The Influence of Personal and Collective Self-Esteem on the Interpersonal and Inter-group Evaluations of Japanese University Students
Year: 2007
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: A sample of 236 Japanese college students evaluated themselves, two in-groups, and two out-groups, on five positive and five negative traits. They also completed the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and two subscales of the Luhtanen & Crocker Collective Self-Esteem Scale. The results revealed that the personal and collective self-esteem of Japanese college students is unaffected by perceptions of interpersonal or inter-group superiority or inferiority. It is therefore inferred that personal or group enhancement is not universally associated with personal or collective self-esteem. Individuals can maintain self-esteem without derogating out-groups or holding illusory “better than average ” beliefs. Results also indicated that participants ’ interpersonal assessments varied depending on the specificity of the in-group serving as the comparison target (participants assessed themselves more positively than Japanese students in general, but less positively than their classmates in particular). KEY WORDS: in-group bias, inter-group perception, self-concept, self-esteem, self-effacement It has been argued that individuals need positive self-regard and actively strive in various ways to achieve it (Taylor & Brown, 1988). Self-esteem, particularly high self-esteem is claimed to be adaptive, psychologically healthy, (Taylor, Lerner, Sherman, Sage, & McDowell, 2003) and not surprisingly, “normal ” in that the
Author: Robert A. Brown
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W381444828