Abstract
Research on self-esteem has had a long, prolific history in psychology. Although several reasons could be cited for the topic’s popularity, the most important, in our view, is that self-esteem has been shown to have a pervasive and powerful impact on human cognition, motivation, emotion, and behavior. Research has demonstrated, for example, self- esteem effects in such diverse areas as competition, conformity, attraction, causal attribution, achievement, helping, and coping with stressful life events (DeLongis, Folkman, & Lazarus, 1988; Wells & Marwell, 1976; Wylie, 1974, 1979). Despite decades of empirical and theoretical activity, however, little consensus has been achieved with regard to the locus of these effects. In particular, as reflected in the title of this volume, there is still considerable debate surrounding the specific characteristics of people low in trait self-esteem that somehow cause them to respond in ways that are often detrimental to their psychological well-being (Taylor & Brown, 1988).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adler, A. (1959). The practice and theory of individual psychology. Totowa, NJ: Littiefield, Adams.
Allport, G. (1961). Pattern and growth in personality. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
Andersen, S. M., & Lyon, J. E. (1987). Anticipating undesired outcomes: The role of outcome certainty in the onset of depressive affect. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 23, 428–443.
Bachman, J. G., & O’Malley, P. M. (1984). Black-white differences in self-esteem: Are they affected by response styles? American Journal of Sociology, 90, 624–639.
Baumeister, R. F., Tice, D. M., & Hutton, D. G. (1989). Self-presentational motivation and personality differences in self-esteem. Journal of Personality, 57, 547–579.
Baumgardner, A. H. (1990). To know oneself is to like oneself: Self-certainty and self-affect. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 1062–1072.
Berglas, S., & Jones, E. E. (1978). Drug choice as a self-handicapping strategy in response to noncontingent success. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36, 405–417.
Brockner, J. (1984). Low self-esteem and behavioral plasticity: Some implications for personality and sodal psychology. In L. Wheeler (Ed.), Review of personality and social psychology (Vol. 4, pp. 237–271).
Beverly Hills, CA: Sage. Burke, P. J. (1980). The self: Measurement requirements from an interactionist perspective. Social Ichology Quarterly, 43, 18–29.
Campbell, J. D. (1986). Similarity and uniqueness: The effects of attribute type, relevance, and individual differences in self-esteem and depression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 50, 281–294.
Campbell, J. D. (1990). Self-esteem and clarity of the self-concept.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59, 538–549.
Campbell, J. D., Chew, B., & Scratchley, L. S. (1991). Cognitive and emotional reactions to daily events: The effects of self-esteem and self-complexity. Journal of Personality, 59, 473–505.
Campbell, J. D., & Fairey, P. J. (1985). Effects of self-esteem, hypothetical explanations, and verbalization of expectancies on future performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 48, 1097–1111.
Campbell, J. D., Fairey, P. J., & Fehr, B. (1986). Better than me or better than thee? Reactions to intrapersonal and interpersonal performance feedback. Journal of Personality, 564, 479–493.
Campbell, J. D., & Fehr, B. (1990). Self-esteem and perceptions of conveyed impressions: Is negative affectivity associated with greater realism? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 58, 122–133.
Campbell, J. D., Katz, I. M., Lavallee, L. F., & Trapnell, P. D. (1991, June). Development and validation of a self-report scale of self-concept clarity. Paper presented at the meeting of the American Psychological Society, Washington, D.C.
Campbell, J. D., & Tesser, A. (1985). Self-evaluation maintenance processes in relationships. In S. Duck & D. Perlman (Eds.), Understanding personal relationships: An interdisciplinary approach, (Vol. 1, pp. 107–135). London: Sage.
Campbell, J. D., Tesser, A., & Fairey, P. J. (1986). Conformity and attention to the stimulus: Some temporal and contextual dynamics.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 51, 315–324.
Campbell, J. D., Trapnell, P. D., Katz, I. M., & Lavallee, L. F. (1992). Personality and self- knowledge: Development of the self-concept confusion scale and examination of its personality correlates. Unpublished manuscript. University of British Columbia, Canada.
DeLongis, A., Folkman, S., & Lazarus, R. S. (1988). The impact of daily stress on health and mood: Psychological and social resources as mediators. Jourrml of Persormlity and Social Psychology, 54, 486–495.
Eagly, A. H. (1967). Involvement as a determinant of response to favorable and unfavorable information. Jourrml of Personality and Social Psychology, 7, 1–15 (Monograph, whole no. 643).
Eich, E., & Metcalfe, J. (1989). Mood dependent memory for interval versus external events. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory and Cognition, 15, 443–455.
