TARGET ARTICLE: Toward a Conceptualization of Optimal Self-Esteem

“Some years ago, Ajzen and Fishbein (1977) made a similar point regarding the usefulness of attitudes as predictors of behaviors.”

“For example, Kernis (2003) described secure self-esteem as a form of self-esteem that is anchored in positive self-perceptions that arise naturally from the satisfaction of basic psychological needs, whereas fragile selfesteem is built on loosely held positive self-perceptions that are subject to…”

“Although contingent self-esteem (i.e., feelings about oneself that are dependent on self- and other-based disapproval; Kernis, 2003) is an important component of vulnerable narcissism (Pincus et al., 2009; Rubinstein, 2010), only a few studies investigated its relationship to grandiose narcissism.”

“Therefore, individuals who possess high contingent self-esteem “are highly preoccupied with their achievements and how they measure up in other people's eyes” (Kernis, 2003, p. 8).”

“Conceptualized globally, individuals with contingent self-esteem are highly preoccupied with their achievements and place tremendous emphasis on how others view them (Kernis, 2003).”

“Thus, psychologists might identify effective parenting strategies to promote secure, rather than defensive, positive selfviews among future generations (Baumeister et al., 2003; Kernis, 2003).”

“Several researchers have noted that high self-esteem is not always beneficial (e.g. Deci & Ryan, 1995; Jordan, Spencer, Zanna, Hoshino-Browne & Correll, 2003; Kernis, 2003; Ryan & Brown, 2003).”

“Preliminary efforts to implement authentic leadership (Gardner, Avolio, Luthans, May, & Walumbwa, 2005; Kermis, 2003; Walumbwa et al., 2008) have revealed certain characteristics required of authentic leaders: (a) selfawareness—a heightened awareness of the world they live in, awareness of their…”

“In contrast, executives who have a non-contingent, secure self-esteem seldom consider their self-worth dependent only on the evaluation of their personal performance by others (Kernis, 2003b).”

“It is proposed that individuals with higher self-esteem are better able to adapt to challenges and demands, resulting in better adjustment to college life when compared to those with lower self-esteem (Bettencourt, Charlton, Eubanks, Kernahan, & Fuller, 1999; Kernis, 2003).”

“leadership identified by Kernis (2003) is the notion of unbiased, or balanced, cognitive processing in the assessment of one's self and”

“Various authors (e.g., Gardner et al., 2005; Kernis, 2003) have argued that authentic leaders’ behavior conveys principles and values that promote the achievement and maintenance of open, genuine relationships.”

“According to Kernis (2003), a good self-image is considered to be one of the strongest psychogenic needs of human beings, because it encourages people to feel good about themselves.”

“Because they are highly concerned with the opinion of others, extrinsically oriented individuals are both more likely to engage in stressful interpersonal comparisons (Patrick, Neighbors, & Knee, 2004) and to have a contingent sense of self-esteem (Kernis, 2003), both of which undermine people’s wellbeing (Ryan & Deci…”

“criterion ensured that the HSE was a special subset that has proven particularly nondefensive (Kernis, 2003).”

“The more encompassing position argues that self-consistency is sufficient for simple authenticity ( Kernis, 2003”

“Of note is the fact that similar predictions appear to have been generated in the attitude and self-concept literatures largely independently of each other and the personality literature (Baird, Le, & Lucas, 2006; S. J. Sherman & Fazio, 1983; note also the rarity of cross-literature citations in sources such as Cooke…”

“High self-esteem has been associated with resilience and optimal functioning, on the one hand, and with self-aggrandizement and defensiveness, on the other (e.g., Baumeister, Smart, & Boden, 1996; Kernis, 2003).”

“These include self-awareness, balanced processing, self-regulation and relational transparency (Avolio and Gardner, 2005; Gardner et al., 2005; Ilies et al., 2005; Kernis, 2003).”

“In psychology, authenticity is handled with the trait-like abilities of individuals to demonstrate self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-determination with respect to their behaviors (Kernis 2003).”

“In accord, the psychology literature indicates that authenticity stems from being true to one’s self with actions that are reflective of one’s own desires rather than responsive to the expectations of others (Kernis, 2003; Kernis & Goldman, 2006; Tisdell, 2003; Wood et al., 2008).”

“Adler (as cited in Ansbacher & Ansbacher, 1956) and Horney (1950) explicitly claimed that proud and narcissistic self-images are used to mask self-doubts and insecurities (see also Baumeister & Vohs, 2001; Kernis, 2003; Pyszczynski, Greenberg, Solomon, Arndt, & Schimel, 2004).”

“The Authenticity of Being Transformational Walumbwa and Wernsing (this volume) trace the development of the transformational leadership paradigm from Burns (1978) to Bass (1990), and, also, the general concept of authenticity in behavior as it can apply to leadership (Kernis, 2003).”

“Given self-esteem’s broad implications, it seems a distinct possibility that high self-esteem impacts the pursuit of long-term goals with well-anchored, positive attitudes about the self and happiness [38].”

“By contrast, other scholarship has examined authentic personality (Wood, Linley, Maltby, Baliousis, & Joseph, 2008), authentic functioning (Kernis, 2003) and authentic leadership (Avolio & Gardner, 2005) – multidimensional constructs that do not map clearly onto word-deed alignment.”

“According to Kernis (2003), employees who are encouraged to pursue goals that align with their values become more receptive to their unconscious desires, enabling access to extension memory and thus ameliorating the shortcomings that coincide with a performance orientation.”

“Specifically, some researchers conceptualize self–worth as either contingent or noncontingent, with the domain(s) on which self–esteem is based considered to be irrelevant (Deci & Ryan, 1995; Kernis, 2003).”

