Search

Social media use has become an integral part of many young adults' daily lives. Although much research has examined how social media use relates to psychological well-being, little is known about how it relates to physical health. To address this knowledge gap, the present research investigated how the amount of social media people use relates to various indices of physical health. Young adults provided a blood sample that was analyzed for C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of chronic inflammation. They also completed self-report measures of social media use, somatic symptoms, illness-related physician or health center visits, and whether they sought medical care for infection-related illnesses in the last 3 months. Social media use was positively correlated with higher levels of CRP, more somatic symptoms, and more visits to the doctor or health centers for an illness. Although directionally consistent, the correlation with likelihood of seeking medical care for infection-related illnesses was nonsignificant (p = 0.061). All of these results held after controlling for factors such as sociodemographic information and depressive symptoms. Given the prevalence of social media use in daily life, these findings underscore the need for more research examining how social media use relates to physical health.

Although positive social relationships are assumed to relate to lower levels of chronic systemic inflammation, the empirical evidence on this association is mixed. This study examines whether perceived social support-giving (i.e., the belief that one can be available to give social support to others, henceforward referred to as perceived support-giving) moderates associations between social relationships and inflammation using data from the longitudinal follow-up of the National Survey of Midlife Development in the U.S. (MIDUS II). Middle-aged adults (N = 1054) completed self-report questionnaires on social integration, perceived support-availability from others, positive relations with others, perceived support-giving, socio-demographic information, and health-related information and provided blood samples for measurement of interleukin-6 (IL-6) as a marker of systemic inflammation. The results showed that perceived support-giving moderated the associations between IL-6 and indicators of positive social relationships, including social integration, perceived support-availability, and positive relations with others. Indicators of positive social relationships were associated with lower IL-6 among individuals higher, but not lower, in perceived support-giving. The moderating effects of perceived support-giving held after adjusting for socio-demographic and health-related covariates. Therefore, positive social relationships are associated with lower IL-6 only for individuals who believe they can give more support in those relationships. In addition, preliminary evidence indicated that the moderating effects of perceived support-giving might be further qualified by gender, being significant only in women.

Growth-seeking refers to a general tendency to pursue growth when facing challenges. The current studies examined whether and how benevolent intentions to support others and not harm them (i.e., compassionate goals in relationships) predict growth-seeking and whether this association is independent of relationship security, which may also predict growth-seeking. Two cross-sectional studies (Studies 1a and 1b, N = 1,032) and two longitudinal studies (Study 2: 3-wave weekly survey, N = 404; Study 3: 12-wave weekly survey, N = 230) showed that compassionate goals correlate with growth-seeking and predict increased growth-seeking over time through perceived available support. The results hold after controlling for participants’ (Studies 1–3) and their partners’ (Study 3) relationship security, which suggests that compassionate goals may foster growth-seeking through perceived available support independent of relationship security. In addition, Study 3 suggests an intrapersonal process (i.e., projected perceptions) underlying the link between compassionate goals and perceived available support.

We predicted that people with compassionate goals to support others and not harm them practiced more COVID-19 health behaviors during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic to protect both themselves and others from infection. Three studies (N = 1,143 American adults) supported these predictions and ruled out several alternative explanations. Compassionate goals unrelated to the health context predicted COVID-19 health behaviors better than the general motivation to be healthy (Studies 2 and 3). In contrast, general health motivation predicted general health behaviors better than did compassionate goals. Compassionate goals and political ideology each explained unique variance in COVID-19 health behaviors (Studies 1–3). Compassionate goals predict unique variance in COVID-19 health behaviors beyond empathic concern, communal orientation, and relational self-construal (Study 3), supporting the unique contribution of compassionate goals to understanding health behaviors. Our results suggest that ecosystem motivation is an important predictor of health behaviors, particularly in the context of a highly contagious disease.

