Search

Past research indicates that childhood emotional maltreatment (CEM) undermines the quality of adult romantic relationships by fostering negative characteristics in survivors. Two longitudinal studies investigated the hypothesis that decreased compassionate goals toward partners over time explain the association between CEM and declining relationship quality. In Study 1, CEM predicted decreased compassionate goals over time, which in turn predicted decreased relationship quality in individuals in romantic relationships. Study 2 replicated this effect in romantically involved couples and showed that partners’ high compassionate goals attenuated the decline in compassionate goals associated with reported CEM. These results point to the importance of examining how CEM may affect positive relationship processes and the protective roles of partners’ compassionate goals.

OBJECTIVES: The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is thought to mediate the effects of stress on illness. Research has identified a limited number of psychological variables that modulate human HPA responses to stressors (e.g. perceived control and social support). Prosocial goals can reduce subjective stress, but have not been carefully examined in experimental settings where pathways of impact on biological stress markers may be traced. Recent work demonstrated that coaching individuals to strive to help others reduced HPA responses to the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) relative to other cognitive interventions. However, identification of mediational pathways, which were not examined in the original study, is necessary to determine whether the HPA buffering effects were due to helping motivations (compassionate goals; CGs) rather than via previously identified variables such as control or support. METHODS: In this new analysis, we combined the original cortisol data with novel observer ratings of interpersonal behavior and psychological variables during the stress task, and conducted new, theory-driven analyses to determine psychological mediators for the intervention’s effect on cortisol responses (N=54; 21 females, 33 males; 486 cortisol samples). RESULTS: Control, support, and task ego-threat failed to account for the effects of the intervention. As hypothesized, self and observer-rated CGs, as well as observer-rated perceptions of participants’ interpersonal behavior as morally desirable (but not as dominant or affiliative) were significant mediators of neuroendocrine responses. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that stress-reduction interventions based on prosocial behavior should target particular motivational and interpersonal features.

According to the egosystem-ecosystem theory of social motivation, people with ecosystem motivation believe their interpersonal relationships work in nonzero-sum ways. A longitudinal study of individuals in romantic relationships and a study of romantic couples who had a conflict discussion in the laboratory both showed that compassionate goals predict increased nonzero-sum beliefs through increased responsiveness and perceptions of partner’s responsiveness and that nonzero-sum beliefs uniquely predict increased relationship quality through increased optimism that relationship problems can be overcome. The results support the view that motivational orientations shape people’s lay theories that their relationship works in zero-sum or nonzero-sum ways, and further show that nonzero-sum beliefs are an important and unique predictor of change in relationship quality independent of responsiveness or perceived partner responsiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)

In contemporary Western society, many adults use praise to boost children's self-esteem. Accordingly, they might praise those who seem to need it the most: children with low self-esteem. In this article, we review research showing that certain types of praise can backfire, especially in children with low self-esteem. Adults are inclined to give children with low self-esteem person praise (e.g., “You're smart!”) and inflated praise (e.g., “That's incredibly beautiful!”). Paradoxically, such praise can lower these children's motivation and feelings of self-worth in the face of setbacks (e.g., when they struggle or fail). Lowered feelings of self-worth, in turn, might invite more person praise and inflated praise from adults, creating a self-sustaining downward spiral. We propose a transactional model to shed light on this apparent praise paradox, and we describe the model's implications for theory and research.

Although research has examined the consequences of relational self-construal, little is known about what psychological factors predict it. Four studies examined the association between compassionate goals and relational self-construal. Study 1 showed that compassionate goals are positively associated with relational self-construal in college students. Study 2 replicated this association among adults in romantic relationships. Studies 3 and 4 showed that compassionate goals predict increased relational self-construals over time in college roommates. Moreover, Studies 2-4 showed that responsiveness to relationship partners statistically mediated the association between compassionate goals and self-construal. These studies suggested that people with compassionate goals have highly relational self-construals and that they also develop higher levels of relational self-construals by being responsive to relationship partners.

Greater numeracy has been correlated with better health and financial outcomes in past studies, but causal effects in adults are unknown. In a 9-week longitudinal study, undergraduate students, all taking a psychology statistics course, were randomly assigned to a control condition or a values-affirmation manipulation intended to improve numeracy. By the final week in the course, the numeracy intervention (statistics-course enrollment combined with values affirmation) enhanced objective numeracy, subjective numeracy, and two decision-related outcomes (financial literacy and health-related behaviors). It also showed positive indirect-only effects on financial outcomes and a series of STEM-related outcomes (course grades, intentions to take more math-intensive courses, later math-intensive courses taken based on academic transcripts). All decision and STEM-related outcome effects were mediated by the changes in objective and/or subjective numeracy and demonstrated similar and robust enhancements. Improvements to abstract numeric reasoning can improve everyday outcomes.

Summary Background The hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis is a critical mediator linking stress to health. Understanding how to modulate its reactivity could potentially help reduce the detrimental health effects of HPA axis activation. Social evaluative threat is a potent activator of this system. Access to control and coping responses can reduce its reactivity to pharmacological activation. Compassionate or affiliative behaviors may also moderate stress reactivity. Impact of these moderators on social evaluative threat is unknown. Here, we tested the hypotheses that interventions to increase control, coping, or compassionate (versus competitive) goals could reduce HPA-axis response to social evaluative threat. Methods Healthy participants (n = 54) were exposed to social evaluative threat using the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST). They were randomly assigned to receive one of four different instructions prior to the stressor: Standard TSST instructions (SI), standard instructions with access to “control” (SI Control), or one of two cognitive interventions (CI) that (1) increased familiarity and helped participants prepare coping strategies (CI Coping), or (2) shifted goal orientation from self-promotion to helping others (CI Compassionate Goals). ACTH and cortisol were obtained before and after stress exposure via intravenous catheter. Results Control alone had no effect. CI Compassionate Goals significantly reduced ACTH and cortisol responses to the TSST; CI Coping raised baseline levels. Compassionate Goals reduced hormonal responses without reducing subjective anxiety, stress or fear, while increasing expression of pro-social intentions and focus on helping others. Conclusions Brief intervention to shift focus from competitive self-promotion to a goal orientation of helping-others can reduce HPA-axis activation to a potent psychosocial stressor. This supports the potential for developing brief interventions as inoculation tools to reduce the impact of predictable stressors and lends support to growing evidence that compassion and altruistic goals can moderate the effects of stress.

The desire to change roommates served as a model of nonromantic relationship dissolution within 115 college roommate dyads. We measured personality, mental health, social/communication patterns, and academic achievement attitudes over the course of a semester, and we used multilevel modeling to estimate individual-level and relationship-level predictors of dissolution. Self-characteristics (e.g., one's own depression), roommate characteristics (e.g., roommate's poor communication), and relationship characteristics (e.g., similarity in attitudes toward competition) each increased desire to end the roommate relationship. In these data, unique contributions from one's own psychological health, one's own and one's roommate's social/communication style, and roommates' attitude similarity predicted relationship dissolution.

It was hypothesized that self-image goals to construct, defend, and maintain desired images of the self enhance relationship insecurity, whereas compassionate goals to support others diminish relationship insecurity. Study 1 followed 115 new college roommates for 3 weeks; Study 2 followed 230 new college roommates across a semester. Both studies assessed self-image and compassionate goals for and anxiety and avoidance in the roommate relationship. Self-image goals predicted increased relationship anxiety and avoidance across 3 weeks (Study 1) and within weeks, from week to week, and across 3 months (Study 2). Compassionate goals consistently predicted decreased relationship anxiety and avoidance across studies and analyses. These results suggest that through their interpersonal goals, people contribute directly to their own relationship insecurity.

The authors tested the hypothesis that affirming self-transcendent values attenuates negative consequences of self-threat better than affirming self-enhancement values. If value-affirmation buffers against threat because it bolsters the self, then affirming either a self-transcendent or self-enhancement value should similarly prevent typical decreased self-control after exclusion. However, if value-affirmations buffer the effects of threat because they promote self-transcendence, then affirming values related to self-transcendence should provide a better buffer against decreased self-control after exclusion. Ninety-two undergraduate students received either intentional or unintentional social exclusion. Participants then affirmed either a self-transcendent or self-enhancement value, or wrote about their daily routine. Consistent with predictions, participants ate more cookies when they were intentionally rather than unintentionally excluded; this effect was attenuated by affirming an important value, especially a self-transcendent value. This suggests that value-affirmation may be a particularly effective method of coping with self-threats when it increases self-transcendence.

People often adopt self-image goals to increase others' regard for them and perhaps their own self-esteem. But do these impression management goals achieve their intended result in close relationships? And do they endure over time? We suggest that self-image goals predict decreased self-esteem and close others' regard for the self through decreased responsiveness to others. In contrast, compassionate goals, which reflect a genuine concern for others' well-being, predict increased self-esteem and others' regard through increased responsiveness. We tested these hypotheses in a longitudinal study of college roommates followed across a semester. Path analyses supported both predictions, suggesting a paradox for interpersonal goals in close relationships: explicit attempts to increase close others' regard for the self backfire and damage self-esteem, but having goals to meet others' needs result in others' positive regard and promote self-esteem. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Perceived partner responsiveness is a core feature of close, satisfying relationships. But how does responsiveness originate? Can people create relationships characterized by high responsiveness and, consequently, higher quality relationships? The authors suggest that goals contribute to cycles of responsiveness between two people, improving relationship quality for both of them. The present studies examine (a) how interpersonal goals initiate responsiveness processes in close relationships, (b) the self-perpetuating nature of these processes, and (c) how responsiveness evolves dynamically over time through both intrapersonal projection and reciprocal interpersonal relationship processes. In a semester-long study of 115 roommate dyads, actors' compassionate and self-image goals predicted a cycle of responsiveness between roommates, occurring within weeks and across the semester. In a 3-week study of 65 roommate dyads, actors' goals again predicted cycles of responsiveness between roommates, which then contributed to both actors' and partners' relationship quality. Results suggest that both projection and reciprocation of responsiveness associated with compassionate goals create upward spirals of responsiveness that ultimately enhance relationship quality for both people.

Deriving self-worth from romantic relationships (relationship contingency) may have implications for women's sexual motives in relationships. Because relationship contingency enhances motivation to sustain relationships to maintain positive self-worth, relationship contingent women may engage in sex to maintain and enhance their relationships (relational sex motives). Using structural equation modeling on Internet survey data from a convenience sample of 462 women in heterosexual and lesbian relationships, we found that greater relationship contingency predicted greater relational sex motives, which simultaneously predicted both sexual satisfaction and dissatisfaction via two distinct motivational states. Having sex to improve intimacy with one's partner was associated with greater sexual satisfaction and autonomy, while having sex to earn partner's approval was associated with sexual dissatisfaction and inhibition. While some differences exist between lesbian and heterosexual relationships, relationship contingency had sexual costs and benefits, regardless of relationship type.

This study examined college students' cheating in a controlled laboratory setting in which a peer confederate invited participants to cheat on an academic test. Consistent with past findings, male students cheated more than female students. Moreover, predictors of cheating interacted with gender. For men, basing self-worth on competition and having performance-avoidance goals predicted more cheating, whereas basing self-worth on virtue predicted less cheating. For women, none of the contingencies and goals predicted cheating. In its utilization of a realistic, controlled laboratory setting, the study accounted for problems inherent in observational and self-report techniques.

In 2 studies, the authors examined whether relationship goals predict change in social support and trust over time. In Study 1, a group of 199 college freshmen completed pretest and posttest measures of social support and interpersonal trust and completed 10 weekly reports of friendship goals and relationship experiences. Average compassionate goals predicted closeness, clear and connected feelings, and increased social support and trust over the semester; self-image goals attenuated these effects. Average self-image goals predicted conflict, loneliness, and afraid and confused feelings; compassionate goals attenuated these effects. Changes in weekly goals predicted changes in goal-related affect, closeness, loneliness, conflict, and beliefs about mutual and individualistic caring. In Study 2, a group of 65 roommate pairs completed 21 daily reports of their goals for their roommate relationship. Actors' average compassionate and self-image goals interacted to predict changes over 3 weeks in partners' reports of social support received from and given to actors; support that partners gave to actors, in turn, predicted changes in actors' perceived available support, indicating that people with compassionate goals create a supportive environment for themselves and others, but only if they do not have self-image goals.

Two studies examine the effects of failure on explicit and implicit self-esteem, affect, and self-presentation goals as a function of people's trait self-esteem and academic contingency of self-worth. Study 1 shows that participants with low self-esteem (LSE) who receive failure feedback experience lower state self-esteem, less positive affect, and less desire to be perceived as competent the more they base self-worth on academics. In contrast, participants with high self-esteem (HSE) who strongly base self-worth on academics show a slight boost in state self-esteem and desire to be perceived as competent following failure. Study 2 shows that following failure, academically contingent LSE participants downplay the importance of appearing competent to others and associate themselves with failure on an implicit level. Taken together, these findings suggest that academically contingent HSE people show resilience following failure, whereas academically contingent LSE people experience negative outcomes and disengage from the pursuit of competence self-presentation goals.

The relationship between contingencies of self–worth and vulnerability to depressive symptoms was investigated in a longitudinal sample of 629 freshmen over the first semester of college. Higher levels of external contingencies of self–worth, in a composite measure of four external contingencies of self–worth (approval from others, appearance, competition, academics), predicted increases in depressive symptoms over the first semester of college, even controlling for initial level of depressive symptoms, social desirability, gender, and race. Internal contingencies of self–worth (God's love, virtue) were not associated with the level of depressive symptoms. We conclude that external contingencies of self–worth may contribute to vulnerability to depressive symptoms.

We argue that the importance of self-esteem lies in what people believe they need to be or do to have worth as a person. These contingencies of self-worth are both sources of motivation and areas of psychological vulnerability. In domains of contingent self-worth, people pursue self-esteem by attempting to validate their abilities and qualities. This pursuit of self-esteem, we argue, has costs to learning, relationships, autonomy, self-regulation, and mental and physical health. We suggest alternatives to this costly pursuit of self-esteem.

The unique effects of level of self-esteem, narcissism, and contingencies of self-worth assessed prior to college on alcohol use during the freshman year were examined in a longitudinal study of 620 college students. Narcissism predicted alcohol use, but level of self-esteem did not. Basing self-worth on appearance predicted more alcohol use, whereas the virtue, God's love, and academic competence contingencies predicted less alcohol use, independent of other personality measures and joining a sorority or a fraternity. Further, the virtue and academic competence contingencies were associated with decreases in alcohol use from the 1st to the 2nd semester.

Contingencies of self-worth represent the domains in which success or failure leads to increases or decreases in self-esteem, respectively. Because people seek to protect, maintain, and enhance their self-esteem, contingencies of self-worth serve an important self-regulatory role; people seek out situations and engage in activities that provide opportunities for them to achieve success and avoid failure in domains on which their self-worth is staked. These contingencies also constitute an important psychological vulnerability, however. Successes and failures lead to greater increases and decreases in self-esteem when they occur in domains of contingency. These fluctuations of self-esteem, in turn, are associated with increases in depressive symptoms. Thus, the pursuit of self-esteem, while guiding much of our behavior, comes at considerable cost.

Upward comparison with members of an in-group can be both enhancing and threatening to self-esteem (Brewer & Weber, 1994). According to Tesser's (1986, 1988) self-evaluation maintenance model (SEM), the superior performance of in-group members should be threatening when comparisons are made on ability domains that are relevant to self-esteem. We argue that such comparisons will instead be enhancing if the superior other's performance challenges negative ability stereotypes about the group. In a laboratory experimental study, 60 African American female participants were given feedback on a bogus IQ test under conditions designed to increase the salience of negative stereotypes. Participants were then exposed to either upward or downward social comparison information about the performance of a White or African American female confederate. A contrast effect was observed when the confederate was White such that participants reported higher state self-esteem in the downward social comparison condition than in the upward social comparison condition. When the confederate was African American, an assimilation effect was observed such that participants reported higher state self-esteem in the upward social comparison condition than in the downward social comparison condition. These results do not appear consistent with SEM and indicate that people are at times encouraged when close others outperform them on important tasks.