“Many researchers tend to assume that implicit self-esteem is unconscious and that implicit measures tap such unconscious self-views (Kernis, 2003; Koole & Pelham, 2003).”

“Although the socialization process eventually requires children to squash many activities that they find intrinsically satisfying, the more a child is given choices for action and is allowed to develop a sense of internal control during this period and beyond, the less the child’s sense of self-worth will become bogge…”

“Consistent with this point of view, Mikulincer and Shaver (2005) reviewed considerable evidence indicating that the defensiveness and self-aggrandizing tendencies associated with unstable (in particular high) self-esteem (Kernis, 2003) are absent in people with secure attachment representations.”

“However, outcomes associated with the extent to which self-worth is based on contingencies more generally, regardless of the specific contingencies, has been relatively unexplored (but see Kernis, 2003).”

“For example, research on stability of self-esteem has shown that people with high self-esteem that is unstable over time are more angry and aggressive than people with low self-esteem (Kernis & Waschull, 1995; see Kernis, 2003, for review).”

“The POS movement seems wedded to the notion of the ‘true-self’ (Avolio & Gardner, 2005; Kernis, 2003), an idea which also characterizes ‘authentic transformational leadership’ (Bass & Steidlmeier, 1999).”

“For over two decades, there has been a debate over the value of viewing self-esteem as a single dimension from low to high and whether the pursuit of high self-esteem along that dimension is even desirable (Baumeister et al., 1996; Emler, 2001; Kernis, 2003).”

“This could boost teachers’ trust and respect and further inspire them to share information openly and express their true thoughts and feelings (Kernis, 2003).”

“The finding that SA is not significantly influential on WE also runs contrary to the conclusions of Gardner et al and Kernis who regarded SA as a fundamental part of authentic leadership.(97,98) Second, three of the four authentic leadership subscales in the model were confirmed as having direct, positive, and signifi…”

“In order to resolve these apparently contradictory findings, several attempts have been made to distinguish secure and fragile forms of high SE (Kernis, 2003 ).”

“Likewise, psychologist Kernis (2003) tied perceived authenticity to the open and close relationships an individual can develop with others.”

“This marker of fragile high self-esteem refers to fluctuations in individuals’ moment-to-moment feelings of self-worth as measured over time (Kernis, 2003).”

“Finally, implicit in these studies is the relative independence of GSE mean levels and indicators of instability (e.g., Kernis, 2003, 2005).”

“The inflated self includes excessive self-esteem (e.g., Kernis, 2003), fragile and unstable self-esteem (e.g., Rhodewalt, Madrian, & Cheney, 1998), grandiosity (e.g., Raskin et. al., 1991), and defensive self-enhancement specifically related to egoistic concerns (e.g., Campbell, Rudich, &…”

“Self-esteem instability has been defined as the degree to which self-esteem shows temporal fluctuations across relatively short periods such as hours or days (e.g., Kernis, 2003, 2005).1 A person’s self-esteem may be unstable for at least two reasons.”

“For instance, in addition to insecurity about a partner’s regard and acceptance, perhaps insecure self-esteem engenders reactivity to esteem-threatening events (Kernis, 2003), which independently predicts reflected appraisals of vulnerability and, in turn, authenticity doubts.”

“Second, self-esteem is more concerned with a cognitive appraisal process that – although initiating defensive reactions to maintain or even improve one’s sense of worth – by itself does not incorporate any coping mechanism.(31,32) In contrast, self-compassion incorporates a positive action tendency:(22) cognitive stra…”

“As such, self-esteem level and contingencies each provide unique information about an individual, and researchers have been exhorted to consider self-esteem contingencies in their work (Kernis, 2003).”

“However, theory (Kernis, 2003) and research (Okada, 2010) suggest that self-esteem is a rather complex construct that also has dynamic aspects.”

“Self-esteem has been conceptualized as both a state that fluctuates based on social evaluations and external feedback and a stable trait (Kernis, 2003; Trzesniewski, Donnellan, & Robins, 2003).”

“…(2011) found that the field of AL appears to be coalescing around the perspective grounded in Kernis' four-component model of authenticity (Kernis, 2003; Kernis & Goldman, 2006) as applied to leadership by Avolio, Gardner, Walumbwa and colleagues, among others (Avolio & Gardner, 2005;…”

“These results suggest that it is important to consider specific facets of narcissism when examining feelings of self-worth rather than relying on broader composite measures of narcissistic personality features.”

“…information, actions in accordance with personal values, beliefs, and needs rather than as a consequence of reward, punishment or to satisfy others, as well as a relational orientation in the sense of being genuine and real in one’s close relationships without the fear of rejection (Kernis, 2003).”

“Such an analysis fits with various social psychologists’ viewpoint (e.g., Crocker & Park, 2004; Kernis, 2003; Ryan & Deci, 2004) that the explicit pursuit of self-esteem is likely to yield some costs and might lead people to end up with having low selfesteem (Ryan & Brown, 2003).”

“With a specific focus on the recognition phase, negative correlations have been found between noncontingent self-esteem, which is a central characteristic of authenticity (Kernis, 2003), and defensive mechanisms such as cognitive and emotional strategies to distance oneself from threatening events and to avoid thought…”

“When they are able to be authentic, individuals report greater self-worth, integrity, and well-being ~Kernis, 2003; Ryan & Deci, 2004!. Similarly, Winnicott ~1965!, who elaborated the object relations approach initiated by Fairbairn ~1952!, suggested that when acting from their true self people…”

“Similarly, self-esteem also has both a stable trait component and a state component which fluctuates daily (Kernis, 2003; 2005).”

“However, authentic behaviour is an important aspect of mutual trust and ‘relational authenticity means being genuine and not ‘‘fake’’ in one’s relationships with others’ (Kernis, 2003, p. 15).”