Self-Esteem Research, Theory, and Practice Toward a Positive ...

68 SELF-ESTEEM RESEARCH, THEORY, AND PRACTICEIn general, this problem of weak statistical correlation is common indevelopmental psychology literature. For example, even basic texts ondevelopmental psychology point out that the work on linking attachmentstyle to adult relationship formation is present but not strong (Sigelman& Shaffer, 1995). Similarly, the emerging research on resilience showsthat even when there are strong correlations between negative developmentalenvironments and negative adult behavioral patterns, there areplenty of exceptions (Vaillant, 1995; Werner & Smith, 1992). Such factorsare more accurately understood as being predisposing and interactiverather than causal or deterministic. They are among those conditionsthat increase (or, by their absence, decrease) the likelihood of self-esteem.Instead of being dismayed by the weakness of the correlation betweenself-esteem and family factors as some researchers lament, perhaps weought to be thankful for it. The indeterminate nature of these variablesmeans that the absence or diminishment of any one of them does not necessarilydoom people to a lifetime of low self-esteem.SELF-ESTEEM AND VALUESIn general, the research seems to indicate that we cannot escape dealingwith a relationship between values and self-esteem if we want to understandeither self-esteem or its link to motivation and behavior. Forexample, it is clear that although people exhibiting high or low selfesteemcan differ in certain key ways, such as in how likely they are togain what they value, what they actually value is quite the same. As the“expectancy” literature on self-esteem would have it, “Both groupswant to feel good about themselves” (Brockner, Wiesenfeld & Raskas,1993, p. 220). The difference seems to be in what each of these groupstends to expect about their respective chances of really attaining thatwhich is valued. For example, both such individuals value being successful,but the two groups hold different expectations of how likelythey are to be successful, so their strategies for filling in this part of theself-esteem picture differ markedly. People with high self-esteem usuallyfeel competent enough to take the risk and worthy enough to sustain afailure, should it occur, so they may set their sights high from the beginning.The others, in contrast, are often just as concerned with avoidingthe loss of worthiness as with gaining more, so they may use what iscalled a “self-handicapping strategy” even as they go about trying to besuccessful (Snyder, 1989; Tice, 1993). Such a cognitive device allowspeople to focus on reasons that they are likely to fail so that they maynot be as disappointed if it occurs. In either case the value of feelingworthy about oneself is the same.