Research on attitudes toward the stigmatized indicates that negative feelings and stereotypes toward the stigmatized are often mixed with positive feelings of sympathy and concern. Three studies investigate the hypothesis that positive outcomes for the stigmatized that are motivated by sympathy may have unintended negative consequences for self-esteem, affect, and motivation. Subjects were asked to imagine themselves in the position of a stigmatized person who received a job either because he or she was qualified, or out of sympathy for a stigmatizing condition. Results indicated that subjects reported lower state self-esteem, more negative affect, and lowered work motivation when the job was offered out of sympathy rather than on the basis of qualifications. Study 2 showed that the negative effects of sympathy occur whether the basis for the sympathy is prejudice and discrimination or mobility problems faced by the stigmatized individual. The third experiment showed that sympathy has negative effects when the sympathy is based either on individual or group-based problems imposed by the stigmatizing condition. The findings are discussed in terms of the attributional ambiguity surrounding positive outcomes faced by the stigmatized and applied to the effects of affirmative-action programs.

In animal models, acute inflammation can trigger social withdrawal and in humans it can trigger feelings of social disconnection. In humans, there may be psychological factors that protect against these effects such as compassionate goals, which reflect an intention to be supportive and hence approach relationship partners. In the present study, romantically involved couples completed measures of their compassionate goals as well as their perceived closeness with their partner at 2 time points (Time 1: n = 70 couples; Time 2:2 months later, 60 couples returned). As a marker of inflammation, C-Reactive Protein (CRP) was measured at each time point in dried blood spots. Participant’s CRP interacted with their compassionate goals to predict their partner’s baseline perception of closeness within the relationship at the first time point. This same interaction was replicated at the two-month follow-up. The effects held when controlling for the participant’s BMI, recent illness, and sex. These interactions suggest a person’s compassionate goals have a protective effect on their partner’s perception of closeness. Thus, people perceive partners with high CRP and high compassionate goals as closer than partners with high CRP and low compassionate goals. Taken together, these findings suggest that compassionate goals can buffer against negative effects of inflammation on closeness within a romantic relationship.

It is proposed that one strategy by which people may protect or enhance their self-concept following failure is remembering negative information about other people, even when those others are hypothetical and the negative behaviors of the others are distinct from the failure feedback one has received. Forty male and female undergraduates participated in a study in which their self-esteem was measured, and they then received either success or failure feedback on a social sensitivity test (cf. Ross, Lepper, & Hubbard, 1975). As part of a second, ostensibly unrelated study, subjects listened to sentences describing positive and negative behaviors of others. Subjects who were high in self-esteem recalled three times as many negative behaviors of others following failure than following success. Moderate and low self-esteem subjects did not show this pattern. The results are discussed in terms of various theoretical explanations of the differences in self-serving behaviors of high and low self-esteem individuals.

Two experiments investigated the hypothesis that the stigmatized can protect their self-esteem by attributing negative feedback to prejudice. Fifty-nine women participated in the 1st experiment. Women who received negative feedback from a prejudiced evaluator attributed the feedback to his prejudice and reported less depressed affect than women who received negative feedback from a nonprejudiced evaluator. In the 2nd experiment, 38 Black and 45 White students received interpersonal feedback from a White evaluator, who cither could see them or could not. Compared with Whites, Blacks were more likely to attribute negative feedback to prejudice than positive feedback and were more likely to attribute both types of feedback to prejudice when they could be seen by the other student. Being seen by the evaluator buffered the self-esteem of Blacks from negative feedback but hurt the self-esteem of Blacks who received positive feedback.

