Ideal Self-esteem Research Articles

Efeito da depressão na autoestima real e ideal: um estudo com o IRAP

Este estudo visou comparar as respostas relacionais de autoestima real e ideal por meio do Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) e explorar a correlação entre a pontuação dos participantes na Escala de Autoestima de Rosenberg (EAR) e os escores D-IRAP. Participaram do estudo 20 adultos, distribuídos em dois grupos, com e sem depressão. O procedimento teve duas fases: (a) aplicação do BDI-II e do EAR, (b) aplicação do IRAP autoestima real e do IRAP autoestima ideal. Os resultados mostraram que participantes com depressão diferem de participantes sem depressão quanto a autoestima avaliada pelo EAR e apresentaram similaridades na avaliação pelo IRAP. Participantes com depressão apresentaram: vieses negativos de autoestima real e vieses positivos de autoestima ideal. Os participantes sem depressão não apresentaram diferenças quanto a autoestima real e a ideal.

Testing the neurocognitive framework for regulation expectation: The relationship between actual/ideal self-esteem and proactive/reactive autonomic stress regulation

Background and objectivesAccording to the Neurocognitive Framework for Regulation Expectation (NFRE), actual and ideal self-esteem are related to how individuals anticipate and respond to a stressful event. Based on this framework, we investigated whether in individuals with low ideal self-esteem (moderator), a positive relationship between actual self-esteem and reactive autonomic regulation would be mediated by the amount of anticipatory autonomic regulation. MethodsForty-five healthy females prepared a speech (i.e., anticipation) and performed it in front of a camera (i.e., stressor). Actual and ideal self-esteem were measured with the Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure. Anticipatory and reactive autonomic stress regulation were indexed by heart rate variability, and affective responses were assessed via self-report. ResultsResults were in line with predictions based on the NFRE: when ideal self-esteem was low, higher actual self-esteem was associated with higher reactive autonomic regulation, and this association was mediated by higher anticipatory autonomic regulation. LimitationsBecause only female undergraduates were recruited, replication within a more heterogeneous sample is necessary to further generalize these findings. ConclusionsThese results support the hypothesis, based on the NFRE, that actual and ideal self-esteem interact in predicting the relationship between anticipatory and reactive stress regulation, and are a step forward in the understanding of the mechanisms underlying successful stress regulation.

Attitude to Coming-of-Age in Adolescents of Saint-Petersburg and Smolensk in Context of their Resiliency

The article features an empirical study of the attitude of adolescents to coming-of-age with various resiliency in St. Petersburgand Smolensk. The research employed a modified version of the Dembo-Rubinshtein selfevaluation methodology. The actual and ideal self-esteem of the teenagers was measured in terms of «adulthood», «willingness to be an adult» and «desire to grow up»; their resilience was assessed with the help of a screening version of the Resiliency. The characteristics of the regulatory, moral and reflexive spheres were assessed according to the Self-Assessment Scale of Personal Maturity. The research demonstrated that adolescents from Smolenskassessed their desire to grow up significantly higher than those from St. Petersburg, while their level of actual and ideal self esteem of adulthood remained the same. The adolescents from St. Petersburgshowed lower rates of conative, reflexive and moral maturity, as well as resiliency, primarily in terms of involvement and control. Depending on the strategy of growing up, resiliency is a resource (for an internally coordinated strategy of coming-of-age) or a personal condition for exercising control over one's own life (for an internally conflicting strategy of coming-of-age). The data obtained are used in the psychological and pedagogical accompaniment of adolescents growing up in different sociocultural conditions. There is a tendency to further research on the influence of socio-cultural factors on the implementation of a particular coming-of age strategy and teenagers’ attitude.

