2.4: The Feeling Self
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Although the self is partly determined by our thoughts about ourselves, we are also the product of our emotions. I am certain that Matt Harding dances, at least in part, because he likes dancing and because dancing makes him feel good. In fact, we all want to feel positively about ourselves, and we work hard to be able to do so.
Self-Esteem Is Our Positive or Negative Attitude Toward Ourselves
The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale
Please rate yourself on the following items by writing a number in the blank before each statement, where you
1 = Strongly Disagree 2 = Disagree 3 = Agree 4 = Strongly Agree
- _____I feel that I’m a person of worth, at least on any equal base with others.
- _____I feel that I have a number of good qualities.
- _____All in all, I am inclined to think that I am a failure (R).
- _____I am able to do things as well as other people.
- _____I feel I do not have much to be proud of. (R)
- _____I take a positive attitude towards myself.
- _____On the whole, I am satisfied with myself.
- _____I wish I could have more respect for myself. (R)
- _____I certainly feel useless at times. (R)
- _____At times I think I am no good at all. (R)
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One problem with measures such as the Rosenberg scale is that they can be influenced by the desire to portray the self positively. The observed scores on the Rosenberg scale are likely inflated because people naturally try to make themselves look as if they have very high self-esteem—maybe they fib a bit to make themselves look better than they really are to the experimenters and perhaps also to make themselves feel better.
People value themselves and the things they own.
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Maintaining and Enhancing Self-Esteem
Research Focus
Processing Information to Enhance the Self
Figure 4.4 Enhancing the Self
Sanitioso, Kunda, and Fong (1990) found that students who had learned that extroverts did better than introverts after graduating from college tended to list extroverted memories about themselves, whereas those who learned that introverts did better than extroverts tended to list introverted memories.
We Use Self-Presentation to Increase Our Status and Self-Esteem
We express our social status to others in a variety of ways.
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Because it is so important to be seen as competent and productive members of society, people naturally attempt to present themselves as positively as they can to others. We attempt to convince others that we are good and worthy people by appearing attractive, strong, intelligent, and likable and by saying positive things to others (Jones & Pittman, 1982; Leary, 1995; Schlenker, 2003). The tendency to present a positive self-image to others, with the goal of increasing our social status, is known as self-presentation, and it is a basic and natural part of everyday life. Again, the dynamic interplay between the person and the situation is apparent—our individual self-esteem is influenced in large part by how we think others perceive us.
Attempts to impress and intimidate others to gain status are not unique to humans.
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No matter who is using it, self-presentation can easily be overdone, and when it is, it backfires. People who overuse the ingratiation technique and who are seen as obviously and strategically trying to impress or get others to like them are not liked. Nor are people who exemplify or self-promote by boasting or bragging, particularly if that boasting does not appear to reflect their true characteristics (Wosinska, Dabul, Whetstone-Dion, & Cialdini, 1996). And using intimidation is also likely to backfire—acting more modestly may often be more effective. Again, the point is clear—we may want to self-promote with the goal of getting others to like us, but we must also be careful to take into consideration the point of view of the other person as well.
Figure 4.5
social status -> self-esteem
We use self-presentation to try to convince others that we are good and worthy people. When we are successful in our self-presentation and other people view us positively, we have high social status. When we perceive that we have high social status, we experience positive self-esteem.
Self-Monitoring and Self-Presentation
Figure 4.6
High self-monitors imitated more when the person they were interacting with was of higher (versus lower) status. Low self-monitors were not sensitive to the status of the other. Data are from Cheng and Chartrand (2003).
Narcissism and the Limits of Self-Enhancement
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Social Psychology in the Public Interest
Does High Self-Esteem Cause Happiness or Other Positive Outcomes?
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4.2: The Feeling Self- Self-Esteem is shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Anonymous via source content that was edited to the style and standards of the LibreTexts platform; a detailed edit history is available upon request.