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

Major Self-Esteem Research Findings 95critical role: It is “a special type of information that can describe, evaluate,or influence performance” (Bednar, Wells & Peterson, 1989, p. 91).This more cognitive view sees self-esteem serving a regulatory function inthe self-system. Hence, once we develop a certain type or level of globalself-esteem, we tend to operate in ways that are consistent with it to maintaina sense of self-sameness over time.Harter (1999) took a more developmental track on the mediatingcharacter of self-esteem on the basis of her research on depression in adolescence.In this framework, the link between self-esteem and behavior isbased on the direction of self-esteem (i.e., whether it functions as a causeor as an effect for a specific individual at a particular time). For example,for one person, a particular failure or a rejection could lead to a drop inself-esteem and that decline could, in turn, make them more vulnerable todepression. For another, the same event could have little or no effect onself-esteem. For yet a third person, the situation could trigger a fullfledgeddepression, which, in turn, might also lead to a subsequent dropin self-esteem. Harter found that what determines which direction selfesteemwill flow toward depends on one key component not often discussedin traditional self-esteem research: meaning.Jackson (1984) pointed out that experimental work aimed at establishingsimple or one-way statistical causality in regard to self-esteem isdoomed to failure. Most of the experimental work done in this field, forinstance, involves setting up a situation where someone is asked to solvea problem or compete in a contest where some type of treatment is introduced,usually unknown to the subject. In one case, it might be verbalcueing that is manipulated; in another, rigging the contest so that failureis certain; and in a third setting distraction might be added to the situation,and so forth. However, if it is true that a situation must mean somethingto an individual before self-esteem becomes mobilized, then subjectsmust be personally connected to the situation and its outcomes for theexperiment to be relevant to self-esteem. Yet, Epstein showed us inChapter 1 that it is difficult for experiments to achieve such status in ethicalways. All things considered, then, we must conclude that most of theexperimental work done on self-esteem is likely to be inadequate: Muchof it involves contrived circumstances, trivial challenges, and little in theway of significant or lasting outcomes. In other words, it is not at all surprisingto find so little in the way of statistical significance between selfesteemand behavior based on traditional methods.In sum, at this point in the development of the field, it is possible toconclude two things about the status of self-esteem as a variable affectingbehavior. One is that there are several possibilities to consider, such asa two-factor approach to self-esteem, before making any kind of declarationabout its nature as a variable or about its statistical strength.