Self-structure and self-esteem stability: the hidden vulnerability of compartmentalization

The present studies examined the association between self-concept structure and stability of self-esteem. In two daily diary studies, evaluative integration (organizing positively and negatively valenced self-beliefs into the same self-aspects) was associated with more stable self-esteem than evaluative compartmentalization (organizing positively and negatively valenced self-beliefs into separate self-aspects) among individuals with generally high self-esteem. Moreover, analyses of self-esteem reactivity confirmed that the sensitivity of state self-esteem to daily events was greater for compartmentalized individuals than for individuals with relatively integrative self-concept structures. Compartmentalization also was associated with greater sensitivity to experiences of social rejection in the laboratory, consistent with the view that integration affords greater stability of self-evaluations. These results suggest that some of the benefits believed to be associated with compartmentalization (such as high self-esteem) may have hidden costs that have not previously been considered.     

Self-esteem,need for approval,and reactions to personal evaluations

In accordance with theoretical predictions concerning the reactions of high and low self-esteem individuals, Ss with low self-esteem scores showed an increase in liking for a positive evaluator of self and a decrease in liking for a negative evaluator of self. Ss with high self-esteem scores and low Marlowe-Crowne scores did not show a significant change in liking for either a positive or negative evaluator of self. Ss with high self-esteem scores and high Marlowe-Crowne scores showed a pattern of reaction similar to that of low self-esteem Ss. It was suggested that a sizable percentage of high self-esteem scorers should be reclassified as low self-esteem. This subgroup seems to obtain high scores on a self-esteem inventory by presenting themselves in an overly favorable as opposed to honest manner (the defining characteristic of a high Marlowe-Crowne scorer) but shows behavior patterns similar to low self-esteem individuals.     

Compartmentalization and integration: the evaluative organization of contextualized selves

This article reviews research on the evaluative organization (compartmentalized or integrative) of contextualized selves. Evaluatively compartmentalized self-structures consist of multiple selves, each of which is either mostly positive or mostly negative. Evaluatively integrative self-structures represent each self with a mixture of positive and negative attributes. These different styles of organizing self-knowledge have been linked to current mood and self-esteem. More recently, studies of evaluative organization have examined self-esteem stability, coping styles (e.g., self-enhancement or resilience), change in self-organization, as well as psychopathology and psychological treatment. Findings suggest that compartmentalized self-structures, typically associated with the highest levels of self-esteem, may be vulnerable to instability. In contrast, the more moderate self-views of individuals with integrative self-structures may offer greater stability, increased resilience, and a means of coping with extreme stress.     

Self-Structure in Persecutory Delusions

There is currently limited research examining self-structure in clinical groups and no current data on the extent to which self-structure is amendable to change following psychological therapy. We address this important gap by examining self-structure in individuals with persecutory delusions using the card sort task, an established paradigm measuring key self-structure indices, including the degree to which self-structure is compartmentalized (characterized by primarily positive or negative attributes, as opposed to a mix of both), and the proportion and importance of negative attributes.In Study 1, individuals with a schizophrenia spectrum diagnosis with current persecutory delusions (clinical group, n = 27) and a healthy control group (n = 47) were compared on self-structure indices. In Study 2 (n = 27), the clinical group also completed the card sort task before and after randomization to either a 12-week mindfulness-based psychological therapy or treatment-as-usual control.In Study 1, self-structure differed significantly between the clinical and control groups. The clinical group had a greater proportion of negative attributes, assigned more importance to negative self-aspects, and had more compartmentalized self-structures compared with controls. In Study 2 there were no associations between delusion severity and self-structure. Large effect sizes for reductions in compartmentalization and proportion of negative attributes across self-aspects were found following mindfulness therapy. The findings highlight key differences in self-structure between individuals with persecutory delusions and healthy controls, and suggest that it might be possible to change self-structure following psychological therapy. These data support the central role of the self in theoretical models of paranoid thinking.     

Group identification moderates emotional responses to perceived prejudice

Two studies tested the prediction that group identification (importance of the group in the self-concept) moderates the impact of perceived discrimination on self-evaluative emotions (depression and self-esteem). In Study 1, women low in gender identification experienced less depressed emotion and higher self-esteem if a negative evaluation was due to sexism than when it was not. The self-evaluative emotions of women high in gender identification were not buffered by attributions to sexism. In Study 2, ethnic identification and depressed emotions were positively related when Latino-Americans read about pervasive prejudice against the ingroup but were negatively related when they read about prejudice against an outgroup. Both studies demonstrated that for highly group identified individuals, prejudice against the ingroup is a threat against the self. Thus, the self-protective strategy of attributing negative feedback to discrimination may be primarily effective for individuals who do not consider the group a central aspect of self.     

