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

92 SELF-ESTEEM RESEARCH, THEORY, AND PRACTICEto enhance the experience of mastery and that eventually gives rise toself-esteem. The effectance motive does not conflict with the more defensiveregulatory functions of the self because effectance only arises in a“conflict-free” state. Thus, when threat passes, the maintenance functionof self-esteem recedes, and the enhancement function has the opportunityto motivate behavior.Epstein (1980, 1985) brought the two functions together in the formationof a hierarchy. The maintenance function of self-esteem is primarybecause it helps to keep stable one’s theories of the world, others, and self.Threats at this level generate anxiety or even pain, both of which arebuffered by self-esteem. Rather than becoming destabilized when threatenedin these ways, self-esteem allows us to maintain a sense of worth thatis stabilizing. Such constancy helps allow the individual to take countermeasuresor to suffer through the situation relatively undamaged. At thesame time, the self is driven by the need to expand our abilities and understandings,which, when successfully done, is pleasurable and rewardingand results in an increase in self-esteem. Thus, self-esteem is important forboth maintenance and for growth, which suggests that it is a fundamentalneed. More recently, Self-Determination Theory psychology tied selfesteemto both functions because that would be the most adaptive combination(Greenberg, Pyszczynski & Solomon, 1995). However, the point isthat much research on self-esteem supports the idea that it is capable offunctioning as a need and a call, which means that both aspects of selfesteemmust be incorporated into any integrated theory.Self-Esteem as a Developmental Product and ProcessAs Trzesniewski, Robins, Roberts, and Caspi (2004) noted, self-esteemwork is characterized by the same “state” versus “trait” issue found inpersonality psychology. Because the Big Five theory of personality seemsto make progress in resolving this issue in that field, perhaps the long-termstudy of self-esteem could help clarify self-esteem in this one. Accordingly,they conducted a meta-analysis that examined the rank-order stability ofself-esteem using 50 articles that involved nearly 30,000 subjects.Overall, the findings support the view that self-esteem is a stableindividual-difference construct. Test-retest correlations are moderatein magnitude and comparable to those for personality traits; across allage groups, the mediation correlation (unadjusted for measurementerror) was 0.47.In contrast to personality, which showed an increasing linear trend,the rank-order stability of self-esteem showed a robust curvilineartrend. (2004, p. 167)