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

84 SELF-ESTEEM RESEARCH, THEORY, AND PRACTICEavoidance of strategic ploys, and reluctance to call attention to the self.In other words, the self-presentational styles of people with low selfesteemare not self-derogatory, but self-protective, cautious, and conservative.(p. 14)Campbell also found that such individuals often demonstrate a lackof clarity concerning their identity and are sensitive to self-relevant socialcues. Kernis (2003a) and others pointed out that overgeneralization is athinking pattern that is common among people with low self-esteem.Others, such as Tennen and Affleck (1993); Tice (1993); and Wood,Giordano-Beech, Taylor, Michela and Gaus (1994), found that peoplewith low self-esteem use self-handicapping strategies and lower expectationsto help protect themselves against further losses in this area.Typically, such individuals do not suffer the degree of pain the clinicalgroup does, because the self-esteem they do have is protected by thesedevices. Interestingly enough, people who live this second type of lowself-esteem seem to be resistant to change, perhaps even more so thanclinical populations: Severe pain can act as a motivator for change, wheremere discomfort may not. In fact, research shows that those who live thistype of low self-esteem tend to reject positive feedback, focus on negativeinformation about themselves, avoid risk, and so forth, in an attempt tomaintain this unpleasant but familiar or “safe” state (Campbell, 1999;Epstein, 1979; Epstein & Morling, 1995; Wells & Marwell, 1976). Thistype of behavior is usually understood in terms of the need for consistencyas being stronger than, but not completely replacing, the enhancementmotivations of self-esteem. For example, it has also been found thatsuch individuals desire high self-esteem but prefer to attempt to reach itthrough more indirect methods, such as associating with those who haveit (Brown, Collins & Schmidt, 1988).High Self-EsteemNot long ago, high self-esteem was almost invariably associated withpositive abilities and characteristics that made it a desirable condition.No doubt these positive aspects of high self-esteem played a major role init becoming an important psychological concept. However, contemporaryresearch on high self-esteem suggests that not all forms of it are positive,which has the effect of generating considerable confusion in thefield and outside of it. This aspect of high self-esteem is known as the“heterogeneity” of self-esteem (Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger & Vohs,2003). It is necessary to understand this mixed picture of high self-esteem,which can be done by breaking down the findings into two groups: thosethat are, in general, desirable and those that are largely undesirable.