The Role of Self-Esteem in Response to Self-Threat

175

Abstract

This article aimed at analytic examination of how people with different self-esteem types re- act to receiving threatening information about the self. We modified K.Mruk’s “Self-esteem meaning matrix” model, which gave an understanding of self-esteem created by the interac- tion of self-worthiness and self-efficacy. According to this modified model, there are five types of self-esteem: positive, medium, negativistic, self-centered and overachieving. Self-threat was modelling by false negative feedback from participants of communication. The study included 231 students (middle age — 20.5 years): 157 respondents in the experimental group (64 male, 92 women), 74 respondents (13 male, 61 women) in the control group. Results of research find specifics of personal reaction depending on self-esteem type: there were differences in cognitive, emotional and evaluative reactions in response to receiving negative feedback. The protective reactions used by respondents in response to the threat of their self-worth are revealed. The most vulnerable to negative feedback were those with positive self-esteem: they show the strongest negative emotional reaction and involve a greater number of protective reactions, including denial, depreciation, discrediting the source of feedback, focusing on their positive characteristics. However, these compensatory reactions do not work in full, and their self-esteem is reduced. Respondents with negativistic self-esteem react differently at the emotional and cognitive levels: they do not want negative feedback, but believe it. Their reactions indicate the “fragility” of this type of self-esteem. Individuals with medium and protective types of self-esteem were more resistant to negative feedback. The response to the situation of self-threat by respondents with different types of self-esteem is explained on the basis of the resource model and self-certification model.

General Information

Keywords: self-esteem, self-worth, self-efficacy, positive self-esteem, medium self-esteem, negativistic self-esteem, self-centered self-esteem, overachieving self-esteem, self-threat, negative feedback

Journal rubric: Empirical and Experimental Research

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu16.2019.203

For citation: Molchanova O.N., Sokolova T.Y. The Role of Self-Esteem in Response to Self-Threat. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Psychology, 2019. Vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 138–154. DOI: 10.21638/spbu16.2019.203. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

References

Baumeister R. F., Heatherton T. F., Tice D. M. When ego threats lead to self-regulation failure:

negative consequences of high self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1993, vol. 64 (1), pp. 141–156.

Heatherton T. F., Voks K. D. Interpersonal evaluation following threat to self: role of self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2000, vol. 78 (4), pp. 725–736. doi: 10.1037/AM22-3514.78.4.725

Park L. E., Maner J. K. Does self-threat promote social connection? The role of self-esteem and contingencies of self-worth. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2009, vol. 96 (1), pp. 203–217. doi: 10.1037/a0013933

Van Dellen M. R., Campbell W. K., Hoyle R. H., Bradfield E. K. Compensating, resisting, and breaking: A meta-analytic examination of reactions to self-esteem threat. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2011, vol. 15 (1), pp. 51–74. doi: 10.1177/1088868310372950

Baumeister R. F., Heatherton T. F., Tice D. M. When ego threats lead to self-regulation failure: negative consequences of high self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1993, vol. 64 (1), pp. 141–156.

Branden N. The six pillars of self-esteem. New York, Bantam Books, 1994. 368 p.

Ellison Jo M. Ego threat and self-esteem: The impact of social comparisons on relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2006, vol. 54 (6), pp. 1063–1070.

Holmes D. S. Compensation for ego threat: Two experiments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1971, vol. I (2), pp. 234–237.

Jordan A. H., Monin B. From sucker to saint: Moralization in response to self-threat. Psychological Science, 2008, vol. 19 (8), pp. 683–689.

Leary M. R., Terry M. L., Batts A. A., Tate E. B. The Concept of Ego Threat in Social and Personality Psychology: Is Ego Threat a Viable Scientific Construct? Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2009, vol. 13 (3), pp. 151–164.

Self-esteem: The puzzle of low self-regard. Ed. R. F. Baumeister. New York, London, Plenum Press, 1993. 265 p.

Crocker J., Wolfe C. Contingencies of Self-Worth. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 2001, vol. 108 (3), pp. 593–623. doi: 10.1037//0033-295X. 108.3.593

Mruk C. Self-Esteem: Research, theory, and practice. New York, Springer, 1999. 230 p.

Nekrasova [Sokolova] T. Iu. Osobennosti reagirovaniia v situatsii «ugrozy Ia» v zavisimosti ot tipa samootsenki. Authoref. diss. kand. psikhol. nauk [Features of reaction in a situation «self-threat» depending on self-assessment type. Thesis of PhD (Psychology) ]. Moscow, 2015. 178 p. (In Russian)

Obshchaia psikhodiagnostika [General Psychodiagnostics]. Eds A. A. Bodalev, V. V. Stolin. Moscow, Publ. of the Moscow University, 1987. 304 p. (In Russian)

Rosenberg M. Society and the Adolescent Self-image. Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1965. 326 p.

Shvartser R., Erusalem M., Romek V. G. Russkaia versiia shkaly obshchei samoeffektivnosti [Russian version of the general self-efficacy scale]. Inostrannaia psikhologiia [Foreign psychology], 1996, no. 7, pp. 71–76. (In Russian)

Molchanova O. N., Nekrasova [Sokolova] T. Iu. Adaptatsiia metodiki Dzh. Kroker, napravlennoi na issledovanie bazovykh osnovanii samootsenki [Adaptation of J. Crocker’s Contingencies of Self- Worth Scale]. Kul’turno-istoricheskaia psikhologiia [Cultural-Historical Psychology], 2013, no. 4, pp. 65-73. (In Russian)

Borozdina L. V., Vidinska L. Pritiazaniia i samootsenka [Claims and self-esteem]. Vestnik Mosk. un-ta. Ser. 14. Psikhologiia [Bulletin of the Moscow university. Psychology], 1986, no. 3, pp. 15–23. (In Russian)

Sedikides K., Gregg A. Portraits of self. Sage handbook of social psychology. London, Sage Publications, 2002, pp. 110–138. Available at: http://www.psychology.soton.ac.uk/people/showpublications. php?username=cs2&source (assessed: 10.04.2018).

Starovoitenko E. B. Vozmozhnosti Ia v dialoge s Drugim [Opportunities Self in dialogue with Other]. Mir psikhologii. Nauchno–metodicheskii zhurnal [World of psychology. Scientific and methodical journal], 2013, vol. 76, no. 4, pp.189–203. (In Russian)

Arutiunian M. Iu., Petrovskaia L. A. Obratnaia sviaz’ v sisteme vospriiatiia cheloveka chelovekom [Feedback in the human perception system]. Psikhologiia mezhlichnostnogo poznaniia [Psychology of interpersonal cognition]. Ed. by A. A. Bodalev. Moscow, Pedagogika, 1981, pp. 42–53. Available at: https://refdb. ru/look/1301003.html (assessed: 04.06.2018). (In Russian)

Molchanova O. N. Samootsenka: Teoreticheskie problemy i empiricheskie issledovaniia: uchebnoe posobie [Self-esteem: Theoretical problems and empirical research: textbook]. Moscow, Flinta, Nauka, 2010. 392 p. (In Russian)

Gulevich O. A. Vliianie sobliudeniia/narusheniia norm spravedlivosti na samootsenku cheloveka [The influence of respect/violation of norms of justice on self-esteem of the person]. Psikhologiia. Zhurnal Vysshei shkoly ekonomiki [Psychology. Journal of Higher school of Economics], 2007, no. 2, pp. 98–104. (In Russian)

Deriabin A. A. Ia-kontseptsiia i teoriia kognitivnogo dissonansa: obzor zarubezhnoi literatury [Selfconcept and theory of cognitive dissonance: review of foreign literature]. Novosibirskii gosudarstvennyi universitet, 1995. Available at: http://psyberlink.flogiston.ru/internet/bits/dissonan.htm (assessed: 14.06.2018). (In Russian)

Borozdina L. V., Molchanova O. N. Samootsenka v raznykh vozrastnykh gruppakh: ot podrostkov do prestarelykh [Self-esteem in different age groups: from adolescents to the elderly]. Moscow, OOO "Proekt_F", 2001. 204 p. (In Russian)

Stolin V. V. Samosoznanie lichnosti [Personal self-consciousness]. Moscow, Izd-vo Mosk. Un-ta, 1983. 284 p. (In Russian)

Information About the Authors

Olga N. Molchanova, PhD in Psychology, Assistant professor at the Psychology faculty, National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8704-218X, e-mail: olmol@list.ru

Tatiana Y. Sokolova, PhD in Psychology, Psychologist, e-mail: nek-tanya@yandex.ru

Metrics

Views

Total: 347
Previous month: 11
Current month: 6

Downloads

Total: 175
Previous month: 9
Current month: 3