Class 11: Self-Esteem

Class Notes

Self-esteem is the evaluative component of the self.  If you verify your self-concept, your self-esteem increases.

Strategies to verify self

1. Selective interaction- choose to interact with people who share your conceptions of self
2. Display identity cues that illicit identity confirming behavior from others
3. Behave in ways that support identity claims
4. When we process other's feedback, we do so in ways that support or self-concept

Where does the self-esteem come from? (Michener, DeLamater and Myers 2004:98-99)

1. Parent-child relationships are important for the development of self-esteem. There are four types of parental behavior that promote higher self-esteem:
1. Showing acceptance, affection, interest, and involvement in children's daily lives
2. Firmly and consistently enforcing clear limits on children's behavior
3. Allowing children latitude within these limits and respecting initiative
4. favoring non-coercive forms of discipline (such as denying privileges and discussing reasons, rather than physical punishment)
2. Performance feedback- everyday feedback about our performance quality impacts our self-esteem.
3. Social comparisons- to interpret whether performance represents a success or failure, we need to compare our results with goals and expectations of ourselves and others. Imagine you are taking an exam.  You receive a B.  The effect of that B on your self esteem depends on how well you expected to do, how well you thought you did, how well the class did, and how well your friends did.

Imagine you got a B on an exam that all of your friends got an A on.  How do you protect your self esteem? (Michener, DeLamater and Myers 2004:102-3).

1. Manipulate people's appraisals- typically, we choose to associate with people who share our view of self and avoid people who do not.  A related method is by interpreting others' appraisals as more favorable (or unfavorable) than they actually are.
2. Selective information processing- we may focus more on the occurrences that are consistent with our self-evaluation.  
3. Selective social comparisons- we may select to whom we compare ourselves in a way that supports our self-evaluation.  You probably wouldn't compare your report card with the valedictorian if you wanted to maintain the self-evaluation of being a good student.
4. Selective commitments to identities- we may commit ourselves more to those self-concepts that provide feedback consistent with our self-evaluation.

Works Cited