reveal implicit racial bias in Study 3) subsequently sought to establish non-racist credentials (by expressing greater racial sensitivity in Studies 1 and 2, or by exaggerating how favorably they perceived a Black job candidate in Study 3). Consistent with prior research, a follow-up study revealed that the opportunity to establish such credentials subsequently licensed participants to express more favorable attitudes towards a White versus a Black individual. We argue that strategically pursuing moral credentials allows individuals to manage attributions about their morally dubious behavior.     

The positive effects of mindfulness on self-esteem

Positive psychological research has clearly highlighted the importance of investigating factors that contribute to well-being. One factor contributing greatly to psychological well-being is mindfulness, which has been related to a wide range of positive outcomes, including healthy self-esteem. Here, we present two studies that aim to extend prior research on mindfulness and self-esteem. In Study 1, we propose and test a theoretically derived model of the role that mindfulness plays in the prediction of self-esteem and life satisfaction. Four facets of mindfulness significantly predicted increased self-esteem, which in turn predicted overall life satisfaction. In Study 2, we extended this study by examining the direct effects of a brief mindfulness induction on state self-esteem, and found that experimentally enhancing state mindfulness led to an increase in state self-esteem. The two studies presented clearly demonstrate that mindfulness and self-esteem are related, and, importantly, that mindfulness training has direct positive effects on self-esteem.     

The measurement of self-esteem for program evaluation

The purpose of this paper is to examine the area of self-esteem in the professional literature, its relationship to educational programs, its measurement problems, and one approach to program evaluation in terms of students' self-esteem. Self-esteem has been an important topic in the educational literature in recent years. There have been many important contributions by investigators on the relationship between self-esteem and educational achievement. Until recently, the results of self-esteem investigations have yielded a somewhat negative appraisal from reviewers, but there is optimism for the future possibilities of assessing this elusive construct. The investigator focusing upon program evaluation has advantages over his predecessors. He can utilize different measurement strategies. The strengths and criticisms of Q methodology are discussed. The L-L Q-Sort is presented as one approach to the evaluation of self-esteem in educational program evaluation.     

The role of uncertain self-esteem in self-handicapping

In this article, the hypothesis that some individuals confronted with an intellectual evaluation use a lack of preparation as a "self-handicapping" strategy (Jones & Berglas, 1978) was studied. Sex and both level and certainty of self-esteem were examined in regard to the self-handicapping strategy of lack of effort. Subjects were 54 men and 54 women, certain and uncertain, high and low self-esteem college students, who believed that the experiment was designed to update local norms for a nonverbal test of intellectual ability. After subjects' level of state anxiety was assessed, they were instructed in the benefits of practicing for the evaluation. Subsequently, subjects' state anxiety and preparatory efforts (the primary dependent variables) were measured. Subjects' practice, self-protective attributions, and related affect supported a self-handicapping interpretation for uncertain males but not for uncertain females.