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developmental costs of high self-esteem

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Date Issued:
2007
Summary:
Two potential developmental costs of high self-esteem were investigated. One was that high self-esteem leads children to act on antisocial cognitions (the disposition activating hypothesis). The other was that high self-esteem leads children to rationalize antisocial conduct (the disposition-rationalizing hypothesis). Both hypotheses were explored in two longitudinal studies with preadolescents. In Study 1 (N = 189) the antisocial behavior was aggression; in Study 2 (N = 407) the antisocial behavior under focus was avoidance of the mother. There was little evidence for the disposition-activating hypothesis in either study but considerable support for the disposition-rationalizing hypothesis in both studies. Over time, aggressive children with high self-esteem increasingly valued the rewards that aggression offers and belittled their victims, and avoidant children with high self-esteem increasingly viewed their mother as harassing and uninvolved. Results therefore suggest that for antisocial children, high self-esteem carries costs, for both themselves and others.
Title: The developmental costs of high self-esteem.
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Name(s): Menon, Madhavi
Charles E. Schmidt College of Science
Department of Psychology
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: multipart monograph
Date Created: 2007
Date Issued: 2007
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Extent: 120 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: Two potential developmental costs of high self-esteem were investigated. One was that high self-esteem leads children to act on antisocial cognitions (the disposition activating hypothesis). The other was that high self-esteem leads children to rationalize antisocial conduct (the disposition-rationalizing hypothesis). Both hypotheses were explored in two longitudinal studies with preadolescents. In Study 1 (N = 189) the antisocial behavior was aggression; in Study 2 (N = 407) the antisocial behavior under focus was avoidance of the mother. There was little evidence for the disposition-activating hypothesis in either study but considerable support for the disposition-rationalizing hypothesis in both studies. Over time, aggressive children with high self-esteem increasingly valued the rewards that aggression offers and belittled their victims, and avoidant children with high self-esteem increasingly viewed their mother as harassing and uninvolved. Results therefore suggest that for antisocial children, high self-esteem carries costs, for both themselves and others.
Identifier: 209839078 (oclc), 42773 (digitool), FADT42773 (IID), fau:4284 (fedora)
Note(s): by Madhavi Menon.
Vita.
Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2007.
Includes bibliography.
Also available in print.
Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, FL : 2007 Mode of access: World Wide Web.
Subject(s): Self in children
Self -- Social aspects
Identity (Psychology)
Self-defeating behavior
Medicine and psychology
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/42773
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Has Part: The developmental costs of high self-esteem.
(OCoLC)191868498