Social approval and trait self-esteem

MacDonald, Geoff; Saltzman, Jennifer; Leary, Mark R.

doi:10.1016/s0092-6566(02)00531-7

Cited by 76 publications

(63 citation statements)

References 14 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Besides caring for the welfare of others, people also wish to feel closely tied to significant others and to engage in relationships that involve cooperation, group solidarity, and emotional attachment (Agnew 2014). This desire for close ties (even when there is no extrinsic reward) is related to people's want to feel accepted and valued by others and their experiencing of negative emotions when rejected (Blackhart et al 2011;Deci and Ryan 2000;DeWall and Bushman 2011;Leary and Cottrell 1999;MacDonald, Saltzman, and Leary 2003).…”

Section: Desire For Close Ties To Certain Othersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Concern and Delinquency: An Empirical Assessment of a Novel Theory

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Desire For Close Ties To Certain Othersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social Concern and Delinquency: An Empirical Assessment of a Novel Theory

2016

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…If we invoke the metaphor of belongingness as a fuel tank (e.g. Leary, Tambor, Terdal, & Downs, 1995), rejection empties the tank of fuel. This lack of fuel causes the car to malfunction, leading to negative behaviour like aggression.…”

Section: Belongingness Theory and Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Replenishing connectedness: Reminders of social activity reduce aggression after social exclusion

Twenge

Zhang

Catanese

et al. 2007

British J Social Psychol

125

108

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Previous research found that social rejection leads to increased aggression. How can this aggressive behaviour be prevented? Four experiments demonstrate that reminders of social activity reduce aggression after social exclusion. A brief, friendly social connection with an experimenter (versus a neutral interaction) reduced aggression after social rejection. A traditional mood induction had no effect on aggressive behaviour, showing that an activity must be social to be effective. Participants who wrote about a family member, a friend or a favourite celebrity were also not aggressive after rejection. The effect was mediated by trust in other people but not by state self-esteem or mood. Rejected participants who have an alternative source of social connection eschew the increased aggression usually displayed after social exclusion.

show abstract

“…Trait self-esteem and state self-esteem are both aspects of the sociometer. Whereas state self-esteem provides momentary information about how well one is doing as a mate, trait self-esteem may be a more stable representation of one's relational potential over time, being determined by one's past experiences of inclusion and rejection, and by one's presumed standing on and perceived importance of socially desirable traits such as physical attractiveness or social status (Anthony et al, 2007;Leary & Baumeister, 2000;MacDonald, Saltzman, & Leary, 2003). Fluctuations in state self-esteem may occur around individually different, more stable levels of trait self-esteem (Leary, Haupt, et al, 1998), so that the effect of capacity rejection on state self-esteem would be much lower for participants high on trait self-esteem.…”

Section: Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

All you need is love: Is the sociometer especially sensitive to one's mating capacity?

Pass¹,

Lindenberg²,

Park³

2009

Euro J Social Psych

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Self-esteem has been proposed to serve as a sociometer, a gauge of one's value as a relationship partner. Based on evolutionary reasoning, we hypothesized that the sociometer is particularly sensitive to ''capacity rejection'' in the mating domain. Capacity rejection implies that one has low potential to be an acceptable mate now and in the future. In Study 1, participants received no feedback or negative feedback regarding their capacity for being an acceptable mate or friend. Although participants in both mate and friend conditions felt rejected, only those in the mate condition exhibited significantly lower state self-esteem. In Study 2, we examined sex differences in attributes relevant to mate capacity. Participants were given no feedback or negative feedback regarding their capacity as a mate: Some were told that their low mate capacity is due to their physical attractiveness whereas others were told it is due to their competence and status. Among men, state self-esteem was lower only after competence and status-based rejection; among women, state selfesteem was lower only after physical attractiveness-based rejection. In both studies, additional results revealed that even while self-esteem decreased, positive beliefs about the self were maintained, suggesting that feelings and beliefs about the self react differently to rejection.

show abstract

Social approval and trait self-esteem

Cited by 76 publications

References 14 publications

Social Concern and Delinquency: An Empirical Assessment of a Novel Theory

Social Concern and Delinquency: An Empirical Assessment of a Novel Theory

Replenishing connectedness: Reminders of social activity reduce aggression after social exclusion

All you need is love: Is the sociometer especially sensitive to one's mating capacity?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About