Self-Esteem and Emotion: Some Thoughts about Feelings

Self-esteem has been linked to a diverse array of positive and negative affective states. The present research explored the nature of these relationships. Study 1 found that self-esteem (as measured by the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale) is more closely associated with self-relevant emotional states than with emotional states that do not directly implicate the self. Study 2 replicated these findings and found that although several personality variables predicted participant’s emotional reactions to success and failure, these effects were eliminated once self-esteem was taken into account. Study 3 found that self-esteem predicted participant’s self-relevant emotional reactions to failure but not their non-self-relevant emotional reactions. These findings provide converging evidence that self-esteem is most closely linked to a particular class of emotions that pertain to how people feel about themselves.

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