DO OUR SELF-VIEWS MATTER?

Self-concept and self-esteem in everyday life

William Swann, Jr., Christine Chang-Schneider and Katie Larsen McClarty from the University of Texas have recently submitted a research paper entitled “Do our self-views matter?” to be published in the American Psychologist Journal. The paper supports an optimistic assessment of the predictive validity of self-views and the value of programs to improve self-concept and self-esteem. They also challenge the dismissal of the value of self-esteem as stated by Baumeister and other social psychologists.

The authors point out the fallacy of characterizing self-esteem as affective and self-concepts as cognitive, as some critics have done. They point out that self-esteem and self-concepts refer to both thoughts and feelings and hence the need to consider the interrelationship between the two when evaluating their impact. When this is done the predictive validity of self-views becomes quite apparent and significant.

The paper emphasizes the importance of either matching specific outcomes with specific measures of self-views or matching broad outcomes with global self-esteem. For example, it is well documented that low self-esteem predicts subsequent depression, both of which involve multiple factors. Likewise, research by Donnellan et al and Trzesniewski et al found that self-esteem was a significant predictor of major depression disorder, anxiety disorder, tobacco dependence, criminal convictions, school drop out, and money and work problems, again broad outcomes affected by multiple factors.

When specific measures, like measures of academic self-concept, were correlated with a specific outcome like academic achievement, Marsh and Craven found a significant relationship, but little correlation between academic achievement and global self-esteem. Thus, researchers need to use specific measures of self-concept to measure single outcomes or match global measures of self-esteem with broad outcomes. Much of the conflicting research can be attributed to failures to do that.

The paper also addresses the issue of interpreting effect sizes. Some researchers have discounted the significance self-esteem due to relatively low correlations. However, the paper points out that the predictive validity of psychological tests compares favorably with the predictive validity of highly regarded medical tests. The relationships that reviewers have dismissed as unimpressive (r-.30) actually approach the upper limit of what might be expected when broad outcomes such as self-esteem are considered.

Does it make sense to take steps to improve self-views? Swann and his coauthors contend that it does. They report evidence that programs designed to improve self-esteem actually improve standardized test scores, reduce school disciplinary reports, and reduce use of drugs and alcohol, though there are practices and components of such programs that have not proven to be effective. They urge researchers to place more emphasis on the identification of those strategies and components which have proven to be effective and that should be included in programs to foster self-esteem.

The paper points out the importance of not only focusing on improving self-views, but also on changing the behaviors and situations that feed into people’s self-views. We know that negative self-views can sabotage people’s ability to cope successfully with events in their lives. However, it is not enough to merely change self-views, nor is it effective to just change only people’s behaviors and life circumstances. Trying to change a negative self-view of an individual who is hostile to others is not likely to change that person’s behavior unless the individual is also taught behaviors that enable the individual to view himself more positively. People’s self-esteem, self-concepts, behaviors, and social conditions are thus embedded in cycles in which each element influences and constrains the other elements in profound ways. Changes in any given node must be reinforced by changes in the other nodes.

They conclude people’s self-views do matter, and people with negative self-views think and behave in ways that diminish their quality of life. Hence, it is incumbent upon behavioral scientists to develop and refine strategies for improving these negative self-views. Those of us involved in developing and using programs to do this will look forward to such recommendations.