Lecture 14 - Self-Esteem, Respect, and Honor

what is maslow’s hierarchy of needs?

what are the origins of the modern view of self-esteem?

• “the single most important key to human motivation is self esteem.” - Nathaniel Branden

• “In order to deal with reality successfully - to pursue and achieve the values which his life requires - man needs self-esteem; he needs to be confident of his efficacy and worth.” Ayn Rand

• “The man who does not value himself, cannot value anything or anyone.”

• what is the self-enhancing bias?

• self-enhancing bias: most people show unrealistic optimism. They are “better than average”

• They believe that:

  • good things are more likely to happen to them than a similar “average” person

  • bad things are less likely to happen to them than a similar “average” person

• what are some popular beliefs about self-esteem?

• how was this studied and what were the conclusions of that study?

• popular belief

  • low self-esteem is associated with . .

    • low academic achievement

    • aggression

• baumeister study

  • the relationship between self-esteem and educational achievement is very weak (r = .1)

  • causality in the opposite direction (achievement promotes SE, rather than SE promotes achievement)

  • SE interventions may actually hurt learning by providing false or non-diagnostic feedback

what are some potential costs of self-esteem?

• high SE is often associated with negative behavior (aggression, bullying, sense of entitlement, self-centeredness, etc)

• is it true SE or just narcissism?

• or “posturing”? just talk? braggadocio?

• future research is needed!

what is the Rosenberg self-esteem scale? what were its findings?

• most popular measure of self-esteem

• Items:

  • I take a positive attitude toward myself

  • On the whole, I am satisfied with myself

• First Study: 1967 - 1994

• 65,965 students

• large increases in self-esteem over time

• goes against the generational stereotype of Boomers as confident and GenX as down on themselves

how has self-esteem changed from 1998 to 2007?

• increase in SE across the board (middle, HS, and college)

what is an alternative explanation for the generational changes in self-esteem?

• one alternative account of generational changes is that people simply learned to be more positive when talking about themselves

• mental health seems to be getting worse (in self-reports and in admissions for self-harm)

what are some cultural differences in the definition of self? (More specifically, focusing on Western and non-Western.)

• Western View

  • individualist cultures

  • people have an independent, context-free view of the self

• non-Western View

  • collectivist cultures

  • people have an interdependent, contextual view of the self

what is the twenty statements test?

• twenty answers to the question “who am I?”

• cross cultural comparisons reveal differences in relative frequency of response categories

  • psychological attributes (funny, outgoing, silly)

  • physical attributes (tall)

  • preferences / interests (i like soccer)

  • goals (i want to get an A in this class)

  • attitudes (I am racist and sexist)

  • activities (I am unemployed af)

  • social roles (I am a student)

• Describe the “who are you” in different cultures study?

• what were the results?

• Background: US and Japanese participants responded to “Who am I” questions

  • Two Types:

    • Global (“Who am I?”)

    • Contextualized (Who am i in school? work?)

• Results:

  • Western cultures emphasize the importance of stable, cross-situational, internal, psychological traits

  • Non-western cultures emphasize the importance of flexibility in context

how has culture of honor differed in the south versus the north?

• North

  • culture of dignity

  • each individual at birth possess an intrinsic value at least theoretically equal to that of every other person

  • driven by internal standards, conscience, norms

  • characteristic emotion is guilt, rather than shame

  • dignity cannot be taken away by others

  • thus is relatively impervious to insults

• South

  • culture of honor

  • respect and reputation is key

  • especially a reputation for reciprocity. pay back the good things and the bad things

  • honor can be taken away by others and is thus susceptible to attack, especially by insults (disrespect)

  • insults must be directly paid back by victim — not a third party or the state

  • characteristic emotion is shame

• how has the culture of honor been studied?

• how were the results different in measurements between southerners and northerners

• Background:

  • Northerners and southerners put through fake test and were disrespected by a confederate

  • Measures: cortisol, testosterone, self-reports

• Results:

  • southern subjects’ change in cortisol > northern subjects

  • southern subjects change in testosterone > northern subjects