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Self-Esteem Issues and Answers

A Sourcebook of Current Perspectives

• Edited by Michael H. Kernis

• Price: $80.00 $72.00
• Binding: Hardback
• Pages: 496
• Published by: Psychology Press
• Publication Date: 28th July 2006
• ISBN: 978-1-84169-420-7

About the Book

Research and theory on self-esteem have flourished in recent years. This resurgence has produced multiple perpectives on fundamental issues surrounding the nature of self-esteem and its role in psychological functioning and interpersonal processes.

Self-Esteem Issues and Answers brings together these various perspectives in a unique format. The book is divided into five sections. Section I focuses on core issues pertaining to the conceptualization and assesment of self-esteem, and when self-esteem is optimal. Section II concentrates on the determinants, development, and modifiability of self-esteem. Section III examines the evolutionary significance of self-esteem and its role in psychological processes and therapeutic settings. Section IV explores the social, relational, and cultural significance of self-esteem. Finally, Section V considers future directions for self-esteem researchers, practitioners, parents and teachers.

This volume offers a wealth of perspectives from prominent researchers from different areas of psychology. Each expert contributor was asked to focus his or her chapter on a central self-esteem issue. Three or four experts addressed each question. The result is that Self-Esteem Issues and Answers provides a comprehensive sourcebook of current perspectives on a wide range of central self-esteem issues.

Reviews

' This book is a carefully planned survey of the field of self-esteem, organized in terms of key questions posed to the field's most active and influential researchers. The essays they offer in response to the questions are focused, informative, and exact, providing a reference work that captures both the tradition of self-esteem psychology and its cutting-edge issues such as unconscious self-evaluation and the role of self-esteem in psychopathology.' - Daniel M. Wegner, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University.

' This stimulating, provocative, and compelling volume delivers just what the field of self -esteem needs most. It summarizes the status of current knowledge on the topic in an engaging and readable format - shedding light on what is known about the functioning of self-esteem, while simulataneously giving the reader a sense of the complexities involved in the concept. It does so without favouritism, not forcing pat answers, but allowing the readers to make up their own minds. This volume is a must-read for scholars and students interested in understanding the role of self-esteem in psychological and interpersonal functioning.' - Carolyn C.Morf, Professor of Psychology, University of Bern and Editor of Self & Identity