Non-Hispanic Whites can perceive multicultural diversity policies as excluding their group and threatening their identity. However, increasing demographic diversity and the proliferation of organizational diversity efforts may have led Whites to view multicultural policies in more nonzero-sum ways. Reanalyzing nationally representative data, Study 1 showed that over the past 10 years, White Americans have become more supportive of diversity policies that explicitly recognize group memberships and have become less likely to view these policies as harmful to their group. Five experiments further showed that a multicultural (vs. colorblind) policy did not increase Whites’ experiences of social identity threat (Studies 2–6) or their perceived exclusion from a company’s diversity efforts (Studies 4–6). While a multicultural policy increased how much Whites believed an organization generally valued diversity and specifically valued the group differences of racial minorities, it did not decrease how much Whites believed their own group differences were valued (Studies 4–5). A multicultural policy only threatened Whites when group differences were narrowly defined to exclude their group (Study 6). An internal meta-analysis (N = 1,998) supported these conclusions and found they did not depend on need to belong, ethnic identification, political ideology, or the imagined presence of an outgroup coworker. These findings indicate that non-Hispanic White Americans generally conceptualize multicultural policies in nonzero-sum terms and suggest that (non)zero-sum beliefs may be key to understanding when diversity efforts are likely to elicit backlash from majority group members. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved)

Objective Interpersonal models of depression and anxiety have not examined the role of interpersonal goals in shaping relationships and symptoms. Striving to promote/protect desired self-images (self-image goals) may undermine relationships and increase symptoms, whereas striving to support others (compassionate goals) may be protective, but clinical relevance is unknown. Method We tested effects of compassionate versus self-image goals on interpersonal functioning and symptoms in clinically depressed and/or anxious participants (N = 47) during 10 days of experience sampling, over a 6-week follow-up, and in a dyadic relationship. Results Participants reported higher conflict and symptoms on days that they most pursued self-image goals, but noted higher perceived support and lower symptoms when pursuing compassionate goals. Goals prospectively predicted symptom changes 6 weeks later. Lastly, informant-rated interpersonal goals predicted relationship satisfaction of both patients and significant others. Conclusion Results suggest the relevance of self-image and compassionate goals for the interpersonal maintenance of depression and anxiety.

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)

Research has taken a dim view of regulating emotions via expressive suppression. However, the impact of suppression may vary according to individuals’ interpersonal orientation. In two studies, we examined the effects of suppression under self-transcendent and self-interest orientations. Results revealed that (1) in everyday life, although dispositional suppression was related to lower psychological well-being, the costs associated with suppression were buffered among individuals with a self-transcendence orientation (Study 1); and (2) among individuals primed with a self-transcendence orientation, suppression of negative emotions in an interpersonal conflict situation led to lower levels of anger-related emotions and higher levels of perceived relational quality compared to emotional expression; however, among individuals primed with a self-interest orientation, suppression led to higher levels of anger-related emotions and lower levels of perceived relational quality compared to expression (Study 2). Together, results from the present study highlight the role of interpersonal orientation in moderating the effects of suppression on well-being.

Simulation theories of empathy hypothesize that empathizing with others' pain shares some overlapping psychological computations with the processing of one's own pain. Support for this perspective has largely relied on functional neuroimaging evidence of an overlap between activations during the experience of physical pain and empathy for other people's pain. Here, we extend the functional overlap perspective to the neurochemical level and test whether a common physical painkiller, acetaminophen (paracetamol), can reduce empathy for another's pain. In two double-blind placebo-controlled experiments, participants rated perceived pain, personal distress, and empathic concern in response to reading physical or social pain scenarios, witnessing ostracism in the lab, or visualizing another study participant receiving painful noise blasts. As hypothesized, acetaminophen reduced empathy in response to others' pain. Acetaminophen also reduced the unpleasantness of noise blasts delivered to the participant, which mediated acetaminophen's effects on empathy. Together, these findings suggest that the physical painkiller acetaminophen reduces empathy for pain and provide a new perspective on the neurochemical bases of empathy. Because empathy regulates prosocial and antisocial behavior, these drug-induced reductions in empathy raise concerns about the broader social side effects of acetaminophen, which is taken by almost a quarter of US adults each week. Language: en

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.

This study tested whether compassionate goals to support others and self-image goals to maintain and defend desired self-images: 1) are equivalent constructs across three cultures (U.S., Japan, Poland); 2) overlap with interdependent self-construal; and 3) predict relationships and growth measures similarly in each country. We re-analyzed data from American (n = 130) and Japanese (n = 203) students, reported in Niiya et al. (2013), along with new data from Poland (n = 246). Single and multiple group confirmatory analyses showed that the two-factor structure holds across the three cultures. Interdependence correlated with compassionate and self-image goals only in Japan. In all three samples, compassionate goals correlated with non-zero-sum belief, feeling close, growth-seeking, self-compassion, and learning from failures, whereas self-image goals correlated with defensive responses to conflicts and validation-seeking. Our results suggest that compassionate and self-image goals may serve similar functions in relationships and growth across cultures.

