Positive Self-views Research Articles

Food insecurity, customer to volunteer transition and self-concept repair: a free store example

ABSTRACTFood insecurity poses profound threats to self-concept which impacts on physical and mental health. Two Free Stores specialising in food rescue were selected for this research. Drawing on the narratives of 34 volunteers, we examined the working practices of the Free Stores and the personal experiences of the volunteers. The Free Stores adopted the operational principles of a store format, absence of means testing and customer to volunteer transition to modify the social context from whence the threats derive. Involvement with the Free Stores provides the recipients and volunteers with multiple strategies for self-concept repair to restore positive self-views. The operational principles are effective for gaining insights into the creation and transformation of the personal and social identities of the volunteers.

Mothers never retire: Contextual priming of working models of mother affects adults' representations of self and romantic partners.

The main goal of these studies is to provide an experimental test of a core hypothesis based on attachment theory: Working models of mother are active in adults' minds and can bias their views of self and romantic partners. In two studies, we conducted clinical interviews to identify positive and negative core traits that participants used to describe their mothers. We then implicitly primed either positive or negative traits extracted from the interviews and compared this priming condition to control conditions in which we primed either positive or negative control traits (traits that described the mother of another study participant). Following this manipulation, we assessed participants' self-appraisals (Study 1) and explanations of their romantic partner's hurtful behaviors (Study 2). Priming with one's mother's positive traits led to more positive views of self and romantic partner (compared with the effects of priming with positive control traits). In contrast, as compared to negative control traits, the priming of one's mother's negative traits led to less positive views of self and romantic partner. Findings support the hypothesis that working models of mother play a causal role in shaping adults' representations of self and romantic partners.

Beyond attractiveness: A multimethod approach to study enhancement in self-recognition on the Big Two personality dimensions.

Self-enhancement refers to the phenomenon that individuals tend to have unrealistically positive self-views. Traditional measures of self-enhancement typically imply self-evaluations and reference values, such as evaluations by others or evaluations of the average other. Comparing individuals' self-evaluations with such reference values, however, bears risks. It is not evident that the reference values are more accurate than the self-evaluations and it is not possible to distinguish self-enhancers from individuals who are indeed superior to others. Here, we present two novel methods to measure self-enhancement that circumvent these problems by using participants' own faces as reference values. In Study 1 we systematically manipulate facial characteristics that have previously been found to impact perceptions of attractiveness, likability, and the Big Two personality dimensions in participants' faces and ask them to recognize themselves. In Study 2 we use a novel approach to apply random noise patterns to participants' faces and ask them to indicate in which version they recognize themselves more. Aggregating these random noise patterns reveals the direction of self-recognition in a more bottom-up, data-driven way. Across both studies we find evidence for self-enhancement regarding attractiveness, likability, and the Big Two personality dimensions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Posttraumatic stress disorder and interpersonal process in homeless veterans participating in a peer mentoring intervention: Associations with program benefit.

Homelessness among veterans has dropped dramatically since the expansion of services for homeless veterans in 2009, and now engaging homeless veterans in existing programs will be important to continuing to make progress. While one promising approach for engaging homeless veterans in care is involving peer mentors in integrated services, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may diminish the effects of peer mentorship. This mixed methods study examined how interpersonal and emotional processes in homeless veterans with and without PTSD impacted their capacity to engage in relationships with peer mentors. Four focus groups of 5-8 homeless male veterans (N = 22) were drawn from a larger multisite randomized trial. Qualitative analysis identified five primary themes: disconnectedness; anger, hostility, or resentment; connecting with others; positive view of self; and feeling like an outsider. Thematic comparisons between participants with and without a self-reported PTSD diagnosis, and between those who did and did not benefit from the peer mentor program, were validated by using quantitative methods. Disconnectedness was associated with self-reported PTSD diagnosis and with lack of program benefit; feeling like an outsider was associated with program benefit. Results suggest that disruption to the capacity to develop and maintain social bonds in PTSD may interfere with the capacity to benefit from peer mentorship. Social rules and basic strategies for navigating interpersonal relationships may differ somewhat within the homeless community and outside of it; for veterans who feel disconnected from the domiciled community, a formerly homeless veteran peer may serve as a critical "bridge" between the two social worlds. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Views on aging among undergraduates, faculty, and staff: Domain-specific measurement invariance and comparisons

ABSTRACT Views on aging have been shown to reliably predict various psychological and physical health outcomes. To our knowledge, this is the first study exploring domain-specific views on aging using a university sample including students, faculty, and staff (N = 646). Specifically, we assessed how one’s age stereotypes (AS), current self-views on aging (CS), and future self-views on aging (FS) vary among students, faculty, and staff by age and by eight everyday functioning domains using an existing domain-specific scale. In general, the older one becomes, the more positive one’s views on aging are in various domains with a few exceptions. No single group (e.g., students, faculty, or staff) consistently had more positive views across domains than the other groups. Moreover, faculty and staff tended to share similar views on aging compared to students. The most salient difference between students and faculty/staff was in the finance domain; students had more positive age stereotypes and future self-views than faculty and staff but not for current self-views. The results highlight the importance of examining the domain-specific age stereotypes, current and future self-views on aging to understand the differences among university populations and provide implications for future educational programs on ageism.

사회불안장애 인지행동 집단 치료에서의 긍정적, 부정적 자기상의 변화 및 사회불안과의 관계 연구

사회불안장애 인지행동 집단 치료에서의 긍정적, 부정적 자기상의 변화 및 사회불안과의 관계 연구

THE GOLDEN TRIANGLE OF HAPPINESS: ESSENTIAL RESOURCES FOR A HAPPY FAMILY

It is normal for people to feel positive about the quality of their lives, despite the presence of challenges. Of special interest here are the challenges of caring for a child or a disabled family member. How do the adults living within such families maintain a positive self-view? Answering this question requires an understanding of subjective well-being as it applies to each individual family member and of the management system that strives to keep each person feeling positive. This paper describes various psychological components of this homeostatic management system, together with a consideration of the most useful resources to support homeostasis. Key resources have been identified by using the Personal Wellbeing Index, a seven-item scale measuring subjective well-being (mood happiness). Over many studies, researchers have found considerable agreement that three kinds of resources — “the Golden Triangle” — are consistently more relevant to subjective well-being than the others. These are feelings of satisfaction with income, relationships, and life purpose. The implications for interventions that offer support to families in need are discussed.

The Effects of Mattering and Combat Deployment on Student Service Members/Veterans’ College Adjustment: A Psychosociocultural Approach

This study examined college adjustment for 157 student service members/veterans’ (SSM/V) college adjustment using a psychosociocultural framework to explore psychological (stress), social (connection and university mattering), and cultural (view of self) dimensions. A series of mediation analyses revealed that mattering fully mediated the relationships of social and campus connectedness and negative view of self with college adjustment, respectively. Mattering also partially-mediated the relationship of positive view of self and college adjustment. Although those SSM/V who had been deployed to a combat zone held more negative views of self and reported decreased social connectedness than those who had not, deployment to a combat zone did not moderate the relationships of connection (social and campus) and view of self (positive and negative) with college adjustment. The study’s findings direct student service personnel to provide emic support and programming to support SSM/Vs’ educational experiences and college adjustment.

It works both ways. Enhancing explicit self-esteem using the self-reference task

The self-reference task (SRT) is an evaluative learning paradigm that uses the positive valence of the self to change the attitude towards new and neutral stimuli. In this contribution, we present evidence regarding the possibility of changing the attitudes towards the self, following a modified SRT. In three independent research studies, we provided participants in experimental groups with an SRT that paired the self with highly positive pictures. After the completion of the modified SRT, participants in the experimental group reported significantly higher explicit self-esteem (in all studies) and more positive self-views (Study 1 and Study 2), as compared with a control group. In the second study, students completed the modified SRT each day for two weeks. The participants in the experimental group reported more positive explicit self-esteem and higher psychological well-being (e.g., higher academic engagement and lower academic burnout), as compared to the control group. However, Study 3 did not provide evidence regarding the effect of the modified SRT on self-reported mental health. Our results suggest that asking individuals to relate the self with another stimulus can be used in both directions to transfer valence from the self to external targets, and from external targets to the self.