Table of Contents

About the editor. Contributors. Preface. General Introduction, Michael H. Kernis. Section 1. Conceptualizing and Assessing Self-Esteem. Question #1. Chapter 1. The Three Faces of Self-Esteem, Jonathon D. Brown. Chapter 2. Defining Self-Esteem: An often overlooked issue with crucial implications, Christopher J. Mruk. Chapter 3 What is the Nature of Self-Esteem: Unidimensional and Multidimensional Perspectives, Herbert W. Marsh, Rhonda G. Craven & Andrew J. Martin. Question #2. Chapter 4. Self-esteem, Psychopathology, and Psychotherapy, Edward J. O'Brien, Mia Bartoletti, & Jeffrey D. Leitzel. Chapter 5. On the Divergent and Convergent Validity of Self-Esteem, Jerry Suls. Chapter 6. Divergent and Convergent Validity of Self-Esteem: A State Perspective, John B. Nezlek. Question #3. Chapter 7. Conceptualization, Measurement, and Functioning of Nonconscious Self-Esteem, Jennifer K. Bosson. Chapter 8. Nonconscious Self-esteem: Is there something you're not telling yourself?, Christian H. Jordan, Christine Logel, Steven J. Spencer, & Mark P. Zanna. Chapter 9. Conscious and Unconscious Self-Esteem From the Perspective of Cognitive Experiential Self-Theory, Seymour Epstein. Chapter 10. Assessing Stability of Self-Esteem and Contingent Self-Esteem, Michael H. Kernis & Brian M. Goldman. Question #4. Chapter 11. Assessing Self-Esteem Via Self-Reports and Nonreactive Instruments: Issues and Recommendations, Jennifer K. Bosson. Chapter 12. The Assessment of Implicit and Explicit Self-Esteem: Lessons from Motive Research, Richard Koestner & Geneviève A Mageau. Chapter 13. Implicit and Explicit Self-Esteem: Theoretical and Methodological Refinements, Andrew Karpinski & Jennifer A. Steinberg. Chapter 14. Moral Value, Agency, and the Measurement of Self-Esteem, Romin W. Tafordi & Caroline Ho. Question #5. Chapter 15. What is Optimal Self-Esteem?, Jennifer Crocker. Chapter 16. What is Optimal Self-Esteem? The Cultivation and Consequences of Contingent Versus True Self-Esteem as viewed from the Self-Determination Theory Perspective. Richard M. Ryan & Kirk Warren Brown. Chapter 17. Making Diamonds out of Coal: The Role of Authenticity in Healthy (optimal) Self-Esteem and Psychological Functioning, Brian Goldman. Section II. Development and Determinants of Self-esteem. Question #6. Chapter 18. The Development of Self-Esteem, Susan Harter. Chapter 19. Development of the Self-Esteem Motive, Howard B. Kaplan. Chapter 20. Origins & Developmental Influences on Self-Esteem, Daniel Hart, Robert Atkins, & Natasha Tursi. Question #7. Chapter 21. Changing Self-Esteem, Christopher J. Mruk. Chapter 22. Self-Esteem Change, Heather D.Tevendale & David L. DuBois. Chapter 23. Improving Self-Esteem, Roos Vonk. Question #8. Chapter 24. A Self-Determination Theory Perspectives on the Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Aspects of Self-Esteem, Arlen C. Moller, Ron Friedman, & Edward L. Deci. Chapter 25. To What Extent is Self-Esteem Influenced by Interpersonal as Compared with Intrapersonal Processes? What are these processes?, Mark R. Leary. Chapter 26. The Antecedents of Self-Esteem, William Swann, Jr., & D. Conor Seyle. Question #9. Chapter 27. Self-Knowledge and Self-Esteem, Rick H. Hoyle. Chapter 28. Pathways among Self-Knowledge and Self-Esteem: How are Self-Esteem and Self-Knowledge Linked? Are these links direct or indirect?, Carolin J. Showers & Virgil Zeigler-Hill. Chapter 29. Who do you think you are? On the link between Self-Knowledge and Self-Esteem, Aafje C. Brandt & Roos Vonk. Question #10. Chapter 30. Facilitating Children's Self-Esteem: The Role of Parents and Teachers, Wendy S. Grolnick & Krista L. Beiswenger. Chapter 31. Nurturing Self-Esteem in Young People, Nathaniel Branden. Chapter 32. How can optimal Self-Esteem be Facilitated in Children and Adolescents by Parents and Teachers?, Martin V. Covington. Section III. Self-esteem and Psychological Functioning. Question #11. Chapter 33. Self-Esteem is Central to Human Well-Being, Sheldon Solomon. Chapter 34. Examining the Role of Self-Esteem in Psychological Functioning and Well-Being, Erika J. Koch. Chapter 35. Self-Esteem Processes are Central to Psychological Functioning and Well-Being, Abraham Tesser & Leonard L. Martin. Question #12. Chapter 36. Having and Pursuing Self-esteem: Costs and Benefits, Jennifer Crocker. Chapter 37. Possessing and Striving for High Self-Esteem, Frederick Rhodewalt. Chapter 38. Should People with Low Self-Esteem Strive for High Self-Esteem?, Joanne V. Wood, Danu B. Anthony, & Walter F. Foddis. Question #13. Chapter 39. Self-Esteem from a Clinical Perspective, John E. Roberts. Chapter 40. Self-Esteem, Psychopathology, and Psychotherapy, Edward J. O'Brien, Mia Bartoletti & Jeffrey D. Leitzel. Chapter 41. Self-Esteem: Evolutionary Roots and Historical Cultivation, W. Keith Campbell & Joshua D. Foster. Question #14. Chapter 42. The Evolution of Self-Esteem, Sarah E. Hill & David M. Buss. Chapter 43 . What is the Evolutionary Significance of Self-Esteem? The Adaptive Functions of Self-Evaluative Psychological Mechanisms, Lee A. Kirkpatrick & Bruce J. Ellis. Chapter 44. Self-Esteem in Therapeutic Settings and Emotional Disorders, Tracy DeHart & Howard Tennen. Section IV. Self-esteem in Social Context. Question #15. Chapter 45. Self-Esteem: Its Relational Contingencies and Consequences, Sandra L. Murray. Chapter 46. Self-Esteem and Close Relationship Dynamics, Mark W. Baldwin. Chapter 47. Self-Esteem and Rejection Sensitivity in Close Relationships, Kathy Berenson & Geraldine Downey. Question #16. Chapter 48. Does Self-Esteem Equally Matter Across Cultures?, Shinobu Kitayama. Chapter 49. Primacy of Personal over Collective Self and Cultural Considerations, Constantine Sedikides & Lowell Gaertner. Chapter 50. What is the Interface between Culture and Self-Esteem? Jean M. Twenge. <

About the Author(s)

Michael H. Kernis is a professor of psychology at the University of Georgia. He received his Ph.D in Social Psychology from the University of Rochester in 1983. He teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses in social psychology, including Psychology of the Self, Social Psychology and Personality and Social Behavior. He has served as an associate editor of the journal Self and Identity.