Self-image goals focus on constructing, maintaining, and defending desired public and private images of the self, whereas compassionate goals focus on being supportive and not harming others. We suggest that these goals shape construals of others in relation to the self, which in turn, shape affective experiences. We review research showing that when people have self-image goals, they construe others as competitors, which leads to feeling uneasy with others (i.e., conflicted, confused, and fearful), and that when they have compassionate goals, they construe others as collaborators and have more constructive approaches to interpersonal problems, which leads to feeling at ease with others (i.e., peaceful, clear, and loving) and less upset with them. Thus, interpersonal goals shape construals of others, which in turn shape intrapsychic experiences of the world and of the self.

In this chapter, we describe a theory of two types of social motivation: egosystem and ecosystem motivations. Egosystem motivation promotes inclusion and status in social relationships, groups, and organizations by energizing behaviors intended to maintain, enhance, and defend desired images of the self. Ecosystem motivation promotes the development of close, mutually supportive relationships by energizing behaviors intended to be constructive and supportive and not harmful to others. We describe activators and deactivators of each system, their indicators, and their consequences over time for relationships and psychological well-being. We then describe a program of research on these two motivational systems. Our early research explored these processes in college roommate relationships. Subsequent research has extended this work to other types of relationships, situations in which people face interpersonal problems and difficulties, and relationships of emotionally vulnerable people. Recent studies have examined implications of these motivations for self-regulation. Remaining issues, including whether these are actually separate systems, their implications for health, how people can shift from one motivation to the other are considered. We conclude with a discussion of whether this perspective blames victims for their difficult circumstances.

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.

Optimal social interactions can leave people feeling socially connected and at ease, which has clear implications for health and psychological well-being. Yet, not all social interactions leave people feelings at ease and connected. What explains this variability? We draw from the egosystem–ecosystem theory of social motivation (Crocker and Canevello 2008) to suggest that compassionate goals to support others explain some of this variability. We explored the nature of this association across four studies and varying social contexts. Across studies, compassionate goals predicted greater feelings of ease and connection. Results also indicate that a cooperative mindset may be one mechanism underlying this association: Findings suggest a temporal sequence in which compassionate goals lead to cooperative mindsets, which then lead to feeling at ease and connected. Thus, these studies suggest that people’s compassionate goals lead to their sense of interpersonal ease and connection, which may ultimately have implications for their sense of belonging.

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.

This chapter suggests that human beings have two motivational systems—the egosystem, which promotes self-centered, self-interested, and egoistic behaviors, and the ecosystem, which promotes connecting to and caring for others—and describes their characteristic features. Egosystem motivation involves self-image goals, zero-sum views of the relation between self and others, and feeling “at the mercy” of others. Ecosystem motivation involves compassionate goals, non-zero-sum views of the relation between self and others, and feeling “at the source.” The two systems are negatively related, so that when people are motivated by the egosystem, they are less likely to be motivated by the ecosystem, and vice versa. The chapter considers implications of these systems for psychological well-being and relationships, particularly how people might use these findings as tools for shifting from one motivational system to another, fostering their desires to connect and belong and shaping their own and perhaps others’ psychological well-being and relationships.

If your self-worth depends on success, you may be in for a fall. To feel good about yourself, think less about you and more about others

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.

We examine recent evidence on the consequences of selfishness and otherishness for psychological well-being, physical health, and relationships. In the first sections, we consider recent evidence regarding the costs and benefits of giving time, money, and support to others and the costs and benefits of taking or receiving those things from others. Then, because the behaviors of giving and taking can be motivated either by selfish or otherish concerns, we next consider the costs and benefits of the motivation underlying giving and taking. We also examine why and for whom selfishness and otherishness have consequences for psychological well-being, physical health, and relationships. We focus on mechanisms identified in research, including intrapsychic mechanisms such as positive and negative affect, self-esteem and self-efficacy, a sense of meaning and purpose in life, and a sense of connectedness to or isolation from others, as well as interpersonal processes such as reciprocation of support and responsiveness.