The experience of self-awareness and its relation to level of self-consciousness: An experiential sampling study

The present research studied self-awareness by utilizing experiential sampling methodology, which allows for the random sampling of individuals' thoughts and feelings as they go about their normal daily activities. Neither Study 1 nor 2 found a relation between private or public self-awareness and negative affect. However, attention to private self-aspects was generally more positive and less ruminative for low as opposed to high private self-conscious subjects, and awareness of oneself as a social object was generally more positive but less important for low as opposed to high public self-conscious subjects. What may have accounted for the negative relation between private self-consciousness and average affect was that low private self-conscious subjects were more likely to attend to their private self-aspects if they were pleasant than if they were unpleasant, while high private self-conscious subjects' degree of private self-awareness was unrelated to whether the content of this state was pleasant or not. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that low private self-conscious individuals engage in a more selective type of self-attention when in the private self-aware state than do high private self-conscious individuals. Regarding the relation between self-awareness and social context, both studies found that the presence of others results in a heightened public self-awareness. However, even though subjects were more attentive to public self-aspects when with others than when alone, in general, they were more attentive to their “private self” than to their “public self”. Results are discussed in terms of current self-awareness theory.     

Images of the self and self-esteem: do positive self-images improve self-esteem in social anxiety?

Negative self-images play an important role in maintaining social anxiety disorder. We propose that these images represent the working self in a Self-Memory System that regulates retrieval of self-relevant information in particular situations. Self-esteem, one aspect of the working self, comprises explicit (conscious) and implicit (automatic) components. Implicit self-esteem reflects an automatic evaluative bias towards the self that is normally positive, but is reduced in socially anxious individuals. Forty-four high and 44 low socially anxious participants generated either a positive or a negative self-image and then completed measures of implicit and explicit self-esteem. Participants who held a negative self-image in mind reported lower implicit and explicit positive self-esteem, and higher explicit negative self-esteem than participants holding a positive image in mind, irrespective of social anxiety group. We then tested whether positive self-images protected high and low socially anxious individuals equally well against the threat to explicit self-esteem posed by social exclusion in a virtual ball toss game (Cyberball). We failed to find a predicted interaction between social anxiety and image condition. Instead, all participants holding positive self-images reported higher levels of explicit self-esteem after Cyberball than those holding negative self-images. Deliberate retrieval of positive self-images appears to facilitate access to a healthy positive implicit bias, as well as improving explicit self-esteem, whereas deliberate retrieval of negative self-images does the opposite. This is consistent with the idea that negative self-images may have a causal, as well as a maintaining, role in social anxiety disorder.     

Self-compassion,Achievement Goals,and Coping with Academic Failure

Stress-buffering effects of high self-complexity can be explained by two different theoretical models. According to the affective spillover model (Linville, ), a large number of independent self-aspects prevents a generalization of affect after negative but also after positive events. According to the self-regulatory processes model, a large number of self-aspects promotes efficient self-regulation, which is restricted to negative events. Effects of negative and positive events on subsequent changes in depression were investigated in a prospective design. Having a large number of self-aspects was found to attenuate adverse effects of negative events on depression, irrespective of the distinctness of the self-aspects. No buffering effects were observed regarding the relation between positive events and depression. The self-regulatory processes model also predicts that for people with a large number of self-aspects, an increasing number of positive experiences should be generated in response to high levels of stress. This prediction was tested and confirmed in a second part of the study.     

Self-esteem uncertainty and depression vulnerability

Previous research has typically failed to show a difference between the self-esteem ratings of persons who are at-risk for depression and those who are not. Despite these null findings, it is possible that problems with self-esteem do precede depression but are masked by thought suppression. The present research investigated the possibility that at-risk individuals' relatively positive self-appraisals belie uncertainty about the self that is related to high levels of thought suppression and reassurance seeking. To test this idea, participants completed Rosenberg's (1965) Self-Esteem Scale and immediately reported certainty of their responses. Participants then completed measures of excessive-reassurance seeking and chronic thought suppression. Participants also reported past and present experiences with depression. The results indicated that at-risk individuals did not differ from never-depressed individuals in their reported levels of trait self-esteem. However, at-risk individuals were more uncertain about their beliefs than were never-depressed individuals. Moreover, this uncertainty was associated with high levels of thought suppression and excessive reassurance seeking.     

Self-concept integration and differentiation in subclinical individuals with dissociation proneness

Dissociative pathology is characterized by an altered sense of self. Still, it remains unclear (a) whether the altered sense of self is also associated with non-pathological dissociation as well and (b) whether this potential association is an intrinsic connection or a consequence of other related constructs, including childhood trauma. This study addresses this question by examining how self-concept organization may differ among individuals with different levels of dissociation proneness. The structure of self-concept was operationalized by various indexes of self-concept integration and differentiation. Results showed that individuals high in dissociation proneness have lower self-concept clarity and compartmentalize self-aspects with more polarized evaluations. Notably, the association between dissociation proneness and evaluative self-compartmentalization held after controlling for childhood trauma, anxiety, and depression. This characteristic self-concept organization can be an attribute of non-pathological dissociation.     

Relationships Among Self,Others, and Persecutors in Individuals With Persecutory Delusions: A Repertory Grid Analysis

The purpose of the current study was to examine the way individuals with persecutory delusions construe the self, others, and their main persecutor with reference to the constructs of malevolence and omnipotence, and examine the extent to which these interpersonal beliefs link to distress, self-esteem, and delusion conviction. Repertory grid methodology was used to explore interpersonal beliefs about malevolence and omnipotence in a sample (N = 30) of individuals with current persecutory delusions (mean age 36.4 years; 62% male and 53% White). Participants also completed measures of emotional distress (depression and anxiety) and self-esteem. The findings suggested that persecutors were construed as more omnipotent and malevolent than both the self and others; others in turn were construed as more omnipotent and malevolent than the self. Beliefs about self as powerful were associated with lower anxiety, depression, and higher self-esteem, and beliefs about persecutors’ omnipotence predicted delusion conviction. As with voices, the concepts of power/omnipotence and malevolence/benevolence appear to be important constructs when seeking to understand the relationship between individuals and their perceived persecutors. These findings support working therapeutically with negative schematic beliefs about self, others, and persecutors, which is consistent with a person-based cognitive therapy model of distressing psychosis.     

The retrieval of self-defining memories is associated with the activation of specific working selves

This article presents two studies that investigated the impact of the retrieval of self-defining memories on individuals' sense of self. Participants recalled positive and/or negative self-defining memories, rated memory characteristics and completed measures focusing on different self-aspects. Study 1 found that participants reported higher state self-esteem after recalling a positive memory than after recalling a negative one. They also reported lower negative self-consistency and higher state self-concept clarity and positive self-consistency, but this result became non-significant after controlling for state self-esteem. Study 2 found that participants reported higher state self-esteem, a marginally higher proportion of recreation/exploration, goals and a marginally lower proportion of achievement goals after recalling a positive memory than after recalling a negative one. They also reported a higher proportion of self-cognitions referring to emotional states after recalling memories from which they had not abstracted meaning than after recalling memories from which they had done this. These findings suggest that the retrieval of vivid, emotional and highly self-relevant memories may be accompanied by the activation of specific self-representations or working selves. They also suggest that the experience of memory-related intrusive images may temporarily influence individuals' sense of self. The implications of these findings for clinical practice are discussed.     

老年人自尊、希望和抑郁关系的纵向研究

为考察老年人自尊、希望与抑郁间的关系,本研究对281名老年人进行为期一年的追踪调查。相关分析及纵向中介分析结果表明:(1)自尊和希望与老年人的抑郁显著负相关,老年人自尊和希望显著正相关。(2)自尊正向预测老年人的希望,老年人的希望负向预测抑郁。(3)希望在自尊对老年人抑郁的影响中起中介作用。本研究结果揭示了希望是自尊对老年人抑郁产生效应的重要机制变量。这些结果对于减缓老年人抑郁,促进老年心理健康具有一定的实践价值。     

Inclusion-exclusion of positive and negative past selves: mood congruence as information

The current research challenges the widespread truism that recalling a positive self necessarily increases self-esteem, whereas recalling a negative self necessarily decreases self-esteem. Four experiments demonstrate that chronically happy people show a relative increase in self-esteem by recalling either a positive or a negative self. Chronically sad people, however, show a relative decrease in self-esteem by recalling either a positive or a negative self. These effects are due to divergent perceptions of mood congruence between the recalled self and the current self. Specifically, happy people perceive high mood congruence between a recalled positive self and the current self but low mood congruence between a recalled negative self and the current self. In contrast, sad people perceive high mood congruence between a recalled negative self and the current self but low mood congruence between a recalled positive self and the current self. Independent of chronic mood, mood congruence leads to perceptions of temporal recency, whereas mood incongruence leads to perceptions of temporal distance. In line with the inclusion-exclusion model of social judgment, perceived temporal recency elicits assimilation effects on self-esteem, whereas perceived temporal distance elicits contrast effects on self-esteem.     

