Self-Esteem and the Extended Self-Evaluation Maintenance Model

Abstract

The self may be viewed as a collection of symbols created within a social framework, a collection that has some inherent fluidity (cf. Baumeister, 1991; Wicklund & Gollwitzer, 1982). The fluidity of the self may be seen as following from its ability to assimilate symbols from the social environment and add to the self-definition as required by social feedback, as well as from its ability to adjust and perhaps delete symbols as they become unworkable. Of particular importance for global self-esteem is the subset of self-symbols pertaining to “important things I do well,” i.e., the performance domain of the self (James, 1890; Rosenberg, 1979) (but for a discussion of possible cross-cultural differences, see also Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Importantly, the performance domain of the self may undergo adjustment in relation to the performance of close others through a series of processes described by the self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) model (Tesser, 1988). SEM processes can therefore be seen as being directly involved in the manipulation of the fundamental building blocks of global self-esteem, particularly as it relates to changes in self-definition.