Epstein, S. (1983). The unconscious, the preconsdous, and the self-concept. In J. Suis & A. Greenwald (Eds.), Psychological perspectives on the self (Vol. 2, pp. 219–247). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Erikson, E. (1959). Identity and the life cycle. In G. S. Klein (Ed.), Psychological issues (pp. 1–171). New York: International Universities Press.
Flett, G. L., Vredenburg, K., Pliner, P., & Krames, L. (1987). Depression and social comparison information-seeking. Journal of Social Behavior arui Persormlity, 2, 473–484.
Garber, J., Miller, S. M., & Abramson, L. Y. (1980). On the distinction between anxiety and depression: Perceived control, certainty, and probability of goal attairunent. In J. Garber & M. E. P. Seligman (Eds.), Human helplessness: Theory and applications (pp. 131- 169). New York: Academic Press.
Greenwald, A. G., Bellezza, F. S., & Banaji, M. R. (1988). Is self-esteem a central ingredient of the self-concept? Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 14, 34–45.
Greenwald, A. G., & Pratkanis, A. R. (1984). The self. In R. S. Wyer & T K. Srull (Eds.), Handbook of social cognition (Vol. 3, pp. 129–178). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Helmreich, R., Stapp, J., & Ervin, C. (1974). The Texas Social Behavior Inventory (TSBI): An objective measure of self-esteem or social competence. JASA Catalog of Selected Documents in Social Psychology, 4, (Ms. No. 681).
Jones, S. C. (1973). Self and interpersonal evaluations: Esteem theories versus consistency theories. Psychological Bulletin, 79, 185–199.
Kihlstrom, J. F., & Cantor, N. (1983). Mental representations of the self. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.),Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 17, pp. 1–47). New York: Academic Press.
Kihlstrom, J. F., Cantor, N., Albright, J. S., Chew, B. R., Klein, S. B., & Neidenthal, P. M. (1988). Information processing and the study of the self. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 21, pp. 159–187). New York: Academic Press.
Marda, J. E. (1980). Identity in adolescence. In J. Adelson (Ed.), Handbook of adolescent psychology (pp. 159–187). Toronto: John Wiley.
Markus, H. (1977). Self-schemata and processing information about the self. Joumal of Personality and Social Psychology, 35, 63–78.
Markus, H., & Wurf, E. (1987). The dynamic self-concept: A social psychological perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 38, 299–337.
Millar, M. B., & Tesser, A. (1986). Thought-induced attitude change: The effects of schema structure and commitment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 156–176.
Mortimer, J. T., Finch, M. D., & Kumka, D. (1982). Persistence and change in development: The multidimensional self-concept. In P. B. Baltes & O. G. Brim, Jr. (Eds.), Life-span development and behavior (Vol. 4, pp. 263–313). New York: Academic Press.
O’Malley, P. M., & Bachman, J. G. (1983). Self-esteem: Change and stability between ages 13 and 23. Developmental Psychology, 19, 257–268.
Robinson, J. P., & Shaver, P. R. (1973). Measures of social psychological attitudes. Ann Arbor, MI: Institute for Social Research.
Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self-image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Schlenker, B. R. (1985). Identity and self-identification. In B. R. Schlenker (Ed.), The self and social life (pp. 65–100). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Sherwood, J. J. (1962). Self-identity and self-actualization: A theory and research. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. University of Michigan.
Shrauger, J. S. (1975). Responses to evaluation as a function of initial self-perceptions. Psychological Bulletin, 82, 581–596.
Swann, W. B., Jr., Griffin, J. J., Jr., Predmore, S. C., & Gaines, B. (1987). The cognitive- affective crossfire: When self-consistency confronts self-enhancement. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52, 881–889.
Swann, W. B., Jr., Pelham, B. W., & Knill, D. S. (1989). Agreeable fancy or disagreeable truth? Reconciling self-enhancement and self-verification. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 782–791.
Taylor, S. E., & Brown, J. D. (1988). Illusion and well-being: A sodal psychological perspective on mental health. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 193–210.
Taylor, S. E., & Crocker, J. (1981). Schematic bases of social information processing. In E. T. Higgins, C. P. Herman, & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), Social cognition: The Ontario symposium (pp. 89–134). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Wells, L. E., & MarweU, G. (1976). Self-esteem. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Wylle, R. (1974). The self-concept, vol 1. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Wylie, R. (1979). The self-concept, vol 2. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Zuckerman, M. (1979). Attribution of success and failure revisited, or the motivational bias is alive and well in attribution theory. Journal of Personality, 47, 245–287.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1993 Plenum Press, New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Campbell, J.D., Lavallee, L.F. (1993). Who am I? The Role of Self-Concept Confusion in Understanding the Behavior of People with Low Self-Esteem. In: Baumeister, R.F. (eds) Self-Esteem. The Plenum Series in Social / Clinical Psychology. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8956-9_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8956-9_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-8958-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-8956-9
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive