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Secure Versus Fragile High Self‐Esteem as a Predictor of Verbal Defensiveness: Converging Findings Across Three Different Markers
Author(s) -
Kernis Michael H.,
Lakey Chad E.,
Heppner Whitney L.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6494.2008.00493.x
Subject(s) - psychology , self esteem , feeling , developmental psychology , nonverbal communication , possession (linguistics) , social psychology , linguistics , philosophy
Why is it that many individuals verbally rationalize and distort self‐esteem threatening information? We examined whether such verbal defensiveness (Feldman Barrett, Williams, & Fong, 2002) differs as a function of whether individuals' high self‐esteem is secure or fragile. Our findings indicated that individuals whose self‐esteem was stable, not contingent, or congruent with high implicit self‐esteem exhibited especially low amounts of verbal defensiveness. In contrast, verbal defensiveness was considerably higher when individuals' high self‐esteem was unstable, contingent, or paired with discrepant low implicit self‐esteem. Discussion centers on why the possession of well‐anchored and secure high self‐esteem obviates defensiveness directed toward enhancing, maintaining, or bolstering feelings of self‐worth.