There's more to self-esteem than whether it is high or low: the importance of stability of self-esteem.
Study 1 examined the extent to which stability and level of self-esteem predicted cognitive and emotional reactions to interpersonal feedback. Among high self-esteem individuals, instability was associated with acceptance and positive emotions following positive feedback but to rejection and defensiveness following negative feedback. Among low self-esteem individuals, instability was unrelated to reactions to positive feedback but was related to less defensiveness and greater acceptance of negative feedback. Study 2 examined the extent to which variability and importance of specific self-evaluations were associated with instability of global self-esteem. Discussion focused on the roles of level and stability of self-esteem in reactions to evaluations and on the nature of self-esteem instability.
Kernis
M H
MH
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens 30602.
Cornell
D P
DP
Sun
C R
CR
Berry
A
A
Harlow
T
T
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003071:Cognition; D004644:Emotions; D005246:Feedback; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D012649:Self Concept; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis