Cited by 2,007Personality Traits and PsychologyPsychometric Methodologies and TestingPsychological Testing and Assessment

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Development and validation of a scale for measuring state self-esteem.

Heatherton, Todd F., Polivy, Janet·1991·Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

DOI 10.1037/0022-3514.60.6.895

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Abstract

This article examines the measurement of short-lived (i.e., state) changes in self-esteem. A new scale is introduced that is sensitive to manipulations designed to temporarily alter self-esteem, and 5 studies are presented that support the scale's validity. The State Self-Esteem Scale (SSES) consists of 20 items modified from the widely used Janis-Field Feelings of Inadequacy Scale (Janis & Field, 1959). Psychometric analyses revealed that the SSES has 3 correlated factors: performance, social, and appearance self-esteem. Effects of naturally occurring and laboratory failure and of clinical treatment on SSES scores were examined; it was concluded that the SSES is sensitive to these sorts of manipulations. The scale has many potential uses, which include serving as a valid manipulation check index, measuring clinical change in self-esteem, and untangling the confounded relation between mood and self-esteem. There has been a resurgence of interest in examining whether aspects of the self-concept are stable or malleable (Markus & Kunda, 1986). On the one hand, there is considerable evidence that the self-concept is persistent and stable and that people will actively seek information that confirms their self-concept and reject information that threatens their general view of self