Laboratory experiments and surveys show that self-objectification increases body shame, disrupts attention, and negatively predicts well-being. Using experience sampling methodology, the authors investigated self-objectification in the daily lives of 49 female college students. Building on the predictions of objectification theory, they examined associations between internalizing an observer's perspective on the self and psychological well-being, and examined the moderating roles of trait self-esteem and appearance-contingent self-worth. Within-person increases in self-objectification predicted decreased well-being, but this association was moderated by trait self-esteem and trait appearance-contingent self-worth; high self-esteem, highly appearance-contingent participants reported increased well-being when they self-objectified. Furthermore, perceived unattractiveness partially mediated the main effect and the three-way interaction: high self-esteem, highly contingent participants experienced smaller drops in well-being when they self-objectified, in part because they felt less unattractive. These results suggest that in daily life, some women receive a boost from self-objectification, although most women experience decreases in well-being when self-objectifying.

We tested some implications of Wills' (1981) downward comparison interpretation of ingroup bias in the minimal intergroup paradigm. Based on a self-enhancement interpretation of ingroup bias, we predicted that subjects who expected to succeed on a task for dispositional reasons and subsequently failed would be most threatened by the feedback and hence, would engage in downward social comparison strategies. The results did not support the self-enhancement interpretation, but a number of interesting findings emerged. First, downward social comparison involving favorable comparisons of the ingroup relative to the outgroup was pervasive and not mediated by self-esteem. Second, ingroup bias was greatest when individuals' outcomes were consistent with their expectations; ingroup bias was mitigated when subjects received feedback that was inconsistent with their expectations. Third, although low self-esteem subjects rated members of the outgroup more negatively than did high self-esteem subjects, high self-esteem subjects engaged in more downward social comparison by enhancing the self relative to both members of the outgroup and their own ingroup. Finally, self-enhancement strategies were affected by performance expectations, attributions, and chronic self-esteem: People who expected to perform well because of stable, dispositional reasons and who were high in self-esteem showed the greatest tendency to engage in self-enhancing comparisons with others. This was true regardless of whether subjects ultimately succeeded or failed on the important task and regardless of whether the comparison others were members of the outgroup or the ingroup.

People often believe that they must be consistent with gender norms to obtain others’ approval. The authors believe people who invest in gender norms tend to base self-esteem on others’ approval, which undermines their sexual autonomy and ultimately diminishes their sexual satisfaction in intimate relationships. A survey of 309 sexually active college students examined whether placing importance on conforming to gender norms undermines sexual relationships because of its link to basing self-worth on others’ approval and decreased sexual autonomy. Using structural equation modeling, the authors found that valuing gender conformity (but not avoiding gender deviance) negatively affects sexual pleasure for both men and women through increased contingency on others’ approval and restricted sexual autonomy. The model fit the data for both men and women.

An experiment examined the buffering effects of a learning orientation following failure in a domain of contingent self-worth. Participants' academic contingencies of self-worth (CSW) and priming with theories of intelligence interacted to affect vulnerability of self-esteem to failure. Participants who had high academic CSW and were primed with an entity theory of intelligence experienced lower self-esteem and higher negative affect following failure than following success on an academic test, but these effects were eliminated when participants with high academic CSW were primed with an incremental theory of intelligence. This study shows that endorsing a learning orientation is an effective way to minimize threat to self-esteem among students whose self-worth is highly contingent on academics and may allow them to persist in the face of challenges and to learn from failure.

Self-esteem refers to a global judgment of the worth or value of the self. Self-esteem is strongly related to the subjective quality of life, and to motivational orientations such as self-enhancement and self-protection. However, self-esteem is linked only weakly to behavior and objective outcomes such as school achievement, physical attractiveness, and popularity with peers. Several issues in the literature on self-esteem are considered, including whether self-esteem is a state or a trait, is primarily affective or cognitive, what it is based on, whether high self-esteem is defensive or genuine, and whether there is a universal need to have high self-esteem.

Publisher Summary Being overweight is often a cause of embarrassment and at times extreme emotional distress. Compared to other stigmatized individuals, who are not held personally responsible for the condition, overweight people who are mostly considered responsible for their condition are openly subjected to prejudice and dislike. It should, however, be noted that some overweight people are vulnerable to these negative feelings while some are not, and this completely depends upon individual differences and specific contexts. In studying individual vulnerability factors, it is seen that for overweight people, repeated failures in attempts of dieting and disliking other obese individuals may transcend into self-dislike. This chapter also illustrates that conservative ideological belief, like the Protestant work ethics, may also bring about negative thoughts in overweight people. Though most of the studies on overweight stigma have been conducted on women, the fact that men too face this condition cannot be ruled out. Understanding and comparison of various vulnerability factors, however, determine that people who feel overweight may not be passive victims of stigma but active people working hard to get the feel-good factor.

