User:Timstreet1

Hello! :)

I am a 3rd year Psychology student at the University of Southampton, currently working on developing the Implicit self-esteem page on Wikipedia. I am also helping other students on their pages about Raison oblige theory and Illusory superiority.

IMPLICIT SELF ESTEEM

(tag removed) mergeto|Self-esteem|date=November 2009}}

Implicit self esteem
Implicit self-esteem refers to a person's disposition to evaluate themselves in a spontaneous, automatic, or unconscious manner. It contrasts with explicit self-esteem, which entails more conscious and reflective self-evaluation. Both explicit and implicit self-esteem are constituents of self-esteem.

Overview
Implicit self esteem has been specifically defined as "the introspectively unidentified (or inaccurately identified) effect of the self-attitude on evaluation of self-associated and self-dissociated objects" Considering the difficulties which come with verbalising one's intuitions, measures of implicit self esteem offer an avenue into people's deep seated feelings about themselves. In the vast majority of implicit self esteem measures, people rate themselves in a highly positive manner. The overestimation of one's traits and abilities is argued to be a spillover of positive affect from the self to objects associated with the self. This "spillover" is automatic and unconscious. Implicit self esteem therefore offers an explanation of positivity bias for things related to the self. Associations are especially important; implicit self esteem is made up of a series of associations between the self and a positive or negative evaluation of the self. This is especially shown in measures of the Implicit Association Test.

Conditioning Implicit Self Esteem
It has been suggested that levels of implicit self esteem can be affected by evaluative conditioning. That is, a person's evaluation of a neutral stimulus can be affected by pairing it with another positive, or indeed negative, stimulus. For example, if a nautral stimulus is paired with a positive stimulus,the person's evaluation of the neutral stimulus become more positive. Conditioning processes in this respect require very little conscious awareness. . Taking this into account, it can be seen how different people's experiences of socialization may come to effect their levels of implicit self esteem.

Cultural differences
As conditioning experiences may occur repeatedly throughout a person's life, their cultural background may have a role to play in their level of implicit self esteem. While Western cultures emphasise the personal achivement and growth of the individual, Eastern cultures are more shaped towards the growth of the collective. This differentiation between individual and group needs may elicit a difference in implicit self esteem across cultures. Specifically, it has been hypothesised that those in Asian cultures may have lower implicit self esteem. This was consequently found; however, importantly, Asian immigrants spending time in Western cultures (such as the USA) shown an increase in implicit self esteem, as well as a decrease in implicit group esteem. This lends weight to the vulnerability of implicit self esteem to conditioning processes.

Measures of implicit self esteem
Implicit self-esteem is assessed using indirect measures of cognitive processing. These include the Name Letter Task  and the Implicit Association Test. Such indirect measures are designed to reduce awareness of, or control of, the process of assessment. When used to assess implicit self-esteem, they feature stimuli designed to represent the self, such as personal pronouns (e.g., "I") or letters in one's name.

Name Letter Effect
The name letter effect is one of the widest used measures of implicit self esteem. It represents the idea that an individual prefers the letters belonging to their own name and will select these above other letters in choice tasks. It seemingly occurs subconsciously, with the mere exposure effect ruled out as a possible explanation

This effect has been found in a vast range of studies. In one such scenario, participants were given a list of letters, one of which contained letters from their own name and the other of which contained other letters, and asked them to circle the preferred letter. This study found that, even when accounting for all other variables, letters belonging to the participants’ own names were preferred.

Similar results have been found in cross-cultural studies, using different alphabets

It is important to note the difference between the Name letter effect and 'implicit egotism', the latter being attributed to the way people gravitate towards places, people and situations that reflect themselves, including perhaps similarities with their own name. Indeed, research into the topic has shown similarities between people's names and their future careers; for example, the names Dennis and Denise are overepresented among dentists.

Implicit Association Test
The Implicit Association Test is an experimental method used within psychology to attempt to tap in to a person's automatic, or subconscious association between a concept and an attribute. It has been widely used in an attempt to uncover a person's subconscious prejudices against certain members of society, such as those who are overweight, as well as other implicit stereotypes and associations. The test was formatted in order to measure self esteem. Participants are asked to make rapid responses, co-classifying themselves ('the self') and positive attributes, as well as negative attributes. The speed, or ease of these associations made is said to show a subconscious, or implicit preference for one attribute over another, with regards to the self.

Findings
Many studies, have shown that the vast majority of people's implicit self esteem is positively biased. That is, people find it a great deal easier to associate themselves with a positive concept than a negative one. Whether this is truly displaying implicit self esteem is arguable; the findings may instead be linked with illusory superiority, in that people tend to rate themselves as above average on a number of scales.

Links with Explicit Self Esteem
However, the validity of the Implicit Association Test and implicit self esteem as a measure of self esteem itself is questionable due to mixed evidence with regards to explicit self esteem One the one hand, researchers, in a detailed and comprehensive study of implicit self esteem, found the IAT to weakly, yet consistently correlate with measures of explicit self esteem. However, more recent research has found measures of explicit self esteem, such as questionnaires, to be independant of implicit self esteem, providing an interesting insight into the validity of implicit self esteem, explicit self esteem, and the nature of self esteem itself.

Depression
Depression is accompanied by very low self esteem and has therefore been a topic of strong interest for those investigating self verifying behaviors. Depression is always accompanied by low self esteem but having low self esteem does not necessarily mean you are depressed.

It argued that those suffering with depression, or with generally low negative self views, will actively seek negative feedback in order to confirm their self view; they find it more favourable. This prediction was tested by classifying participants into three separate groups; high self esteem, low self esteem an depressed individuals. When offered a choice of positive or negative feedback, depressed individuals chose to receive negative feedback 82% of the time, suggesting a strong desire to negatively re-affirm their self view. The seeking of negative feedback in order to self verify has thus been argued to maintain a depressive state.

Raison Oblige Theory challenges this interpretation and suggests that the observed behavior is caused by a reasonable obligation to confirm a depressive self concept. Whilst the study demonstrates an apparent self verifying behavior, this may not be what is happening. This particular study, and many others like it offering supposed support for self verification theory, do not demonstrate a motive to self verify, they merely show a choice reflecting their self view. The reasons for this choice are neither apparent nor adequately tested for.

Correlations do not equal causation; The evidence for self verification theory drawn from studies on depression is thus circumstantial and does not provide proof of a motive to self verify.

ILLUSORY SUPERIORITY

Self Esteem
While a great deal of evidence suggests that we compare ourselves favourably to others on a wide variety of traits, the links to self esteem are uncertain. Do those with high self esteem maintain this high level by rating themselves over and above others? This assertion does carry some evidence behind it; it has been reported that non depressed subjects rate their control over positive outcomes higher than those of a peer; despite an identical level in performance between the two individuals. . Furthermore, it has been found that non depressed students will also actively rate peers below themselves, as opposed to rating themselves higher; students were able to recall a great deal more negative personality traits about others than themselves. . The data does suggest that those with a positive self view are more likely to display the above average effect, as opposed to those with a negative self appraisal. Similarly, those with a low self esteem appear to engage in far less illusory superiority, showing more realism in their self rating.

However, these claims go against a basic humanistic principle within psychology. Carl Rogers in particular, a pioneer of humanistic psychology, claims that those with low self esteem will be far more likely to attempt to belittle others, with the aim of strengthening their fragile self view. On the other hand, Rogers hypothesises that those with high self esteem will have no need to put others down or below themselves; and therefore, would be unlikely to exhibit illusory superiority.

NAME LETTER EFFECT

I have also edited the Name letter effect page, due to it's incorrect reporting of 'implicit egotism' as the name letter effect, when it is in fact a very different phenomenon.

Name Letter Effect
The name letter effect is one of the widest used measures of implicit self esteem. It represents the idea that an individual prefers the letters belonging to their own name and will select these above other letters in choice tasks. It seemingly occurs subconsciously, with the mere exposure effect ruled out as a possible explanation

This effect has been found in a vast range of studies. In one such scenario, participants were given a list of letters, one of which contained letters from their own name and the other of which contained other letters, and asked them to circle the preferred letter. This study found that, even when accounting for all other variables, letters belonging to the participants’ own names were preferred.

Similar results have been found in cross-cultural studies, using different alphabets

It is important to note the difference between the Name letter effect and 'implicit egotism', the latter being attributed to the way people gravitate towards places, people and situations that reflect themselves, including perhaps similarities with their own name. Indeed, research into the topic has shown similarities between people's names and their future careers; for example, the names Dennis and Denise are overepresented among dentists.