The effect of transcranial direct current stimulation of the prefrontal cortex on implicit self-esteem is mediated by rumination after criticism

It has been proposed that a crucial link between cognitive (i.e., self-schemas) and biological vulnerability is prefrontal control. This is because decreased control leads to impaired ability to inhibit ruminative thinking after the activation of negative self-schemas. However, current evidence is mainly correlational. In the current experimental study we tested whether the effect of neurostimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on self-esteem is mediated by momentary ruminative self-referential thinking (MRST) after the induction of negative self-schemas by criticism. We used a single, sham-controlled crossover session of anodal transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) applied to the left DLPFC (cathode over the right supraorbital region) in healthy female individuals. After receiving tDCS/sham stimulation, we measured MRST and exposed the participants to critical audio scripts, followed by another MRST measurement. Subsequently, all participants completed two Implicit Relational Assessment Procedures to implicitly measure actual and ideal self-esteem. Our behavioral data indicated a significant decrease in MRST after real but not sham tDCS. Moreover, although there was no immediate effect of tDCS on implicit self-esteem, an indirect effect was found through double mediation, with the difference in MRST from baseline to after stimulation and from baseline to after criticism as our two mediators. The larger the decrease of criticism induced MRST after real tDCS, the higher the level of actual self-esteem. Our results show that tDCS can influence cognitive processes such as rumination, and subsequently self-esteem, but only after the activation of negative self-schemas. Rumination and negative self-esteem characterize different forms of psychopathology, and these data expand our knowledge of the role of the prefrontal cortex in controlling these self-referential processes, and the mechanisms of action of tDCS.

Assessment of Implicit Self-Esteem in Older Adults: The Role of Actual and Ideal Self-Esteem in Negative Mood.

The interplay between actual and ideal self-esteem may be a key component in emotional disorders. Since automatic self-evaluations are not always consciously accessible, assessment through implicit measures is necessary. Given the lack of implicit self-esteem measures in late life, we aimed to identify a reliable measure and to clarify the role of actual and ideal self-esteem in mood and depressive symptoms in older adults. Forty-nine older adults completed two adapted Go/No go Association tasks measuring implicit actual and ideal self-esteem and measures of mood and depressive symptoms. The two Go/No go Association tasks showed satisfactory internal consistency. Moderation analyses revealed that lower actual self-esteem in older adults is related to higher levels of sad mood when ideal self-esteem is high. Moreover, lower actual self-esteem is related to more anxious mood. Given the role of self-esteem in emotional well-being, a reliable measure for older adults is crucial to improve age-appropriate diagnostics and treatment.

To be or want to be: disentangling the role of actual versus ideal self in implicit self-esteem.

A growing body of work suggests that both depressed and non-depressed individuals display implicit positivity towards the self. In the current study, we examined whether this positivity can be underpinned by two qualitatively distinct propositions related to actual (‘I am good’) or ideal (‘I want to be good’) self-esteem. Dysphoric and non-dysphoric participants completed a self-esteem Implicit Association Test (IAT) as well an Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure (IRAP) targeting their actual self-esteem and an IRAP targeting ideal self-esteem. Both groups demonstrated similar and positive IAT effects. A more complex picture emerged with regard to the IRAP effects. Whereas non-dysphorics did not differ in their actual and ideal self-esteem, their dysphoric counterparts demonstrated lower actual than ideal self-esteem. Our results suggest that closer attention to the role of propositional processes in implicit measures may unlock novel insight into the relationship between implicit self-esteem and depression.

Self-esteem revisited: Performance on the implicit relational assessment procedure as a measure of self- versus ideal self-related cognitions in dysphoria

Although depression is characterised by low self-esteem as measured by questionnaires, research using implicit measures of self-esteem has failed to reveal the expected differences between depressed and non-depressed individuals. In this study, we used an implicit measure which enables the differentiation of ideal self- and actual self-esteem, through the introduction of propositions: “I am” versus “I want to be”. We measured implicit relational associations about actual and ideal self in low (N=27) versus high dysphoric (N=29) undergraduates. Our data revealed that dysphoric individuals have a higher ideal self-esteem, and lower actual self-esteem in comparison to healthy participants. The results underscore the need to go beyond simple associations and suggest that the use of individual–specific propositions could enhance our understanding of the implicit measurement of self-esteem. Furthermore, these results underscore the importance of actual versus ideal self-discrepancy theories, which might guide the content of therapeutic interventions.