Publisher Summary A great deal of social psychological research has been devoted to understanding stereotyping and prejudice. The dominant focus of the research has been on the beliefs and reactions of the nonstigmatized, or dominant groups in society, toward those who are members of stigmatized or oppressed groups. In contrast, relatively little work has taken the perspective of the person or group who is the target of stereotypes or prejudice. This chapter presents the subjective experience of being stigmatized, from the perspective of the stigmatized person. Specifically, it addresses the cognitive, affective, motivational, and interpersonal consequences of prejudice for members of stigmatized groups. Cognitions held by the stigmatized about their stigma, including their awareness of stereotypes associated with their stigma or group, their beliefs about the content of these stereotypes, and especially, the attributions they make for the treatment and outcomes they receive, have important affective, motivational, and interpersonal consequences for the stigmatized individual.

Despite the increasing participation of women in the work force, they are still underrepresented in higher-level management positions. As a result, executive women may often be the only female in their work group. A solo woman executive within a group of men may, because of the phenomenon of perceptual distinctiveness, be subject to attributional distortion regarding her competence. Stereotypic assumptions about her may be further exaggerated depending on the level of her physical attractiveness. The present study examined the effects of gender, attractiveness, and group sex composition within a business setting. Subjects saw a male or a female executive in a brain-storming session with other executives who were either all male or all female. The target person was either low, moderate, or high in physical attractiveness. Effects of these variables on ratings of professional competence and social skills were assessed. Analyses revealed attractive targets were rated as more socially skilled but less compete...

Although several psychological theories predict that members of stigmatized groups should have low global self-esteem, empirical research typically does not support this prediction. It is proposed here that this discrepancy may be explained by considering the ways in which membership in a stigmatized group may protect the self-concept It is proposed that members of stigmatized groups may (a) attribute negative feedback to prejudice against their group, (b) compare their outcomes with those of the ingroup, rather than with the relatively advantaged outgroup, and (c) selectively devalue those dimensions on which their group fares poorly and value those dimensions on which their group excels. Evidence for each of these processes and their consequences for self-esteem and motivation is reviewed. Factors that moderate the use of these strategies and implications of this analysis for treatment of stigmas are also discussed. For more than three decades, social psychological research on prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination has examined both the content of stereotypes about a variety of social groups

Previous studies indicate that people who are low in self-esteem are more prejudiced (i.e., more negative about outgroups) than people who are high in self esteem. It is not clear from this research, however, whether low self-esteem individuals derogate outgroups relative to the ingroup (i.e., whether they show ingroup favoritism or ethnocentrism). In an experiment using the minimal intergroup situation paradigm, it was found that both high and low self-esteem subjects show ingroup favoritism, although low self-esteem subjects rated both the ingroup and the outgroup more negatively than did high self-esteem subjects. There was no evidence for greater ingroup favoritism among low self-esteem subjects. The results are discussed in terms of the distinction between prejudice and ethnocentrism and the self-enhancing functions of ingroup favoritism.

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that members of negatively stereotyped groups psychologically disengage their self-esteem from feedback received in stereotype-relevant domains. In both experiments, African American and European American college students received performance feedback on a bogus intelligence test and completed measures of self-esteem. In Experiment 1, European American students had higher self-esteem after success than after failure, whereas African American students had similar levels of self-esteem regardless of feedback. Whether the test had been described as racially biased or culturally fair had no effect. Experiment 2 examined the extent to which lesser responsivity among African Americans is the result of chronic disengagement from intelligence tests or situational disengagement initiated by priming racial stereotypes. Results indicate that both chronic disengagement and racial priming engender less responsivity to negative performance feedback among African American, but not European American, students. Performance expectancies, self-evaluations, and beliefs about test bias are discussed as possible mediators of this relationship.