Cited by 2,378Bullying, Victimization, and AggressionPersonality Traits and PsychologyDeath Anxiety and Social Exclusion

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Relation of threatened egotism to violence and aggression: The dark side of high self-esteem.

Baumeister, Roy F., Smart, Laura, Boden, Joseph M.·1996·Psychological Review

DOI 10.1037/0033-295x.103.1.5

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Abstract

Conventional wisdom has regarded low self-esteem as an important cause of violence, but the opposite view is theoretically viable. An interdisciplinary review of evidence about aggression, crime, and violence contradicted the view that low self-esteem is an important cause. Instead, violence appears to be most commonly a result of threatened egotism--that is, highly favorable views of self that are disputed by some person or circumstance. Inflated, unstable, or tentative beliefs in the self's superiority may be most prone to encountering threats and hence to causing violence. The mediating process may involve directing anger outward as a way of avoiding a downward revision of the self-concept.

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BackgroundInfluential
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Authors: Baumeister, R. F., Smart, L., & Boden, J. M.
Affiliations: Case Western Reserve University (US)
ORCID: Baumeister, Roy F.
Boden, Joseph M.
Venue: Psychological Review
Publisher: American Psychological Association (APA)
Published: 1996
Volume: 103
Issue: 1
Pages: 5-33
ISSN: 0033-295X (ISSN-L)
1939-1471
DOI: 10.1037/0033-295x.103.1.5
OpenAlex: W2100354065
Cited by: 2,378
References: 183
Citations by year: 2026: 35 · 2025: 57 · 2024: 65 · 2023: 97 · 2022: 96 · 2021: 97 · 2020: 75 · 2019: 86 · 2018: 90 · 2017: 111 · 2016: 113 · 2015: 125 · 2014: 122 · 2013: 139 · 2012: 130
FWCI: 55.15
Type: journal article
Language: en
Open access: closed
Locations: Psychological Review (publishedVersion)
PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders: National Institutes of Health (5r01mh043826-02, 5r01mh051482-03)
National Institute of Mental Health (MH 43826, MH-51482)
Topics: Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
Keywords: self-esteem, aggression, violence, crime, self-concept, anger
MeSH terms: Aggression, Anger, Crime, Defense Mechanisms, Dominance-Subordination, Humans, Internal-External Control, Power, Psychological, Self Concept, Violence

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Relation of threatened egotism to violence and aggression: The dark side of high self-esteem.

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