Ken DeMarree & Kim Rios WANTING TO LIKE ONESELF: THE ROLE OF SELF-ESTEEM GOALS IN PREDICTING SELF-CLARITY

 Perception that one has a clear, coherent, internally-consistent, & stable self concept  Campbell, 1990; Campbell et al., 1996  Predicts positive outcomes  Lower depression & eating disorders  Better educational outcomes  Reduced aggression to ego threat  Positively related to self-esteem SELF-CLARITY

 Enhancement & consistency biases  low SE has conflicting information  Lack of clarity opens people up to wider range of info   lowers SE  Another possibility: Actual-desired self-esteem discrepancies undermine clarity WHY ARE CLARITY & SE RELATED?

 People often desire different evaluations  Discrepancies appear to be unique predictor of ambivalence  Ambivalence ≈ lack of clarity in an evaluation  Conflicting pulls on evaluative responses ACTUAL-DESIRED ATTITUDE DISCREPANCIES Maio & Thomas, 2007; DeMarree et al., in press

ACTUAL & DESIRED ATTITUDES  AMBIVALENCE DeMarree et al., in press, JESP

 People often desire different evaluations  Discrepancies appear to be unique predictor of ambivalence (DeMarree et al., in press, JESP)  Ambivalence ≈ lack of clarity in an evaluation  Conflicting pulls on evaluative responses  Self-esteem: Desired evaluation most commonly positive ACTUAL-DESIRED ATTITUDE DISCREPANCIES Maio & Thomas, 2007; DeMarree et al., in press

Discrepancy Magnitude Actual Self-esteem Level Typical Desired Self-esteem

 Examine role actual and desired self-esteem play in predicting self-clarity  Interactive prediction – relationship between SE & Clarity greatest when desired self- esteem is high PROJECT GOALS

 Mass survey data set  Using same 7-point scale, Ps indicated  Actual self-esteem  Desired self-esteem (ideal / ought)  Two measures of clarity  SCC scale items  Subjective ambivalence items CORRELATIONAL STUDY

RESULTS

 Overall effect of self-esteem remains  Diminished as desired SE decreases  Clarity is greater with congruence between actual & desired self-esteem  Results hold controlling for:  Objective ambivalence  Extremity CORRELATIONAL STUDY: DISCUSSION ***

SE / CLARITY RELATIONSHIP

 Recruited full range of self-esteem  Ps first complete Rosenberg  Feedback to make high self-esteem appear (un)desireable EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

 Recruited full range of self-esteem  Ps first complete Rosenberg  Feedback to make high self-esteem appear (un)desireable  Measures of clarity EXPERIMENTAL STUDY

RESULTS

 Manipulated desired SE produces same effect  Bringing desired SE in line with actual SE increases clarity  Results hold controlling for OA / Extremity  Consistent with CBT approaches that undermine unrealistic standards STUDY 2: DISCUSSION

 Novel explanation for self-esteem self-clarity relationship  Actual-desired self-esteem discrepancies  Additional data show:  Same relationships across cultures  Consequences for depressive symptoms  Note parallels between other attitudes and self-esteem  Predict resistance to change GENERAL DISCUSSION

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