Mystery Appeal: Effects of Uncertainty and Resolution on the Enjoyment of Mystery

To investigate determinants of mystery enjoyment, a short story was manipulated to produce different levels of uncertainty regarding two suspects' criminal involvement (low vs. high uncertainty) and to create different resolution types (denouement, confirmation, and surprise). Participants' (N = 84) reactions and enjoyment were ascertained via questionnaires after reading the mystery development and after the mystery resolution. Moreover, personality assessments were administered. Results show that enjoyment of the mystery reception was greater when participants were highly uncertain regarding the culprit and experienced high levels of curiosity. As hypothesized, resolution enjoyment depended on type of resolution and self-esteem. A resolution that confirmed respondents' suspicion was disliked by persons with high self-esteem, whereas respondents with low self-esteem disliked a surprising resolution. Enjoyment of a general denouement, when participants had not held specific expectations, was not affected by self-esteem; high self-esteem participants in the "surprise" condition and low self-esteem participants in the "confirmation" condition experienced comparable enjoyment.     

Effect of peer presence on adolescents' risk-taking is moderated by individual self-esteem: An experimental study

Prior research suggests that the presence of peers increases adolescents' risk-taking. However, it is not clear whether the effect of peer presence is moderated by individual characteristics such as self-esteem, since individuals with low self-esteem are more susceptible to peer influence theoretically. The present study examined this problem using an adapted Stoplight Game in an experiment. A final sample of 140 adolescent students aged 14–18 (M = 16.25 ± 0.73 years, 61 girls), divided into two groups—low self-esteem and high self-esteem, according to their self-esteem scores, completed a risk-taking task either alone or in the presence of a same-sex peer. The results indicated that peer presence increased adolescents' risk-taking, specifically for those with low self-esteem, while those with high self-esteem were not affected by peer presence. The findings are helpful for our understanding of peer influence on adolescent risk-taking and the moderating role of the self and have practical implications for preventing and intervening adolescents' risk-taking via increasing their self-esteem.     

Creative thought in Artists

One hundred and eleven subjects, 14 and 15 years of age, were administered the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory and two questionnaires, modified from Bienvenu's Adolescent Communication Inventory, eliciting adolescents’ perceptions of their communication with both parents. The 10 males and 10 females with the highest self-esteem scores, and the 10 males and 10 females with the lowest scores were identified to form two groups: the High Self-Esteem Group and the Low Self-Esteem Group. Parents of these students completed questionnaires concerning parent-adolescent communication and marital communication and adjustment.

The five hypotheses tested were strongly supported. Adolescents with low self-esteem viewed communication with their parents as less facilitative than did adolescents with high self-esteem. Parents of adolescents with low self-esteem perceived their communication with their spouses as less facilitative, and rated their marriages as less satisfying, than did parents in the High Self-Esteem Group. There was lack of congruence between the perceptions of adolescents with low self-esteem and those of their parents; both mothers and fathers in the Low Self-Esteem Group viewed parent-adolescent communication as more facilitative than did the adolescents themselves.     

不同自尊者对自我相关信息的记忆偏好

研究主要采用4(自尊类型)×2(词汇效价)混合设计,探讨了178名不同自尊水平或不同自尊类型大学生对自我相关信息的记忆偏好。结果发现:(1)高外显自尊者比低自尊者有更积极的记忆偏好,消极记忆偏好差异不显著;高内隐自尊者则比低自尊者有更弱的积极回忆偏好及更弱的消极回忆偏好。(2)就作为组内差异存在的记忆偏好而言,所有被试均有积极偏好;就作为组间差异存在的记忆偏好而言,脆弱的高自尊者有更强的积极偏好,但低自尊者也没有表现出明显的消极偏好。结果提示不同自尊者对自我相关信息有不同记忆偏好。     

Self-esteem and passion for activities

The Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand, 2010) regards passion as a strong inclination toward a self-defining activity that one loves, values, and in which one invests a substantial amount of time and energy. The model proposes two distinct types of passion, harmonious and obsessive, that predict adaptive and less adaptive outcomes, respectively. We hypothesized that individuals relatively high on explicit self-esteem would experience higher levels of harmonious passion, given their implementation of relatively adaptive self-regulatory strategies. Individuals relatively low on implicit self-esteem, on the other hand, would experience higher levels of obsessive passion, given their ego fragility and defensiveness. Participants completed the Passion Scale, the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale, and the self-esteem Implicit Association Task. Path analyses revealed that, consistently with hypotheses, explicit self-esteem positively predicted harmonious passion, whereas implicit self-esteem negatively predicted obsessive passion.     

The Relationship Between Friendship Quality and Self-Esteem in Adolescent Girls and Boys

Much has been written about the low self-esteem of adolescent girls relative to adolescent boys, but little research has explored the role that friendship quality may play in affecting self-esteem. Ninety-seven female and 67 male 11th and 12th graders completed measures of self-esteem and of friendship quality with both same- and cross-gender best friends. Ninety-five percent of the participants were White, and ranged across the socioeconomic spectrum with the majority coming from middle-class families. We found that girls' self-esteem was significantly lower than boys' self-esteem and that girls rated their relationships as stronger, more interpersonally rewarding, and more stressful than boys did. Boys reported that their friendship with their best female friend was more interpersonally rewarding than their friendship with their best male friend, whereas girls rated the quality of their same- and cross-gender friends similarly. As expected, girls' self-esteem was positively correlated with the friendship quality of their cross-gender best friend. However, their self-esteem was not correlated with the quality of their same-gender friendship. Boys' self-esteem did not correlate with the quality of their same- or cross-gender best friendship. Results may help us understand the relatively low self-esteem experienced by adolescent girls.     

Self-esteem and job complexity as moderators of performance and satisfaction

Self-esteem and job complexity were investigated as moderators of self, supervisor, and peer ratings of performance and satisfaction with work, supervisors, and peers testing balance and activation theories. One hundred and fifty-three registered nurses served as subjects. Measured self-esteem was not significantly related to the performance or satisfaction measures. Rather, the important variable was perceived job complexity as predicted by Scott's activation theory. Self-ratings of performance and satisfaction with work and peers were greatest at optimal complexity with lower values at high and low complexity. Some support was found for self-esteem as a moderator of the relationship between performance and satisfaction measures in line with Korman's formulations.     

Confidence and aspirations: Self-esteem and self-concepts as predictors of students' life goals

Research was conducted to assess sex differences in college students' self-esteem and self-concepts, and the extent to which students' self-perceptions predict their life goals Questionnaires that included the Rosenberg Scale, Texas Social Behavior Inventory, self-concepts, life goals, and demographic and family backgrounds were completed by 804 women from seven colleges and 127 men from two colleges Men and women did not differ significantly in their self-esteem and interpersonal self-confidence, but the men rated themselves higher on math/science ability, leadership/public speaking ability, and coping/self-sufficiency Women's global self-esteem scores and interpersonal self-confidence did not predict their life goals, but women's greater self-confidence in masculine spheres predicted higher educational goals and their ranking of future careers as a more important priority in their lives Men's interpersonal self-confidence predicted their ranking time for future spouses as a high priority and time for themselves as a lower priority Men's global self-esteem and leadership/public speaking ability self-concept predicted preferences for full-time career involvement when their future children are very young Different demographic variables also predicted men's and women's goals Implications of these sex differences and predictive relationships are discussed     

Compensatory nonconformity: Self-uncertainty and low implicit self-esteem increase adoption and expression of minority opinions

The present studies tested whether people, particularly those who are most vulnerable to self-threats as indicated by low implicit self-esteem, adopt and express minority opinions to compensate for self-uncertainty. In Studies 1 through 3, low implicit self-esteem participants who were made to feel uncertain about themselves as individuals (versus uncertain about a self-irrelevant issue in Study 1, certain about themselves in Study 2, or uncertain about their group memberships in Study 3) expressed more disagreement with others' opinions. Additionally, Study 3 demonstrated that this effect is specific to minority opinions and does not emerge on majority opinions. In Study 4, the relation between self-uncertainty and disagreement with others' opinions was strongest among participants with both low implicit and high explicit self-esteem, who respond to self-threats in particularly defensive ways.     

EFFECTS OF UNANTICIPATED SELF-DISCLOSURE ON RECIPIENTS OF VARYING LEVELS OF SELF-ESTEEM: A RESEARCH NOTE

Assuming that another's self-disclosure can be rewarding, it was hypothesized that attraction for one who disclosed a relatively high amount of personal information would be greater than attraction for a low discloser when the disclosure was perceived as being appropriate. Also, it was hypothesized that persons of high self-esteem may be more attracted to a high discloser than persons of moderate or low self-esteem. An experiment examined the effects of a confederate's self-disclosure (high or low degree of personal content) on a recipient. Greater attraction was demonstrated toward the confederate in the low disclosure condition, and her behavior was perceived to be more appropriate in this condition. Persons who participated in each of the experimental conditions were divided into three self-esteem categories. Those with intermediate levels of self-esteem were found to be the most receptive to a disclosing other, followed by subjects of low, and finally high self-esteem.     

The effects of intergroup discrimination and social values on level of self-esteem in the minimal group paradigm

The proposition that individuals engage in intergroup discrimination to increase or maintain positive social identity and a high level of self-esteem has received some empirical support. An attempt was made to extend prior findings by evaluating whether intergroup allocation behaviour consistent with subjects' social values would lead to higher self-esteem than inconsistent allocation behaviour. More specifically, it was predicted that competitive subjects' self-esteem will be higher following discriminatory choices than fair choices and prosocial subjects' self-esteem will be higher following fair choices than discriminatory choices. It was also predicted that after subjects were constrained to make discriminatory choices, competitors' self-esteem would be higher than prosocials' self-esteem and after subjects were constrained to make fair choices, prosocials' self-esteem would be higher than competitors' self-esteem. Experiment I supported the first of these predictions when a measure of personal self-esteem was used as a dependent variable. Experiment 2 attempted to extend the generality of the findings of Experiment 1 by defining and measuring self-esteem in collective terms. The expected prior pattern of results did not occur again. Constraining subjects to make discriminatory choices increased their collective self-esteem regardless of their social values.     

Is It Me or Is It Mine? Body-self Integration as a Function of Self-esteem,Body-esteem,and Mortality Salience

This research was designed to explore the extent to which the physical body is integrated into individuals' conceptualizations of self. We hypothesized that body-self integration would vary as a function of level of general self-esteem, specific self-evaluations for the body, and also mortality salience due to existential implications of the physical body's certainty of eventual death. In a neutral condition (no mortality reminder), individuals with high self-esteem were found to hold conceptualizations of the self that include the body to the extent that they had high body self-esteem, whereas individuals low in self-esteem did not exhibit these self-serving body-self representations. In addition, mortality salience led to a distancing of the self from the body, but only for people lacking the protection provided by high general or body-specific self-esteem. Our discussion focused on individual difference in low and high self-esteem and implications of bodily threats to conceptualizations for self.     

Self-esteem and likability: Separating fact from fantasy

Much research has demonstrated the “vicious cycle” of low self-esteem in nonsocial task performance settings. The present study explores the possibility that social situations may also provide opportunities for low (and high) selfesteem individuals to respond in ways that maintain their self-image. More specifically, it has been shown that low self-esteem individuals believe that others like them to a lesser extent than do high self-esteem persons; such beliefs are bound to perpetuate individuals' self-esteem levels. This study is designed to investigate whether the self-perceptions of either or both groups are consistent with reality (as measured by others' actual liking for them), or are merely reflective of the perceiver's attitude. Unacquainted, opposite sex dyads completed self-esteem and self-likability measures before engaging in a “getting acquainted” conversation. Participants then rated their liking for their partners and estimated their partners' liking for them. Relative to high self-esteem participants, low self-esteem subjects rated themselves as less likable prior to the conversation and estimated that their partners liked them to a lesser extent after the conversation. However, low self-esteem subjects were actually rated by their partners as equally likable as the high self-esteem participants. Alternative explanations, limitations, and implications are discussed.     

自尊与记忆偏向的关系

采用2（外显自尊：高、低）×2（内隐自尊：高、低）×2（编码深度：浅、深）×3（词汇效价：积极、中性、消极）混合设计,考察了89名不同自尊类型的大学生在不同编码深度下对不同效价形容词的再认记忆。结果发现：（1）在浅水平编码组中,低内隐自尊被试比高内隐自尊被试有更强的积极记忆偏向,而高低不同水平的外显自尊者对于词语记忆偏向没有显著差异;（2）在深程度编码组中不同自尊水平影响被试对积极词的无意识提取;（3）所有被试均有积极记忆偏向。     

The Effects of Self-Esteem,Task Label,and Performance Feedback on Task Liking and Intrinsic Motivation

Abstract

American undergraduate students' task liking and intrinsic motivation were examined using 2 × 2 × 2 (Self-Esteem × Task Label × Feedback) analyses of variance. Identical tasks were labeled as either difficult or easy, and bogus performance feedback was given randomly to each subject. For subjects with high self-esteem, feedback had strong impact on their liking of a difficult task, whereas for those with low self-esteem, feedback had strong impact on liking of an easy task. After positive feedback for performing a difficult task, subjects with high self-esteem increased task liking, whereas those with low self-esteem decreased task liking. Subjects also showed higher intrinsic motivation after positive feedback than after negative feedback.     

Thinking big: The effect of sexually objectifying music videos on bodily self-perception in young women

The present study investigated the effect of sexually objectifying music video exposure on young women's implicit bodily self-perception and the moderating role of self-esteem. Fifty-six college women of normal weight were either exposed to three sexually objectifying music videos or three neutral music videos. Perceived and ideal body size were measured both before and after video exposure, using horizontally stretched and compressed photographs of the participant's own body in swimming garment. As expected, only women low (but not high) in self-esteem were negatively affected by the sexually objectifying content of the music videos: they perceived themselves as bigger and showed an increased discrepancy between their perceived and ideal body size after video exposure. The neutral music videos did not influence women's bodily self-perceptions. These findings suggest that body image is a flexible construct, and that high self-esteem can protect women against the adverse effects of sexually objectifying media.     

Procedural fairness and self-esteem

We argue that people's self-esteem is affected by the fairness of procedures to which they are subjected; unfair treatment will lower self-esteem. Moreover, since this influence on self-esteem is presumably due to the implicit evaluation expressed by the choice of procedure and hence by the evaluation expressed by the person implementing the procedure, people's concern with the fairness of treatment will be focused on the interactional aspects of the procedure. In two experiments designed to test these hypotheses subjects received either a high or a low grade on an ability test on the basis of either fair or unfair grading procedures. The results of Experiment 1 indicated that subjects' self-esteem was lower after unfair treatment, and this influence was only apparent when subjects received high test feedback. Additionally, ratings of the fairness of the interaction were lower following unfair grading procedures. Experiment 2 also manipulated level of involvement with the test. Self-esteem was affected by procedural fairness and procedural fairness influenced perceived fairness of the interaction only in the high involvement condition.     

Downward Social Comparison in the Minimal Intergroup Situation: A Test of a Self-Enhancement Interpretation1

We tested some implications of Wills' (1981) downward comparison interpretation of ingroup bias in the minimal intergroup paradigm. Based on a self-enhancement interpretation of ingroup bias, we predicted that subjects who expected to succeed on a task for dispositional reasons and subsequently failed would be most threatened by the feedback and hence, would engage in downward social comparison strategies. The results did not support the self-enhancement interpretation, but a number of interesting findings emerged. First, downward social comparison involving favorable comparisons of the ingroup relative to the outgroup was pervasive and not mediated by self-esteem. Second, ingroup bias was greatest when individuals' outcomes were consistent with their expectations; ingroup bias was mitigated when subjects received feedback that was inconsistent with their expectations. Third, although low self-esteem subjects rated members of the outgroup more negatively than did high self-esteem subjects, high self-esteem subjects engaged in more downward social comparison by enhancing the self relative to both members of the outgroup and their own ingroup. Finally, self-enhancement strategies were affected by performance expectations, attributions, and chronic self-esteem: People who expected to perform well because of stable, dispositional reasons and who were high in self-esteem showed the greatest tendency to engage in self-enhancing comparisons with others. This was true regardless of whether subjects ultimately succeeded or failed on the important task and regardless of whether the comparison others were members of the outgroup or the ingroup.