Self-esteem and Behavior

Two psychologists asked a professor to send weekly e-mail messages to students of his who had done poorly on their first exam for the class. Each message included a review question. In addition, one third of the students, chosen at random, also received a message -- advice to study, for example -- suggesting that how well they did in the course was under their own control. The other third received the review question plus a "You're too smart to get a D!" pep talk aimed at raising their self-esteem, which everone knows boosts academic performance.

Oops.

Compared with the other e-mail recipients, the D and F students who got the self-esteem injection performed notably worse on later tests.

Why did the self-esteem intervention fail?

Students work hard partly because it helps them do better. But an intervention that encourages them to feel good about themselves regardless of work may remove the reason to work hard -- resulting in poorer performance. If you get to feel good without learning your spelling words, why bother?

The American Psychological Society looked at over 200 studies on self-esteem and they found no evidence that boosting self-esteem results in better job performance, lowered aggression or reduced delinquency. Furthermore, it concluded "high self-esteem does not prevent children from smoking, drinking, taking drugs, or engaging in early sex."

For decades self-esteem has been viewed in our popular culture as a good thing to have. It's been presented as a cure-all for a variety of problems, especially school discipline problems.

But now such thinking is being challenged. We see that an inflated sense of self-esteem can actually cause, rather than cure, aggressive and violent behavior - and, perhaps, a number of other problems as well.

Psychologists Brad Bushman of Iowa State University and Roy Baumeister of Case Western Reserve University in Ohio say that inflated self-esteem could even have something to do with the increasing violent nature of student behavior problems in school.

In other words, it's not the person with low self-esteem who is likely to resort to violence to make himself "feel better," as has long been theorized. Instead it's the person who believes in an inflated view of himself who is most likely to lash out or behave violently when that view is threatened.

Baumeister and Bushman conducted two studies of 540 college students. Through a series of experiments, they found that those who had unrealistically high levels of self- esteem became aggressive when they were insulted or criticized, while low levels of self-esteem did not lead to aggression.

Bushman stated "if kids begin to develop unrealistically optimistic opinions of themselves, and those beliefs are constantly rejected by others, their feelings of self-love could make these kids potentially dangerous to those around them."

To take it one step further, Baumeister indicated the work of teachers and parents trying to build the self-esteem of their children is not always a good thing.

"Especially exaggerated or unfounded self-esteem or the desire to think you're better than others, this thing of telling kids that they are doing great no matter how well they do, giving trophies to everybody, having children write stories or lists of all the great things about themselves," doesn't help anyone.

Baumeister said it's fine to give people, including children, a feeling of self-worth, but "If you think you are better than you are, then you are more likely to get negative feedback, and if you are emotionally invested in this then you could get violent."

Baumeister stated the obvious when he said that "conceit as a cause of violence is seen in societies around the world."

But of course you don't even have to look that far. Just consider the student who bullies everybody because his inflated sense of self-importance makes him believe that other people are inferior.

Baumeister views the lack of self-control as a far bigger problem in America than too little self-esteem. Ninety percent of Americans, he said, rate themselves as better than average drivers. In a recent survey of high school students, not one rated himself as "below average" in his ability to get along with others. Studies show that young children consistently have very high opinions of themselves and that they feel they should have priority over others.

He and his colleague buck current "politically correct" thinking when they argue that educators should "forget about self-esteem and concentrate on self-control." But it is clear that a host of problems, like teen pregnancy, drug use and violence are caused by a lack of self-control and self-discipline. And they may even be fostered by an inflated sense of self-esteem or the I-can-do-anything-and-I'm-still-OK and the I-never-have-to-feel-bad-about-my-actions thinking.

George Smith cites two interesting scenarios:

• Last year a California school banned the game of tag because it created a self-esteem issue. Someone had to be "it," and that someone was a victim. Schools might not teach anything and students might not have any fun, but no one would get their feelings hurt - assuming we rule out all the disappointed kids willing to risk it and play the game anyway.
• A junior high school in Ohio posts a daily "Do not tease" list. According to the principal, the roster includes students "she has identified as suffering from low self-esteem due to their lack of intelligence, charm, physical grace, or affability."

As Baumeister says, "It's easy, it makes everyone feel good and it's certainly easier than doing your math homework."

Is there a better way? If boosting self-esteem does not result in lowered aggression or reduced delinquency, then what should educators do?

What if you encouraged your students to look at both sides of a behavior problem? What if you asked them to think about the rules as well as the rule breakers? What if you expected them to read about both proper and improper behavior and then guided them to setting goals for improving their own behavior?

Some schools have discovered that Discipline Learning Packets from Advantage Press can be used PROACTIVELY to prevent behavior problems. Look at some of the samples at our website and think about how the material might help your students.