Self and Self-Esteem

Self and Self-Esteem

Self and Culture Are Intertwined

Individualist Culture

  • Defined by an emphasis on individual goals and self-reliance.

  • The self is seen as independent, with a strong focus on personal achievements and interests.

Collectivist Culture

  • Emphasizes group goals and interdependence.

  • The self is viewed as interdependent, highlighting social relationships and community bonds.

Degree of Individualism

The degree of individualism across cultures can be mapped using Hofstede's scale. The following ranges represent varying levels of individualism in cultures:

  • 80-91: Highly Individualistic

  • 70-79: Moderately High Individualism

  • 50-69: Mid-Level Individualism

  • 35-49: Moderately Low Individualism

  • 20-34: Low Individualism

  • 10-19: Very Low Individualism

Hofstede's (1980) map illustrates these values across different cultures based on research conducted in various countries.

Different Cultures, Different Selves

Research by Markus et al. (2006) discusses how different cultures produce differing conceptions of the self.

Views of Self in Relation to Others

Independent View of Self

  • INGROUP:

    • Key relationships (e.g., partner, mother, sister) highlight a strong sense of self positively reinforced by close ties.

  • OUTGROUP:

    • Strangers evoke a more detached perspective, leading to different social dynamics.

Interdependent View of Self

  • Views of self as interdependent are also influenced by one's relationships. The presence of friends, family members, and acquaintances alters how individuals perceive themselves:

  • INGROUP:

    • Relationships enrich the self-concept.

  • OUTGROUP:

    • Strangers contribute less to the self-definition, underscoring the interdependent nature of social interactions.

Cultural Self-Descriptions

Research by Ma & Schoeneman (1997) illustrates how cultural backgrounds shape personal descriptions:

  • Personal Characteristics versus Roles/Memberships

    • Participants from different groups (U.S. undergraduates, Nairobi undergraduates, Nairobi workers, Masai, and Samburu) had varied focuses in their self-descriptions. For example:

    • U.S. undergrads AND Nairobi undergrads emphasized personal traits.

    • African groups highlighted social roles and affiliations.

Brain Activation Related to the Self

Research by Zhu, Zhang, Fan, & Han (2007) examined differences in brain activation in response to self-thinking versus thinking of a mother:

  • Chinese participants showed a different activation pattern compared to American participants, illustrating cultural differences in self-referential processing.

Summary of Self-Concepts

  • The construct of ‘self’ is complex and exists on a continuum from independent to interdependent.

  • Cultural contexts heavily influence one’s self-perception.

  • The implications of self-referential phenomena are significant and vary among cultural groups.

Self-Esteem

Definition of Self-Esteem

Self-esteem (SE) refers to the subjective evaluation of one’s worth. Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale is a widely used measure of self-esteem, delineating different emotional states associated with high and low self-esteem.

If Self-Esteem Is Low:

  1. "At times I think I am no good at all."

  2. "I feel I do not have much to be proud of."

  3. "I certainly feel useless at times."

  4. "All in all, I am inclined to feel that I am a failure."

If Self-Esteem Is High:

  1. "On the whole, I am satisfied with myself."

  2. "I feel that I have a number of good qualities."

  3. "I am able to do things as well as most other people."

  4. "I take a positive attitude toward myself."

Importance of Self-Esteem in Individualist Cultures

Three Sources of Evidence:

  1. Most individuals in individualist cultures report high levels of self-esteem.

  2. Individuals commonly exhibit self-serving cognitive biases to enhance or maintain their self-esteem.

  3. Many individuals will take actions to ensure the preservation of a positive self-esteem, which can lead to maladaptive behavior.

Correlations of Self-Esteem with Success

  1. High self-esteem correlates positively with actual success in various domains.

    • Scale Scores Distribution:

    • High, midpoint, and low scores illustrate the spectrum of self-esteem within populations.

  2. Strong correlations are seen between self-esteem and self-reported success, particularly in tasks deemed relevant to self-esteem.

  3. Numerical data from studies reveals the strength of correlations:

    • Example correlations:

      • r = 0.8 (high for SE-RELEVANT tasks)

      • r = 0.5 (moderate for PERCEIVED success)

      • r = 0.27 (low for ACTUAL success)

Self-Serving Cognitive Biases

Self-serving cognitive biases are mechanisms that help to maintain a favorable self-image, often operating automatically or unconsciously. They can significantly impact memory, self-perception, and social interactions.

Types of Self-Serving Cognitive Biases:

  1. Compensatory Self-Enhancement: Individuals may enhance their self-perception to compensate for perceived failures.

  2. Discounting: Individuals downplay the severity or significance of failures to protect their self-esteem.

  3. Positivity Bias: Individuals may maintain an unrealistically positive self-view.

  4. Unrealistic Optimism: A belief in favorable outcomes despite statistical evidence to the contrary.

  5. Self-Serving Attributional Bias:

    • Internalizing successes and externalizing failures, shaping a skewed understanding of one’s capabilities.

Basking in Reflected Glory

This phenomenon describes the practice of enhancing self-esteem by associating with successful individuals or groups while dissociating from failures.

Cialdini et al.'s Football Study (1976)

This study illustrated that:

  • Association with winning teams improved participants' self-esteem.
    "basking"), while identification with losing teams was avoided to protect self-esteem.

Social Comparison Dynamics

Social comparisons can influence self-esteem in various ways, including:

  1. Downward Social Comparisons: Comparing oneself to others perceived as less successful, fostering feelings of superiority.

  2. Upward Social Comparisons: Comparing to those one perceives as more successful, often leading to feelings of inadequacy.

Self-Esteem Maintenance Model (Tesser)

The model introduces a 2x2 framework based on two factors:

  • Relevance of the task: How relevant the task is to self-perception.

  • Relationship to the comparison target: The closeness of one’s relationship to the individual being compared against.

Self-Handicapping (Berglas & Jones, 1978)

Individuals may intentionally create obstacles to their performance to preserve self-esteem:

  • In experiments assessing task difficulty, participants chose impairing drugs more frequently when facing hard tasks to protect their self-esteem due to anticipated failures.

Conclusion on Self-Esteem Mechanisms

The mechanisms used to maintain or enhance self-esteem can distort memory and perception:

  • They may create biases in recalling successes and failures.

  • The practices can prove detrimental both to oneself and to interpersonal relationships, posing ethical considerations regarding the value and consequences of these cognitive strategies. Are they ultimately beneficial, or do they do more harm than good?