Development of the Global Self-Esteem Measure: A Pilot Study

In the current study, we present the development of the Global Self-Esteem (GSE) measure. The six-item GSE fulfills a need for a short unidimensional measure of global self-esteem conceptualized as “overall positive view of self.” The construct is traditionally measured by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE); however, several important shortcomings of the scale have been highlighted in the recent research. To improve the operationalization of global self-esteem, the shortcomings of the RSE and of the other measures intended to measure the construct are addressed in the construction of the GSE. Initial psychometric characteristics of the GSE, obtained in a pilot study, are reported. The results of exploratory factor analysis indicated unidimensionality of the measure—a single factor accounted for 78% of the variance in the GSE items, and the magnitude of factor loadings ranged from .81 to .91. Internal consistency reliability was high (ordinal α = .95), and expected relations between the GSE scores and other self-esteem measures were found. The utility of the measure and goals for future research are discussed in the context of limitations of the current study.

The development of self-views across adolescence: Investigating self-descriptions with and without social comparison using a novel experimental paradigm

Adolescence has been described as a unique period for self-concept development, with an intensified alertness to social comparison as a mechanism for self-knowledge and self-evaluation. However, it remains difficult to disentangle the specific influence of these social comparisons on the development of self-descriptions in adolescence. Moreover, it is still unclear how social comparisons impact upon the development of self-views in different domains, such as physical, academic and social self-views. The goal of this study was therefore to examine the development of self-descriptions in different domains across adolescence, and to experimentally test how the development of these self-descriptions is altered by an explicit social comparison context. For this purpose, we developed two tasks which both asked participants (aged 9-25-years, N = 202) for trait self-descriptions but differed in the salience of a social comparison. Results showed consistent age-differences with more positive self-views for children and adolescents in the age-range 9–14 years. The context of explicit social comparison yielded similar as well as additional age-differences that were more dependent upon valence and domain. Moreover, mid-adolescents (15–17 y) were most negatively affected by these social comparisons relative to other ages. Together, this study made a first step in disentangling the specific influence of social comparison outcomes within the development of general self-descriptions, and highlights the importance of social context in studying self-concept in adolescence.

Corporate risk and the humpback of CEO narcissism

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the association between CEO narcissism and corporate risk taking.Design/methodology/approachThe authors provide a novel and unobtrusive measure of CEO narcissism based on LinkedIn profiling. The authors investigate the relationship between CEO narcissism and corporate risk taking (stock return volatility) for a sample of 475 US manufacturing firms in the period 2010-2014.FindingsThe authors find an inverse U-shape relationship between CEO narcissism and stock return volatility. The inverse U-shape relationship (the “humpback”) is caused by the paradoxical nature of the narcissistic personality in which the self-esteem is high but at the same time fragile with a combination of self-admiration and a constant need of having this positive self-view confirmed. The results are robust to alternative specifications of CEO narcissism and corporate risk taking. The results are economically meaningful. Thus, a moderate degree of CEO narcissism – as compared to a very low or a very high level of CEO narcissism – is associated with an increase in corporate risk taking of approximately 12 percent.Originality/valuePrevious literature provides multiple analyses on the association between managerial overconfidence and corporate decisions. As opposed to overconfidence, narcissism is a personality trait having both cognitive and behavioral dimensions. This paper provides a novel contribution to the growing literature on the association between managerial biases/traits and corporate decision-making.