The self-esteem movement has been around since the 1970s, and may have influenced how much value people place on self-esteem. We predicted a negative relationship between age and the amount of value placed on self-esteem boosts. We also investigated the correlates of liking versus wanting self-esteem boosts (and other pleasant rewards) on depression. A nationally representative sample of American adults (N = 867) indicated how much they liked and wanted several pleasant rewards (i.e., sex, food, alcohol, money, friendship, self-esteem boost). They also completed a standardized measure of depressive symptoms. As expected, there was a negative relationship between age and valuing self-esteem boosts, sex, and alcohol. People with depressive symptoms wanted self-esteem boosts, even though they did not like them very much. Similar effects were obtained for depressive symptoms and alcohol and friendship. This is the first research to show that self-esteem boosts are more valued among a nationally representative sample of younger American adults. It also is the first research to explore the association between depression and the motivation to boost self-esteem. People with depressive symptoms want self-esteem, and may pursue it, but this pursuit may feel unrewarding because they do not derive pleasure from it.

In American samples, compassionate goals to support others enhance relationships, whereas self-image goals to construct and defend desired self-images undermine relationships. But do these goals exist as separate factors, and do they predict similar outcome variables in Japan? How much do compassionate goals overlap with having an interdependent self-construal? We examined the factor structure of compassionate and self-image goals scale among American undergraduates, Japanese undergraduates, and Japanese adults and obtained similar correlated two-factor solutions in all three samples. In all three samples, compassionate goals were associated with non-zero-sum belief, growth-seeking, and self-compassion, whereas self-image goals were associated with validation-seeking and defensive responses to conflicts. Although compassionate goals correlated with interdependence in Japan, controlling for interdependence did not affect the above associations.

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.

In her article on the stereotype inoculation model, Nilanjana Dasgupta (this issue) makes a powerful case that numbers shape the psychology of women and minorities in fields related to science, tec...

Many people ascribe great value to self-esteem, but how much value? Do people value self-esteem more than other pleasant activities, such as eating sweets and having sex? Two studies of college students (Study 1: N=130; Study 2: N=152) showed that people valued boosts to their self-esteem more than they valued eating a favorite food and engaging in a favorite sexual activity. Study 2 also showed that people valued self-esteem more than they valued drinking alcohol, receiving a paycheck, and seeing a best friend. Both studies found that people who highly valued self-esteem engaged in laboratory tasks to boost their self-esteem. Finally, personality variables interacted with these value ratings. Entitled people thought they were more deserving of all pleasant rewards, even though they did not like them all that much (both studies), and people who highly value self-esteem pursued potentially maladaptive self-image goals, presumably to elevate their self-esteem (Study 2).

Interpersonal dynamics of self-esteem are explored. The author proposes that the desire to be seen as having positive qualities and avoid being seen as having dreaded qualities paradoxically leads to lowered self-esteem and lowered regard from others through its adverse effects on interpersonal relationships. The author also argues that the human capacity to transcend concerns with the images others hold of oneself, through caring about the well-being of other people, paradoxically leads to higher self-esteem and regard from others through its salutary effects on relationships. Data from two recent studies demonstrate these paradoxical effects and prompt questions about the nature of persons and situations, research methods, and the union between personality and social psychology. Accordingly, the author reflects more broadly on how people create their social situations, which in turn create the self, and what that means about the methods scholars use to understand social behavior.

A substantial body of empirical evidence suggests that social relationships buffer people from poor health. We review a program of research demonstrating how interpersonal goals create relationship processes that shape the quality of close relationships, which we argue may have consequences for own and others’ health. Self-image goals to construct, maintain, and defend desired images of the self create negative interpersonal dynamics that undermine close relationships and mental health, while compassionate goals to support others’ well-being create positive interpersonal dynamics that promote close relationships and mental health. We discuss the potential implications of social goals and close relationship processes for health. Finally, we suggest that exploring the independent benefits of giving and receiving in close relationships may inform how social relationships affect health and well-being.

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.

People often try to manage the impressions others have of them so others will have high regard for them. What are the consequences of chronically having self-image goals in ongoing relationships? A program of research examining the effects of self-image goals and contrasting them with compassionate goals focused on supporting others is described. Results from two longitudinal studies indicated that self-image goals have negative effects on relationships, and paradoxically decrease the regard others have for the self, self-esteem, and mental health. In contrast, compassionate goals focused on promoting the well-being of others have positive effects on relationships, and paradoxically increase others’ regard, self-esteem and mental health. Discussion considers why self-image goals persist if they have clear negative consequences, and why people do not shift to more constructive compassionate goals in light of their benefits.