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Background
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Background
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Method
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Self-citation
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Method
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Background
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“State Self-Esteem Scale—(Heatherton & Polivy, 1991).”
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“Explicit self-esteem was assessed by using the State Self-Esteem Scale (Heatherton & Polivy, 1991).”
Method
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“…I sometimes worry that people will dislike me,” “In college, I am usually confident that others will have a good impression of my ability (reverse scored),” and “In college, I often get nervous and worried when I talk to people” ( .68; G. L. Cohen & Garcia, 2005; Heatherton & Polivy, 1991).”
BackgroundInfluential
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Background
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“Then subjects were given a state self-esteem scale ( Heatherton & Polivy, 1991 ), the Restraint Scale (Herman & Polivy, 1980), a modified Janis-Field self-esteem scale (Pliner, Chaiken, & Flett, 1990), and a postexperimental questionnaire . The experimenter debriefed the subjects, thanked them for their participation,…”
MethodSelf-citation
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“The subsequent seven SSES items were preceded by the original instructions used by Heatherton and Polivy (1991), which informed participants diat each of the questions pertained to the current moment and should be answered accordingly.”
Method
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“To tap self-conscious discomfort we used the 7-item Social subscale of Heatherton and Polivy’s (1991) State Self-Esteem Scale (SSES).”
Method
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“…administered after the manipulation were the Profile of Mood States (including composed/anxious, elated/depressed, and confident/unsure subscales; McNair, Lorr & Droppleman, 1971) and the State Self-Esteem Scale (including performance, appearance, and social subscales; Heatherton & Polivy, 1991).”
Method
The "freshman fifteen" (the "freshman five" actually): Predictors and possible explanations.
Holm‐Denoma, J. M., Joiner, T. E., Vohs, K. D., & Heatherton, T. F. (2008) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/0278-6133.27.1.s3 · Cited by 202
“Test–retest reliability in previous studies of undergraduates has been reported as .70 ove ra1t o 2week period of time ( Heatherton & Polivy, 1991 ).”
BackgroundMethodSelf-citation
Self-esteem, mood, and self-evaluation: Changes in mood and the way you see you.
Brown, J. D., & Mankowski, T. A. (1993) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-3514.64.3.421 · Cited by 201
My Choice, Your Categories: The Denial of Multiracial Identities
Townsend, S. S. M., Markus, H. R., & Bergsieker, H. B. (2009) · Journal of Social Issues · doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2008.01594.x · Cited by 200
“Participants then completed the State Self-Esteem Scale (Heatherton & Polivy, 1991), reporting their feelings about themselves while completing the questionnaire.”
Method
Parenting Narcissus: What Are the Links Between Parenting and Narcissism?
Horton, R. S., Bleau, G., & Drwecki, B. (2006) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2005.00378.x · Cited by 200
“Narcissism (M 5 17.26, SD 5 7.69) and self-esteem (M 5 33.92, SD 5 4.55) scores were comparable to previous investigations (see Campbell et al., 2000; Heatherton & Polivy, 1991 ).”
ResultInfluential
The Self-Perception Connection: Why Consumers Devalue Unattractive Produce
Grewal, L. S., Hmurovic, J., Lamberton, C. P., & Reczek, R. W. (2018) · Journal of Marketing · doi:10.1177/0022242918816319 · Cited by 216
“…E for pretest results, which show that our self-esteem manipulation positively increased participants’ measured state self-esteem (b ¼ .31, t ¼ 2.24, p ¼ .027; Heatherton and Polivy 1991). generally, and frequency of shopping at the store; and standard demographics (see Web Appendix G for…”
ResultInfluential
What does viewing a pro‐anorexia website do? an experimental examination of website exposure and moderating effects
Bardone‐Cone, A. M., & Cass, K. M. (2007) · International Journal of Eating Disorders · doi:10.1002/eat.20396 · Cited by 216
“sure self-esteem changes in laboratory manipulations(36); psychometrics are adequate.(35) In the current study, alpha for the academic performance subscale was 0.”
Background
Prediction of subjective states from psychophysiology: A multivariate approach
Fairclough, S. H., & Venables, L. (2005) · Biological Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2005.03.007 · Cited by 199
“The DSSQ was derived via factor analysis of self-report questionnaires from a large sample (e.g. Fenigstein et al., 1975; Heatherton and Polivy, 1991; Matthews and Desmond, 1998; Matthews et al., 1990; Sarason et al., 1986).”
BackgroundMethod
Recovering From Strain and Enduring Pain
Jones, J. M., & Jetten, J. (2010) · Social Psychological and Personality Science · doi:10.1177/1948550610386806 · Cited by 219
“…the mediating role of other resources that multiple group membership may provide such as self-efficacy (e.g., Schwarzer, 1992), self-esteem (e.g., Heatherton & Polivy, 1991; Rosenberg, 1965), and selfconcept clarity (e.g., Campbell et al., 1996; also see Baray, Postmes, & Jetten, 2009), as these…”
Background
Correlates of self-reported multicultural competencies: Counselor multicultural social desirability, race, social inadequacy, locus of control racial ideology, and multicultural training.
Sodowsky, G. R., Kuo-Jackson, P. Y., Richardson, M. F., & Corey, A. T. (1998) · Journal of Counseling Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-0167.45.3.256 · Cited by 198
Whether and How Virtual Try-On Influences Consumer Responses to an Apparel Web Site
Merle, A., Sénécal, S., & St-Onge, A. (2012) · International Journal of Electronic Commerce · doi:10.2753/jec1086-4415160302 · Cited by 200
“90] and is an important dimension of the self-esteem construct [23].”
BackgroundMethod
Stuck in the Model Trap: The Effects of Beautiful Models in Ads on Female Pre-Adolescents and Adolescents
Martin, M. C., & Gentry, J. W. (1997) · Journal of Advertising · doi:10.1080/00913367.1997.10673520 · Cited by 327
The Evolution of Self-Esteem.
Hill, S. E., & Buss, D. M. (2013) · Cited by 194
Self Esteem/Self Concept Scales for Children and Adolescents: A Review
Butler, R., & Gasson, S. L. (2005) · Child and Adolescent Mental Health · doi:10.1111/j.1475-3588.2005.00368.x · Cited by 193
Self-esteem modulates medial prefrontal cortical responses to evaluative social feedback
Somerville, L. H., Kelley, W. M., & Heatherton, T. F. (2010) · Cerebral Cortex · doi:10.1093/cercor/bhq049 · Cited by 189
“This is likely due to shared variance between the constructs of anxiety and self-esteem, which has been documented previously (Heatherton and Polivy 1991).”
InfluentialSelf-citation
Explaining the Endowment Effect through Ownership: The Role of Identity, Gender, and Self-Threat
Dommer, S. L., & Swaminathan, V. (2012) · Journal of Consumer Research · doi:10.1086/666737 · Cited by 202
Global self-esteem and specific self-views as determinants of people's reactions to success and failure.
Dutton, K. A., & Brown, J. D. (1997) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.73.1.139 · Cited by 203
“We are equally skeptical of research that claims to manipulate self-esteem by giving people false feedback regarding some aspect of themselves (e.g., Heatherton & Polivy, 1991).”
Background
Smartphone withdrawal creates stress: A moderated mediation model of nomophobia, social threat, and phone withdrawal context
Tams, S., Legoux, R., & Léger, P.-M. (2018) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2017.11.026 · Cited by 188
Parasocial relationships and self‐discrepancies: Faux relationships have benefits for low self‐esteem individuals
Derrick, J. L., Gabriel, A., & Tippin, A. B. (2008) · Personal Relationships · doi:10.1111/j.1475-6811.2008.00197.x · Cited by 185
The Interactive Roles Of Stability And Level Of Self-Esteem: Research and Theory
Kernis, M. H., & Waschull, S. B. (1995) · Advances in experimental social psychology · doi:10.1016/s0065-2601(08)60404-9 · Cited by 187
IS MORE FAIRNESS ALWAYS PREFERRED? SELF-ESTEEM MODERATES REACTIONS TO PROCEDURAL JUSTICE.
Wiesenfeld, B. M., Swann, W. B., Brockner, J., & Bartel, C. A. (2007) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.2307/20159922 · Cited by 184
Implicit self-esteem compensation: Automatic threat defense
Rudman, L. A., Dohn, M. C., & Fairchild, K. (2007) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.93.5.798 · Cited by 178
“Participants responded to the performance and social subscales (n 14 items) of the State SelfEsteem Scale (SSES; Heatherton & Polivy, 1991).”
Method
An enquiry concerning the principles of cultural norms and values: The impact of uncertainty and mortality salience on reactions to violations and bolstering of cultural worldviews
van den Bos, K., Poortvliet, P. M., Maas, M., Miedema, J., & van den Ham, E.-J. (2005) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2004.06.001 · Cited by 259
“If people with low self-esteem are more uncertain about themselves than those with high self-esteem (see, e.g., Heatherton & Polivy, 1991; see also Baumgardner, 1990; cf. Sedikides & Strube, 1997), then self-esteem measures can be taken as indicators of perceived uncertainty, which would imply that the terror and unce…”
Background
Interpersonal evaluations following threats to self: Role of self-esteem.
Heatherton, T. F., & Vohs, K. D. (2000) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.78.4.725 · Cited by 179
Self-citation
The Processing of Thin Ideals in Fashion Magazines: A Source of Social Comparison or Fantasy?
Tiggemann, M., Polivy, J., & Hargreaves, D. A. (2009) · Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1521/jscp.2009.28.1.73 · Cited by 186
“Heatherton and Polivy (1991) reported good reliability for the total scale.”
BackgroundSelf-citation
Self-esteem is dominated by agentic over communal information
Wojciszke, B., Baryla, W., Parzuchowski, M., Szymkow, A., & Abele, A. E. (2011) · European Journal of Social Psychology · doi:10.1002/ejsp.791 · Cited by 175
“In Sample 3, the State Self-Esteem Scale of Heatherton and Polivy (1991) was used—translated and adapted in previous studies.”
Method
Why care about caring? Linking teachers’ caring and sense of meaning at work with students’ self-esteem, well-being, and school engagement
Lavy, S., & Naama, E. (2020) · Teaching and Teacher Education · doi:10.1016/j.tate.2020.103046 · Cited by 234
Agency‐Communion and Self‐Esteem Relations Are Moderated by Culture, Religiosity, Age, and Sex: Evidence for the “Self‐Centrality Breeds Self‐Enhancement” Principle
Gebauer, J. E., Wagner, J., Sedikides, C., & Neberich, W. (2013) · Journal of Personality · doi:10.1111/j.1467-6494.2012.00807.x · Cited by 172
“The 12-item eDarling Trait Self-Esteem Scale (Gebauer, Leary, & Neberich, in press-a) is adapted from Heatherton and Polivy’s (1991) State Self-Esteem Scale.”
BackgroundMethodInfluential
The Effects of In-Group versus Out-Group Social Comparison on Self-Esteem in the Context of a Negative Stereotype
Blanton, H., Crocker, J., & Miller, D. T. (2000) · Journal of Experimental Social Psychology · doi:10.1006/jesp.2000.1425 · Cited by 173
“The second questionnaire was the Heatherton and Polivy (1991) measure of state self-esteem, which assesses current evaluations of the self in terms of performance self-esteem (e.g., “I feel confident about my abilities”), social self-esteem (Reverse scored; e.g., “I am worried about looking…”
Background
Consequences of Downward Envy: A Model of Self-esteem Threat, Abusive Supervision, and Supervisory Leader Self-improvement
Yu, L., Duffy, M. K., & Tepper, B. J. (2017) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2015.0183 · Cited by 179
Do slumped and upright postures affect stress responses? A randomized trial.
Nair, S., Sagar, M. A., Sollers, J. J., Consedine, N. S., & Broadbent, E. (2014) · Health Psychology · doi:10.1037/hea0000146 · Cited by 194
“The 20-item State Self-Esteem Scale (SSES; Heatherton & Polivy, 1991) was chosen because it is sensitive to laboratory manipulations of self-esteem.”
Method
The pot calling the kettle black: Distancing response to ethical dissonance.
Barkan, R., Ayal, S., Gino, F., & Dan Ariely, C. (2012) · Journal of Experimental Psychology General · doi:10.1037/a0027588 · Cited by 177
“Next, to capture the effect of the recall manipulation on self-image, participants completed a three-item state version of the self-esteem scale (Heatherton & Polivy, 1991; see also Rosenberg, 1979).”
Method

Authors: Heatherton, T. F., & Polivy, J.
Affiliations: Harvard University (US)
ORCID: Heatherton, Todd F.
Polivy, Janet
Venue: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Published: 1991-06
Volume: 60
Issue: 6
Pages: 895-910
ISSN: 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
1939-1315
DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.60.6.895
OpenAlex: W1984877678
Cited by: 2,007
References: 79
Citations by year: 2026: 58 · 2025: 63 · 2024: 66 · 2023: 78 · 2022: 96 · 2021: 92 · 2020: 83 · 2019: 96 · 2018: 101 · 2017: 85 · 2016: 85 · 2015: 90 · 2014: 94 · 2013: 74 · 2012: 82
FWCI: 9.15
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
Topics: Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
Social Sciences › Decision Sciences › Management Science and Operations Research › Psychometric Methodologies and Testing
Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Psychological Testing and Assessment
Keywords: state self-esteem, self-esteem measurement, scale development, performance self-esteem, social self-esteem, appearance self-esteem, manipulation checks, self-concept stability

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Development and validation of a scale for measuring state self-esteem.

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