High Self-Esteem Is Not The Same Thing As
Healthy Self-Esteem
April 29, 2008
Oscar Levant, a mid-century pianist, film star and wit, once watched noted
keyboardist and composer George Gershwin spend an evening playing his own music
at a party and clearly having a great time.
"Tell me, George," Levant said, somewhat jealously, "if you have
it to do all over again would you still fall in love with yourself?"
Increasingly, psychologists are looking at such behavior and saying out loud
what may go against the grain of how many people act: high self-esteem is not
the same thing as healthy self-esteem. And new research by a psychology
professor from the University of Georgia is adding another twist: those with
"secure" high self-esteem are less likely to be verbally defensive
than those who have "fragile" high self-esteem.
"There are many kinds of high self-esteem, and in this study we found that
for those in which it is fragile and shallow it's no better than having low
self-esteem," said Michael Kernis. "People with fragile high
self-esteem compensate for their self-doubts by engaging in exaggerated
tendencies to defend, protect and enhance their feelings of self-worth."
The research was published today in the Journal of Personality. Kernis's
co-authors are Chad Lakey and Whitney Heppner, both doctoral students in the UGA
social psychology program.
Amid the complexity of perspectives on the human psyche, a slow but relentless
change is occurring in how psychologists view self-esteem, said Kernis. It was
once thought that more self-esteem necessarily is better self-esteem. In recent
years, however, high self-esteem per se has come under attack on several fronts,
especially in areas such as aggressive behavior. Also, individuals with high
self-esteem sometimes become very unlikable when others or events threaten their
egos.
While high self-esteem is still generally valued as a good quality that is
important to a happy and productive life, more researchers are breaking it down
into finer gradations and starting to understand when high self-esteem turns
from good to bad. In fact, it is now thought that there are multiple forms of
high self-esteem, only some of which consistently relate to positive
psychological functioning.
One of the ways in which high self-esteem can turn bad is when it is accompanied
by verbal defensiveness - lashing out at others when a person's opinions,
beliefs, statements or values are threatened. So Kernis and his colleagues
designed a study, reported in the current article, to see if respondents whose
self-esteem is "fragile" were more verbally defensive than those whose
self-esteem was "secure."
Using 100 undergraduates, they set up a study in three phases. In the first
part, students completed a basic demographic questionnaire and other measures to
evaluate their levels and other aspects of self-esteem. In phase 2, the team
assessed the students' stability of self-esteem because the more unstable or
variable one's self-esteem, the more fragile it is. And finally, in the last
phase, the researchers conducted a structured "life experiences
interview" to measure what they call "defensive verbalization."
"Our findings offer strong support for a multi-component model of
self-esteem that highlights the distinction between its fragile and secure
forms," said Kernis. "Individuals with low self-esteem or fragile high
self-esteem were more verbally defensive than individuals with secure high
self-esteem. One reason for this is that potential threats are in fact more
threatening to people with low or fragile high self-esteem than those with
secure high self-esteem, and so they work harder to counteract them."
On the other hand, individuals with secure high self-esteem appear to accept
themselves "warts and all," and, feeling less threatened, they are
less likely to be defensive by blaming others or providing excuses when they
speak about past transgressions or threatening experiences.
One reason the study's findings are important, Kernis said, is that it shows
that greater verbal defensiveness relates to lower psychological well-being and
life satisfaction.
"These findings support the view that heightened defensiveness reflects
insecurity, fragility and less-than-optimal functioning rather than a healthy
psychological outlook," said Kernis. "We aren't suggesting there's
something wrong with people when they want to feel good about themselves. What
we are saying is that when feeling good about themselves becomes a prime
directive, for these people excessive defensiveness and self-promotion are
likely to follow, the self-esteem is likely to be fragile rather than secure and
any psychological benefits will be very limited."
And what of Oscar Levant and George Gershwin" While Levant may now be
largely remembered for his acid opinions, Gershwin left us Rhapsody in Blue, An
American in Paris, and Porgy and Bess, three of the most memorable compositions
of the 20th century.
So the score for that fabled encounter on the secure self-esteem scale could be
Gershwin 1, Levant, 0. Maybe it's a reminder of how complicated self-esteem
really is.
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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Source: Kim Osborne
University of
Georgia
Medical News Today: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com
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