Book contents
- Pillars of Social Psychology
- Pillars of Social Psychology
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- 1 Introducing the Pillars of Social Psychology
- 2 Seven Decades in Social Psychology
- 3 A Career Emerging from an Unnecessary Analysis
- 4 Once a Social Psychologist, Always a Social Psychologist
- 5 Abe and Leon and Me
- 6 My Contributions to Social Psychology Over Many Decades
- 7 Influences and Dissonances
- 8 From Ideomotor Theory to the IAT in Just 35 Years
- 9 Curiosity
- 10 The Emergence and Evolution of Social Realities
- 11 The Good Old Days
- 12 “What Ever Happened to that Blond Girl?”
- 13 A Quest for Social Psychology That Spans the Psychological and the Social
- 14 Reasoning
- 15 Chance and Choice
- 16 Looking Back on a Charmed Career
- 17 My Train Ride to Social Psychology
- 18 The Making and Remaking of a Cross-Cultural Psychologist in Six Acts
- 19 A Professional Past of Arranging to Be Compelled
- 20 A Social Psychological and Personality Approach to Human Motivation
- 21 Wandering into Psychology and Law
- 22 My Meandering Journey into Social Psychology
- 23 A Career in Ten Episodes
- 24 Getting Lucky
- 25 Mindsets
- 26 Social Psychology and Me
- 27 My Life as a Social Psychologist
- 28 You Can’t Be a Self by Yourself
- 29 Getting to Here from There
- 30 A Relational Life
- 31 Planning Is Overrated
- 32 Symptoms, Secrets, Writing, and Words
- 33 How Chance Encounters Can Foster a Career
- 34 A Multi-Decade Journey between the Lab and the Real World
- 35 A Long and Winding Road
- 36 Tales of a Devoted but Disillusioned Party Crasher
- 37 Social Cognition, Always the Great Beyond
- 38 The Accidental Social Psychologist
- 39 The Power of Firmly Held Beliefs
- 40 My Career in Social Psychology
- 41 Chasing Self-Esteem
- 42 The Basement Tapes
- 43 Evolutionary Social Psychology
- 44 One Man’s Search for (the Assignment of) Meaning
- 45 Meetings with Remarkable Men: A Fortunate Journey in Social Psychology
- 46 Dear Vera, Chuck, and Dave
- 47 Always Buy the Handbook of Social Psychology (1968) at a Railway Station in India
- 48 Empowering People to Break the Prejudice Habit
- 49 Seeking the Middle Way
- 50 The Pillars, Their Stories, Retrospectives, and Signals Loud and Clear
- Index
- References
41 - Chasing Self-Esteem
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 September 2022
Edited by
Book contents
- Pillars of Social Psychology
- Pillars of Social Psychology
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- 1 Introducing the Pillars of Social Psychology
- 2 Seven Decades in Social Psychology
- 3 A Career Emerging from an Unnecessary Analysis
- 4 Once a Social Psychologist, Always a Social Psychologist
- 5 Abe and Leon and Me
- 6 My Contributions to Social Psychology Over Many Decades
- 7 Influences and Dissonances
- 8 From Ideomotor Theory to the IAT in Just 35 Years
- 9 Curiosity
- 10 The Emergence and Evolution of Social Realities
- 11 The Good Old Days
- 12 “What Ever Happened to that Blond Girl?”
- 13 A Quest for Social Psychology That Spans the Psychological and the Social
- 14 Reasoning
- 15 Chance and Choice
- 16 Looking Back on a Charmed Career
- 17 My Train Ride to Social Psychology
- 18 The Making and Remaking of a Cross-Cultural Psychologist in Six Acts
- 19 A Professional Past of Arranging to Be Compelled
- 20 A Social Psychological and Personality Approach to Human Motivation
- 21 Wandering into Psychology and Law
- 22 My Meandering Journey into Social Psychology
- 23 A Career in Ten Episodes
- 24 Getting Lucky
- 25 Mindsets
- 26 Social Psychology and Me
- 27 My Life as a Social Psychologist
- 28 You Can’t Be a Self by Yourself
- 29 Getting to Here from There
- 30 A Relational Life
- 31 Planning Is Overrated
- 32 Symptoms, Secrets, Writing, and Words
- 33 How Chance Encounters Can Foster a Career
- 34 A Multi-Decade Journey between the Lab and the Real World
- 35 A Long and Winding Road
- 36 Tales of a Devoted but Disillusioned Party Crasher
- 37 Social Cognition, Always the Great Beyond
- 38 The Accidental Social Psychologist
- 39 The Power of Firmly Held Beliefs
- 40 My Career in Social Psychology
- 41 Chasing Self-Esteem
- 42 The Basement Tapes
- 43 Evolutionary Social Psychology
- 44 One Man’s Search for (the Assignment of) Meaning
- 45 Meetings with Remarkable Men: A Fortunate Journey in Social Psychology
- 46 Dear Vera, Chuck, and Dave
- 47 Always Buy the Handbook of Social Psychology (1968) at a Railway Station in India
- 48 Empowering People to Break the Prejudice Habit
- 49 Seeking the Middle Way
- 50 The Pillars, Their Stories, Retrospectives, and Signals Loud and Clear
- Index
- References
Summary
Intentionally or not, this email message was devilishly designed to tickle my ego. How satisfying to see the words “uniquely important” used to describe my work! How delicious to be included in such an illustrious group of social psychologists! What an ego high to be validated in this way! Unfortunately, the pleasure lasted only moments, and was quickly followed by thoughts like, “If my work is so great, why wasn’t I approached along with this earlier group?” and “Some people must have turned down the invitation, leading to an open slot that needed to be filled.” How easily a preoccupation with my worth and value transformed this kind and generous invitation into a boost and then a threat to my self-esteem. Once triggered, this egosystem motivation stirred up a range of pleasant and unpleasant emotions. And then, having agreed to contribute, the task of actually writing a chapter worthy of a “pillar” became daunting, so I procrastinated; what could I say that would live up to this praise?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Pillars of Social PsychologyStories and Retrospectives, pp. 350 - 357Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022
References
Suggested Reading
Abelson, J. L., Erikson, T. M., Mayer, S., Crocker, J., Briggs, H., Lopez-Duran, N. L., & Liberzon, I. (2014). Brief cognitive intervention can modulate neuroendocrine stress responses to the Trier Social Stress Test: Buffering effects of a compassionate goal orientation. Psychoneuroendocrinology, 44, 60–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crocker, J., Canevello, A., & Lewis, K. A. (2017). Romantic relationships in the ecosystem: Compassionate goals, nonzero-sum beliefs, and change in relationship quality. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 112(1), 58–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crocker, J., & Major, B. (1989). Social stigma and self-esteem: The self-protective properties of stigma. Psychological Review, 96(4), 608–630.Google Scholar
Crocker, J., & Park, L. E. (2004). The costly pursuit of self-esteem. Psychological Bulletin, 130(3), 392–414.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crocker, J., & Wolfe, C. T. (2001). Contingencies of self-worth. Psychological Review, 108(3), 593–623.Google Scholar
Luhtanen, R., & Crocker, J. A. (1992). Collective Self-Esteem Scale: Self-evaluation of one’s social identity. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 18(3), 302–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar