Self-Presentation & Self-Esteem 1 Running head: THE EFFECTS OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE SELF-PRESENTATION ON FEMALE SELF-ESTEEM AND RELATIONSHIP CHOICES The Effects of Positive and Negative Self-Presentation on Female Self-Esteem and Relationship Choices

This study examines the relationship between female self-presentation, self-esteem and perception by peers. Past research has found that women are more likely to present themselves negatively in public situations than men. The present study examines whether these negative self-presentations are related to favorable responses in others. College-age female participants listen to an audio recording of four female confederates having a conversation; after one confederate makes a negative self comment, each of the remaining confederates responds in one of three different ways: 1) self-degrading, 2) self-accepting, and 3) neutrally. The participants then rate the likeability of each of the three reacting confederates. All participants also fill out the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. We expect that participants will more likely be friends with those individuals who display more negative self-presentations rather than those who display positive self-presentations and find them as being more likeable. We also predict that those with a higher self-esteem prefer a person who has a positive self-presentation and those with a lower selfesteem prefer a person who has a negative self-presentation. The results show that there was a significant difference between the three respondents. Although there was no significant difference between Hannah (neutral) and Ashley (self-degrading) both were liked significantly more than Emily (self-accepting). There were no significant results found comparing the selfesteem of participants with the likeability and friendship ratings of the three respondents. The results of this study contribute to our understanding of the way women present themselves in public and what factors are related to their self-presentation. Self-Presentation & Self-Esteem 3 The Effects of Positive and Negative Self-Presentation on Female Self-Esteem and Relationship Choices Female group behavior can be viewed, at its most basic level, as a complicated series of sticky situations and social interactions, where individuals try to say and do the right things so that they are viewed positively by their peers. This phenomenon can be observed in the reactions of individuals in a group setting when someone makes a statement about herself. This scenario presents a series of unique problems: How should one respond when a peer speaks very highly of herself? How should one respond when a peer speaks negatively about herself? The statements individuals make about themselves, known collectively as self-presentations, reflect upon their self-concept and level of self-esteem. These positive and negative statements say a lot about how that individual sees herself, and in turn affects how she is viewed by her peers. Self-presentation, also known as impression management, is the impression made on others from the use of self-disclosures (Leary, Nezlek, & Downs, 1994). That is, these selfstatements can be seen as a reflection of how an individual feels about herself in terms of specific events in the company of others. People are pervasively motivated to make good impressions on others because people’s outcomes in life are greatly affected by the impressions others form of them (Leary, 2004 & Leary, et al., 1994). Also, previous research has indicated that people assume that there is some objective accuracy in their self-evaluations, so that they expect another to agree with their self-evaluations. If given enough information the person with high self-esteem expects respect and admiration (Baumiester, 1982). Baumiester (1982) adds that the self-presentation of the person with high self-esteem may be based in part on the confidence that others will like him or her, in general persons high in self-esteem presumably expect the audience to come to share their good opinion of themselves as the audience learns Self-Presentation & Self-Esteem 4 more about them. However, audiences tend not to like the expectation of others to respect and admire the positive self-presenter, (Baumeister, 1982) implying that people who sometimes behave with extremely positive self-presentation are viewed in a negative light. Therefore, one would think self-presentations should be motive-driven in order to make good impressions on listeners. However, women’s self-presentation is comparable with their actual self-concept when talking with other females and they tend to disclose more about themselves (Leary et al., 1994) making women more open about sharing flaws, shortcomings or negative self-presentation than men. Britton, Martz, and Bazzini (2006) added, "females versus males tend to disclose more about themselves to others in group interactions, potentially providing women with more opportunities for body dissatisfaction to surface in their discussions". Britton et al. (2006) also completed a study in which participants were shown a vignette describing four women studying for a biology exam during which the conversation turns into a discussion about the dissatisfaction of their weight and body. Three of the four females speak negatively about themselves. Participants were then asked to choose what the fourth girl's response should be from these three responses: (1)Self-Accept: “Guys, I'm pretty happy with my weight, I don't think I should diet or anything.” (2)No Information or control: “Plays with her pen and makes no comment.” (3)Self-degrade: “Yeah, I'm pretty unhappy with my weight also, I should really go on a diet too.” They found that both males and females significantly believed that a typical woman in that position would respond by self-degrading and also felt that the selfdegrading answer would be the most likely response associated with other women liking her. The study implies that there is a suggested norm of self-degrading in these social contexts, but does not show whether or not this suggested norm actually affects others perceptions of them. Self-Presentation & Self-Esteem 5 Self-esteem also plays an important role in human behavior, and specifically in female group behavior. Self-esteem is defined as a positive or negative attitude toward the self and can be viewed as a key indication of psychological wellbeing (Clay, Vignoles, & Dittmar, 2005). The appraisal of self-esteem is a complicated process, and is influenced by several factors. First, many people with high self-esteem exaggerate their successes and good traits (Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2003). This makes attempts to objectively evaluate the actual abilities of the individual very difficult. Second, high self-esteem is a heterogeneous category, encompassing people who frankly accept their good qualities along with narcissistic, defensive, and conceited individuals (Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2003). Women’s selfesteem is moderately, but significantly lower than men’s, with the average gender difference being greatest during middle adolescence (Clay, Vignoles, & Dittmar, 2005). People high in self-esteem claim to be more likable and attractive, to have better relationships, and to make better impressions on others than people with low self-esteem, but objective measures have not supported most of these beliefs (Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2003). However, what is important about these claims is the beliefs themselves, not necessarily whether or not they are completely true, because people with highself esteem who believe these things behave accordingly, thus influencing their peers. However, self-esteem has been shown to have a strong relation to happiness; low self-esteem is more likely than high selfesteem to lead to depression (Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2003). In general, the benefits of high self-esteem broadly fit into two categories: enhanced initiative and pleasant feelings (Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2003). Various studies have been undertaken in order to examine more closely the exact origins and manifestations of self-esteem. One study, conducted by Clay, Vignoles, and Dittmar (2005) Self-Presentation & Self-Esteem 6 looked specifically at female adolescents and the relationship between body image and selfesteem. Body image is central to the self-definition of adolescent girls, partly because of their socialization, through which they have been told that appearance is an important basis for selfevaluation and for evaluation by others (Clay, Vignoles, & Dittmar, 2005). It has been demonstrated that girls’ self-esteem declines substantially during middle adolescence, in part due to changes in body image. Body image develops in the context of sociocultural factors, such as unrealistic media images of female beauty (Clay, Vignoles, & Dittmar, 2005). Clay, Vignoles, and Dittmar (2005) looked at the self-esteem of 136 girls aged 1116 in the United Kingdom after being experimentally exposed to either ultrathin or averagesized magazine models. These two images were of the same model, with their body size altered on the computer. This was done in order to eliminate the potentially confounding variable of model attractiveness. The results indicated that viewing both the ultrathin and averagesized models lowered body satisfaction and self-esteem (Clay, Vignoles, & Dittmar, 2005). This study indicates that female self-esteem can be influenced by a variety of outside sources, including the presentations of other individuals. Additional research has found that self-esteem levels affect friendship choices. In a study examining friendship choice and performance in various schoolrelated activities, Tesser, Campbell, and Smith (1984) found that children’s friendship choices were influenced by their own self-evaluation and their evaluation of others. Models of self-evaluation maintenance (SEM) were used in this study to evaluate the motivations and behaviors involved in friendship choices. The SEM model assumes that on a basic level, individuals are motivated to maintain a positive self-evaluation and one’s relationships with others have a substantial impact on self-evaluation (Tesser, Campbell, & Smith, 1984). Self-Presentation & Self-Esteem 7 This impact is described in two processes: reflection and comparison. Reflection processes are at work when people attempt to bask in the reflected glory of another’s accomplishments, in that they will either point out their close association with another whose performance is outstanding, or magnify the accomplishments of others who are close (Tesser, Campbell, & Smith, 1984). Comparison processes indicate that being close to a highperforming other can threaten self-evaluation by making one’s own performance look bad by comparison (Tesser, Campbell, & Smith, 1984). When a close other performs well, reflection is presumed to have a positive impact on self-evaluation, whereas comparison is presumed to have a negative impact on self-evaluation (Tesser, Campbell, & Smith, 1984). These two processes are not equally important; their relative importance is determined by the extent to which the other’s performance is relevant to one’s self-definition (Tesser, Campbell, & Smith, 1984). The results of the study, which included fifthand sixthgrade children, indicated that children named as friends those classmates who performed at a lower level than they themselves did on activities they considered important to them. When the activity is relevant to the child’s self-definition, comparison processes are important; self-evaluation is threatened if another’s performance is similar to one’s own performance (Tesser, Campbell, & Smith, 1984). In these situations, reflection processes become less important than comparison processes, because of the relevance of the activity at hand to the child’s self-definition. In order for their self-esteem to remain positive, a child should perceive him or herself as performing better than another individual on an activity that is central to his or her self-definition. Once this perception has been formed, the child can then present himself in positive ways that confirm his feelings about himself and his abilities. Thus, self-esteem and self-presentation are closely related. One’s own self-esteem influenced his or her view of others and played an important role in friendship Self-Presentation & Self-Esteem 8 choice. The fact that they are choosing to become friends with these individuals indicates that they find them to be likeable, which is an important aspect of this phenomenon. We are interested in investigating how negative and positive self-presentations affect how an individual is viewed by others, in regards to potential friendships. We expect that participants would more likely want to be friends with those individuals who displayed more negative selfpresentations rather than those who displayed positive self-presentation. While much research has been conducted within the realm of self-presentation, little has specifically focused on the relationship between females’ self-presentation, self-esteem, and how these individuals are perceived by their peers. Furthermore, we will test the self-esteem of our participants in order to better understand and predict if those with a higher self-esteem would prefer a person who has positive self-presentation and if those with a lower self-esteem would prefer a person who has a negative self-presentation. Method Participants The subjects in this study were students from a small Midwestern Liberal Arts college with ages ranging from 18-22. There were 33 participants. Out of the 33 participants, 31 considered themselves to be Caucasian. The other two were Pacific Islander and multiracial. Participants were recruited through the school psychology department. Fliers were posted both describing the study and providing a place for individuals to sign up for participation. Additional participants were solicited via email.