Self-Narrative Profiles of Elite Athletes and Comparisons on Psychological Well-Being

ABSTRACTFurther research is needed on factors related to the emotional health of elite athletes. Previous research has linked self-narratives of people or their narrative identities to their psychological well-being. However, no study has yet examined self-narratives among elite athletes. Purpose: This study examined whether specific profiles or narrative identities of athletes emerge through multiple self-narrative indicators; these profiles were compared on measures of psychological well-being (e.g., depression, anxiety, postfailure shame levels, and life satisfaction). Method: Self-report data were collected from a sample of elite athletes (n = 99, Mdn age = 22 years, 52% male, 53% individual sports) competing at a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division 1, professional, or Olympic level. Results: Latent profile analysis revealed 3 profile types that significantly differed on measures of psychological well-being. Athletes with a performance-based narrative identity (high perfectionism, fear of failure, and contingent self-worth) demonstrated the highest levels of psychological disruptions (highest levels of depression, anxiety, and shame; lowest levels of life satisfaction), whereas a purpose-based narrative identity (high purpose, global self-worth, positive view of self after sport) was associated with the highest level of psychological well-being (lowest levels of depression, anxiety, and shame; highest levels of life satisfaction). Athletes in the mixed-type profile class reported better psychological well-being compared with the performance-based profile class but not the purpose-based profile class. Conclusions: Our findings provide initial evidence that particular self-narrative profiles of elite athletes contribute to their own psychological well-being in a significant way. Possible implications for practitioners are also discussed.

Children’s Narrative Representations of Peer Experiences in Cultural Contexts: The Relations to Psychological Adjustment

This study examined children’s narrative representations of peer experiences in cultural contexts and its concurrent and long-term relations to psychological adjustment. Thirty-four European American and 30 Chinese immigrant 9-10 years old children completed a narrative task to tell stories based on two scenario stems. Children’s peer-related self-views, loneliness, and social anxiety were assessed and again a year later. Peer interaction themes in children’s completed stories, particularly conflict resolution, were associated with European American children’s positive self-views and lower loneliness at both time points, as well as lower social anxiety at time 2. In contrast, conflictual themes exhibited significant association only with Chinese immigrant children’s engaging self-views at time 1. The associations of peer interaction themes to children’s positive self-views emerged to be significant for Chinese immigrant children only at time 2. Furthermore, peer interaction themes did not correlate with Chinese immigrant children’s loneliness and social anxiety at either time point. The results suggested the culture-dependent role of narrative representations of peer experiences in children’s psychological adjustment.

Narcissism and mate value: Is beauty in the eye of the narcissistic beholder?

Narcissism is characterized by highly positive self-views. The purpose of the present study was to examine the connection between narcissism and self-perceived mate value. More specifically, we were interested in the possibility that the associations that narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry had with self-perceived mate value may be mediated by the perceived mate value of one's current romantic partner. That is, we believed that narcissistic individuals may perceive their romantic partner in a manner that serves their own self-views. The results showed that perceived partner mate value mediated the positive association that narcissistic admiration had with self-perceived mate value as well as the negative association that narcissistic rivalry had with self-perceived mate value. Discussion focuses on the implications of these results for understanding how narcissistic individuals view their romantic partners and themselves.

Psychological Correlates of Teen Sexting in three Countries – Direct and Indirect Associations between Self-control, Self-esteem, and Sexting

The present study investigates frequency rates of sexting, and examines the associations of sexting with self-control and self-esteem as psychological correlates. The study sample included 1,818 adolescents between 12 and 17 years ( Mage = 14.3, SD = 1.4) from Germany, the Netherlands, and Thailand. Across the three countries, the frequency rate for sending sexts was 8%, suggesting that sexting among adolescents is neither an epidemic nor a rarity. Both increasing self-esteem and increasing self-control decreased the likelihood of sending sexts. Additionally, self-esteem partially mediated the associations between self-control and sending of sexts and self-control partially mediated the associations between self-esteem and sending of sexts. The results indicated that education training should focus on increasing awareness of the potential challenges adolescents may face when engaged in sexting but also on intervention programs that enable adolescents to control their ICT-related behavior and empowerment training to build a positive self-view.

Self-reflection Orients Visual Attention Downward.

