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Self-esteem, disclosure and consequent gains and losses of esteem as a determinant of responses to evaluations from others

University of British Columbia

The hypothesis that expectations of disclosure and a consequent gain or loss in esteem from another would determine reactions to initially positive or negative evaluations congruent or incongruent with self-evaluation was tested. Subjects experienced success or failure at problem-solving and then received congruent or incongruent evaluations from others when disclosure of performance was either inevitable or impossible. Predictions that subjects anticipating disclosure and subsequent gains and losses of esteem would exhibit a consistency effect while those safe from the consequences of disclosure would show approval seeking behavior received no clear-cut support. Possible factors involved in the study's failure to support the hypotheses were discussed. The study also tested the hypothesis that ratings of the evaluator on some scales would reflect only the positive or negative nature of the note received while others would require consideration of consistency between self and other evaluation. Results offered some support for this hypothesis and justified the recommendation that future research give priority to development of measures to reliably and validly detect interaction effects. Examination of direct and indirect ratings of the note-sender implied that ability relevance, rather than directness, may account for observed discrepancies between direct and indirect ratings.

Text

2011-04-12

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http://hdl.handle.net/2429/33582

Psychology

University of British Columbia

Graduate