Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Goal-Related Stress
Self-esteem stability is related to the stress of goal pursuit
People sometimes feel good about themselves and sometimes feel bad about themselves. The degree to which such feelings remain the same over time varies quite a bit among people. People with a stable self-esteem are generally unaffected by evaluations made by themselves (e.g., thinking back about past successes and failures) or others (e.g., a compliment). People with an unstable self-esteem, on the other hand, have fragile, vulnerable feelings of self-worth and are influenced a great deal by evaluations made by themselves or others. A group of researchers at The University of Georgia recently published the findings from a study exploring the associations between self-esteem stability and several other personal characteristics. As part of the study, they examined whether self-esteem stability is related to the amount of stress involved in the pursuit of goals.
What was the research about?
One hundred and twenty-six undergraduate students participated in the study. During one phase of the study, the participants completed a brief self-esteem questionnaire every 12 hours for a week. The consistency of the responses throughout the week was used as a measure of self-esteem stability. The participants also listed some of their goals and rated the extent to which they experienced various emotions when pursuing them.
The researchers found that self-esteem stability was related to the amount of stress involved in the pursuit of goals. Specifically, the more unstable self-esteem was, the more people tended to feel tense, to have trouble relaxing, and to be unsure about themselves when pursuing their goals.
Why should it matter to me?
People with an unstable self-esteem may want to try to stop letting evaluations of themselves unduly influence how they feel about themselves. In this way, they may be able to avoid some of the stress associated with the pursuit of their goals.
Source: Kernis, M. H., Paradise, A. W., Whitaker, D. J., Wheatman, S. R., & Goldman, B. N. (2000). Master of one's psychological domain? Not likely if one's self-esteem is unstable. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 1297-1305.