CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 336Social and Intergroup PsychologyPersonality Traits and PsychologyDeath Anxiety and Social Exclusion

Self-esteem and direct versus indirect forms of self-enhancement.

Brown, Jonathon D., Collins, Rebecca L., Schmidt, Greg W.·1988·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
DOI 10.1037/0022-3514.55.3.445
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Two studies explored the relation between self-esteem and self-enhancement biases. It was proposed that people with high self-esteem engage in forms of self-enhancement in which the self is directly linked to positive identities and outcomes, whereas people with low self-esteem engage in forms of self-enhancement in which the self is indirectly linked to positive identities and outcomes. To test the hypothesis, we examined group favoritism as a function of self-esteem and group involvement. As expected, high self-esteem subjects were most apt to display favoritism when they were directly involved in group processes, whereas low self-esteem subjects were most apt to display favoritism when they were not directly involved in group processes. Furthermore, consistent with the view that these tendencies reflect a motivated desire to enhance self-worth, these effects were less evident after subjects had received positive feedback than after they had received negative feedback. The discussion centers on the nature of high and low self-esteem and the influence of self-enhancement and self-consistency motives in social behavior. Conventional wisdom holds that self-serving biases are principally the refuge of those with low self-esteem. This position, typically referred to as self-enhancement theory (Shrauger, 1975), is based on the notion that all individuals are motivated to maintain a positive self-concept, and that the need for selfenhancement increases the more the desire to think favorably of the self goes unfulfilled. In their efforts to shore up a negative self-image, those with low self-esteem are presumed to distort and bias personal information in a self-enhancing direction (cf. Dittes, 1959; Jones, 1973; Kaplan, 1975). In contrast to the preceding view, which holds that self-enhancement biases are more prevalent among those with low self-esteem than among those with high self-esteem, other theories suggest that individuals with high self-esteem are more apt to display evidence of self-enhancement. Self-consistency theorists

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1037/0022-3514.55.3.445

Cites

44 of 44 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Providing referrals for novel offerings allows consumers to associate themselves with positive attributes, express their uniqueness, gain social approval and appear helpful, satisfying self-enhancement needs.

    “Providing referrals for novel offerings allows consumers to associate themselves with these positive attributes, express their uniqueness, gain social approval and appear helpful (Brown et al. 1988), thus, satisfying self-enhancement needs by referring innovative offerings.”

    From Unintended reward costs: the effectiveness of customer referral reward programs for innovative products and services (2019) · cites this paper as Brown et al. 1988

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Brown, J. D., Collins, R. L., & Schmidt, G. W.
Affiliations
Southern Methodist University (US)
ORCID
Venue
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Publisher
American Psychological Association (APA)
Published
1988-09
Volume
55
Issue
3
Pages
445-453
ISSN
  • 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
  • 1939-1315
DOI
10.1037/0022-3514.55.3.445
OpenAlex
W2160288372
Cited by
336
References
44
Citations by year
2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 17 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 16 · 2012: 8
FWCI
33.19
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
Funders
Southern Methodist University
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
Keywords
self-esteem, self-enhancement, self-serving bias, in-group favoritism, group participation, positive feedback, negative feedback, self-consistency, self-concept, self-enhancement theory

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review