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Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification03:00

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Social psychologists have documented that feeling good about ourselves and maintaining positive self-esteem is a powerful motivator of human behavior (Tavris & Aronson, 2008). In the United States, members of the predominant culture typically think very highly of themselves and view themselves as good people who are above average on many desirable traits (Ehrlinger, Gilovich, & Ross, 2005). Often, our behavior, attitudes, and beliefs are affected when we experience a threat to our...
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Self-esteem, a central component of psychological well-being, is actively maintained through various cognitive and behavioral strategies. Individuals employ specific mechanisms to preserve a positive self-concept and mitigate threats to their self-worth, particularly in contexts involving social evaluation or personal feedback. Four primary techniques are commonly used to sustain self-esteem.Manipulating AppraisalsOne prominent strategy involves manipulating appraisals from others. Individuals...
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The Social Dimension of Stress: Experimental Manipulations of Social Support and Social Identity in the Trier Social Stress Test
11:13

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Published on: November 19, 2015

Testing multiple means of self-affirmation.

Christopher J Armitage1, Richard Rowe

  • 1University of Sheffield, UK. c.j.armitage@sheffield.ac.uk

British Journal of Psychology (London, England : 1953)
|July 15, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Self-affirmation interventions primarily boost interpersonal positive feelings, not self-esteem or global self-feelings in adolescent girls. Kindness questionnaires and cherished value essays showed similar effects on interpersonal feelings.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Social Psychology

Background:

  • Self-affirmation theory suggests affirming personal values can buffer threats to self-integrity.
  • Previous research on self-affirmation manipulations has yielded mixed results regarding their effects on self-perceptions and interpersonal feelings.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of different self-affirmation manipulations on global self-feelings, self-esteem, and interpersonal positive feelings.
  • To clarify the effectiveness of affirming the self in enhancing psychological well-being.

Main Methods:

  • Experiment 1: Adolescent girls completed either a kindness questionnaire or a control questionnaire (opinions).
  • Experiment 2: Participants engaged in writing essays about a cherished value, kindness, or completed a kindness questionnaire.
  • Measured self-feelings, self-esteem, and interpersonal positive feelings.

Main Results:

  • Self-affirmation did not significantly increase self-esteem or global self-feelings in either experiment.
  • Completing a kindness questionnaire enhanced interpersonal positive feelings in adolescent girls.
  • Writing about a cherished value or kindness, and completing a kindness questionnaire, showed limited differences in boosting interpersonal positive feelings.

Conclusions:

  • Self-affirmation manipulations, particularly those focusing on kindness, may be more effective in enhancing interpersonal positive feelings than global self-esteem.
  • Findings suggest potential applications for self-affirmation in public health and social messaging to improve reception.
  • Further research is needed to fully understand the nuances of self-affirmation effects across different populations and contexts.