Why Do People Need Self-Esteem? Converging Evidence That Self-Esteem Serves an Anxiety-Buffering Function

Three studies were conducted to assess the proposition that self-esteem serves an anxiety-buffering function. In Study 1, it was hypothesized that raising self-esteem would reduce anxiety in response to vivid images of death. In support of this hypothesis, Ss who received positive personality feedba...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 1992-12, Vol.63 (6), p.913-922
Main Authors: Greenberg, Jeff, Solomon, Sheldon, Pyszczynski, Tom, Rosenblatt, Abram, Burling, John, Lyon, Deborah, Simon, Linda, Pinel, Elizabeth
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Psychological
Adult
Affectivity. Emotion
Anxiety
Anxiety - psychology
Arousal
Attitude to Death
Biological and medical sciences
Emotions
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Internal-External Control
Male
Moderators
Personality Development
Personality. Affectivity
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Self Concept
Self esteem
Self image
Selfesteem
Social research
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Summary:Three studies were conducted to assess the proposition that self-esteem serves an anxiety-buffering function. In Study 1, it was hypothesized that raising self-esteem would reduce anxiety in response to vivid images of death. In support of this hypothesis, Ss who received positive personality feedback reported less anxiety in response to a video about death than did neutral feedback Ss. In Studies 2 and 3, it was hypothesized that increasing self-esteem would reduce anxiety among individuals anticipating painful shock. Consistent with this hypothesis, both success and positive personality feedback reduced Ss' physiological arousal in response to subsequent threat of shock. Thus, converging evidence of an anxiety-buffering function of self-esteem was obtained.
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.63.6.913