Social acceptance and self-esteem: tuning the sociometer to interpersonal value. Anthony, D. B, Holmes, J. G, & Wood, J. V Journal of personality and social psychology, 92(6):1024--1039, June, 2007.
Social acceptance and self-esteem: tuning the sociometer to interpersonal value [link]Paper  doi  abstract   bibtex   
The authors draw on sociometer theory to propose that self-esteem is attuned to traits that garner others' acceptance, and the traits that garner acceptance depend on one's social role. Attunement of self-esteem refers to the linkage, or connection, between self-esteem and specific traits, which may be observed most clearly in the association between self-esteem and specific self-evaluations. In most roles, appearance and popularity determine acceptance, so self-esteem is most attuned to those traits. At the same time, interdependent social roles emphasize the value of communal qualities, so occupants of those roles have self-esteem that is more attuned to communal qualities than is the general norm. To avoid the biases of people's personal theories, the authors assessed attunement of self-esteem to particular traits indirectly via the correlation between self-esteem and self-ratings, cognitive accessibility measures, and an experiment involving social decision making. As hypothesized, self-esteem was generally more attuned to appearances than to communal qualities, but interdependent social roles predicted heightened attunement of self-esteem to qualities like kindness and understanding.
@article{anthony_social_2007,
	title = {Social acceptance and self-esteem: tuning the sociometer to interpersonal value},
	volume = {92},
	issn = {0022-3514},
	url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1024},
	doi = {10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1024},
	abstract = {The authors draw on sociometer theory to propose that self-esteem is attuned to traits that garner others' acceptance, and the traits that garner acceptance depend on one's social role. Attunement of self-esteem refers to the linkage, or connection, between self-esteem and specific traits, which may be observed most clearly in the association between self-esteem and specific self-evaluations. In most roles, appearance and popularity determine acceptance, so self-esteem is most attuned to those traits. At the same time, interdependent social roles emphasize the value of communal qualities, so occupants of those roles have self-esteem that is more attuned to communal qualities than is the general norm. To avoid the biases of people's personal theories, the authors assessed attunement of self-esteem to particular traits indirectly via the correlation between self-esteem and self-ratings, cognitive accessibility measures, and an experiment involving social decision making. As hypothesized, self-esteem was generally more attuned to appearances than to communal qualities, but interdependent social roles predicted heightened attunement of self-esteem to qualities like kindness and understanding.},
	language = {en},
	number = {6},
	journal = {Journal of personality and social psychology},
	author = {Anthony, Danu B and Holmes, John G and Wood, Joanne V},
	month = jun,
	year = {2007},
	pmid = {17547486},
	keywords = {Blame, Mental Health/Victim Exclusion: Vilification \&amp},
	pages = {1024--1039}
}

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