自尊的记忆效应的实验研究

本实验研究证实了自尊的记忆效应的存在,即自尊水平与词性的交互作用对特质形容诃的回忆量有显著影响。具体而言,对于正向词的回忆量,高自尊组显著高于低自尊组。对于负向诃的回忆量,高自尊组与低自尊组无显著差异;而在高自尊组,正向词的回忆量显著高于负向诃的回忆量。在低自尊组,正向词的回忆量与负向诃的回忆量无显著差异。实验结果支持自尊对记忆影响的忽视——不一致模型。     

Coping ability, negative self-evaluation, and overgeneralization: experiment and theory.

Responses of 3 groups of Ss differing in general coping ability, as measured by the Constructive Thinking Inventory, were compared on matched sets of items that differed according to whether the outcomes were positive or negative and directed at the self or at others. All groups reported widespread overgeneralization to items with favorable outcomes. Groups differed strongly and consistently only in response to unfavorable outcomes directed at the self, with poor constructive thinkers reporting more negative overgeneralization than others following such outcomes. It was concluded that poor constructive thinkers have a selective bias toward making negative inferences about the self, which has widespread implications for their general coping ability. A theoretical framework is presented for understanding why individuals acquire and maintain negative self-schemata, which has implications for depression and self-esteem as well as for general coping ability.     

Individual differences in reactivity to daily events: examining the roles of stability and level of self-esteem

Unstable self-esteem is thought to reflect fragile and vulnerable feelings of self-worth that are affected by specific positive and negative events. Direct evidence for this contention is lacking, however. To redress this situation, we examined the extent to which level and stability of self-esteem predicted the impact that everyday positive and negative events had on individuals' feelings about themselves. Participants recorded the most positive and most negative event that occurred each day Monday through Thursday for a period of 2 weeks. They then indicated the extent to which each event made them feel better or worse about themselves. As anticipated, negative and positive events had a greater impact on the self-feelings of individuals with unstable as opposed to stable self-esteem (although the effect for positive events was marginal). Additional findings indicated that event qualities (i.e., self-esteem relevance and concerns about social acceptance/rejection) could account for the unstable self-esteem/greater reactivity link for negative events, but not for positive events. Negative, but not positive, events had a greater impact on the self-feelings of individuals with low as compared to high levels of self-esteem. Theoretical implications are discussed.     

Life-span development of self-esteem and its effects on important life outcomes

We examined the life-span development of self-esteem and tested whether self-esteem influences the development of important life outcomes, including relationship satisfaction, job satisfaction, occupational status, salary, positive and negative affect, depression, and physical health. Data came from the Longitudinal Study of Generations. Analyses were based on 5 assessments across a 12-year period of a sample of 1,824 individuals ages 16 to 97 years. First, growth curve analyses indicated that self-esteem increases from adolescence to middle adulthood, reaches a peak at about age 50 years, and then decreases in old age. Second, cross-lagged regression analyses indicated that self-esteem is best modeled as a cause rather than a consequence of life outcomes. Third, growth curve analyses, with self-esteem as a time-varying covariate, suggested that self-esteem has medium-sized effects on life-span trajectories of affect and depression, small to medium-sized effects on trajectories of relationship and job satisfaction, a very small effect on the trajectory of health, and no effect on the trajectory of occupational status. These findings replicated across 4 generations of participants--children, parents, grandparents, and their great-grandparents. Together, the results suggest that self-esteem has a significant prospective impact on real-world life experiences and that high and low self-esteem are not mere epiphenomena of success and failure in important life domains.     

自尊水平与评价性信息的选择性记忆

245名被试完成外显Rosenberg量表、内隐IAT测验和记忆测验。实验结果发现,1）外显自尊有效地预测消极信息的回忆量,低外显自尊个体对消极信息的回忆量显著高于高外显自尊个体,而两类被试对积极信息的回忆量上差异不显著,实验结果证实了相关模型的假设。2）无论是积极信息的回忆率还是消极信息的回忆率,不同内隐自尊水平的个体的回忆量差异不显著,外显自尊与内隐自尊的交互作用与其关系也不紧密,试图通过外显手段区分内隐层面上有差异的两类个体,似乎是行不通的。