Previous research has demonstrated abstract concepts associated with spatial location (e.g., God in the Heavens) could direct visual attention upward or downward, because thinking about the abstract concepts activates the corresponding vertical perceptual symbols. For self-concept, there are similar metaphors (e.g., “I am above others”). However, whether thinking about the self can induce visual attention orientation is still unknown. Therefore, the current study tested whether self-reflection can direct visual attention. Individuals often display the tendency of self-enhancement in social comparison, which reminds the individual of the higher position one possesses relative to others within the social environment. As the individual is the agent of the attention orientation, and high status tends to make an individual look down upon others to obtain a sense of pride, it was hypothesized that thinking about the self would lead to a downward attention orientation. Using reflection of personality traits and a target discrimination task, Study 1 found that, after self-reflection, visual attention was directed downward. Similar effects were also found after friend-reflection, with the level of downward attention being correlated with the likability rating scores of the friend. Thus, in Study 2, a disliked other was used as a control and the positive self-view was measured with above-average judgment task. We found downward attention orientation after self-reflection, but not after reflection upon the disliked other. Moreover, the attentional bias after self-reflection was correlated with above-average self-view. The current findings provide the first evidence that thinking about the self could direct visual-spatial attention downward, and suggest that this effect is probably derived from a positive self-view within the social context.

Social Identity and Psychosis: Associations and Psychological Mechanisms.

Humans possess a basic need to belong and will join groups even when they provide no practical benefit. Paranoid symptoms imply a disruption of the processes involved in belonging and social trust. Past research suggests that joining social groups and incorporating those groups into one’s identity (social identification) promotes positive self-views and better physical and mental health. However, no research has investigated whether social identity is associated with paranoia, nor the mechanisms by which this effect may emerge. Here, we examined the relationship between social identity and mental health (paranoia, auditory verbal hallucinations [AVHs], and depression), and tested the mediating role of self-esteem. In study 1, we analyzed data collected from 4319 UK residents as part of the NIHR CLAHRC NWC Household Health Survey. Study 2 comprised data collected from 1167 students attending a large UK university. The studies provided convergent evidence that social identification reduces symptoms of paranoia and depression by furnishing people with self-esteem. There was no consistent effect of social identification on AVHs. People developing mental health assessments, treatments, and policies are encouraged to consider the notion that joining and identifying with social groups may reduce people’s risk of paranoia and depression.

Context influences on the relationship between views of aging and subjective age: The moderating role of culture and domain of functioning.

Subjective age has been shown to reliably predict a variety of psychological and physical health outcomes, yet our understanding of its determinants is still quite limited. Using data from the Aging as Future project, the authors examined the degree to which views of aging influence subjective age and how this influence varies across cultures and domains of everyday functioning. Using data from 1,877 adults aged from 30 to 95 years of age collected in China, Germany, and the United States, they assessed how general attitudes about aging and perceptions of oneself as an older adult influenced subjective age estimates in 8 different domains of functioning. More positive attitudes about aging were associated with older subjective ages, whereas more positive views of self in old age were associated with younger subjective age. It is hypothesized that these effects are reflective of social-comparison processes and self-protective mechanisms. These influences varied considerably over contexts, with views of aging having a greater impact in domains associated with stronger negative stereotypes of aging (e.g., health) compared to those with more positive ones (e.g., family). Culture also moderated the impact of aging views in terms of the strength of prediction, direction of effect, and age of greatest influence, presumably due to cultural differences in the salience and strength of aging-related belief systems across contexts. The results illustrate the contextual sensitivity of subjective age and highlight the role played by an individual's views of old age-both in general and regarding oneself-in determining their own experience of aging. (PsycINFO Database Record

Attitudes to ageing among older Norwegian adults living in the community.

Attitudes toward ageing have powerful influences and impact older adults' own perception of health, quality of life and utilisation of health and social care services. This study describes attitudes to ageing among 490 Norwegian older adults living in the community who responded to The Attitudes to Ageing Questionnaire. Results showed that in spite of physical changes and psychological losses, the attitudes of older adults support life acceptance with gained wisdom in feeling that there were many pleasant things about growing older and that their identity was not defined by their age. They demonstrated the ability to incorporate age-related changes within their identities and at the same time maintain a positive view of self. Although they acknowledged that old age represented a time of loss with decreasing physical independence, they meant that their lives had made a difference, they wanted to give a good example to younger persons and felt it was a privilege to grow old.