@article{ref1,
title="Self-esteem in action: from direct causality to motive and mediator of self-performative action",
journal="Culture and psychology",
year="2017",
author="Strandell, Jacob",
volume="23",
number="1",
pages="74-87",
abstract="Self-esteem research has been in &quot;crisis&quot; during the last decade, due to the lack of strong, consistent correlations between self-esteem and behavioral outcomes. Some researchers have interpreted this as indicating that self-esteem is inconsequential in many important areas of life. However, the model of direct causality used in correlational research, between a general self-esteem trait and specific behaviors, may be unrealistic. In contrast, this paper develops a model of self-esteem-motivated behaviour as originating from past, current or future (desired) self-concepts. This model shows how an interaction of catalytic factors determines how self-esteem influences behaviour. That is, what &quot;self-esteem&quot; actually &quot;does.&quot; By clarifying the different ways in which self-esteem affects behavior, the model shows that construing self-esteem as a passive variable with direct causal influence on behavior is inadequate and misleading and that previous contradictory results are a consequence of this misconceptualization and subsequent reification of self-esteem. Because self-esteem and the self-concept are inseparable (one is an attitude towards the other) self-esteem-motivated behavior is always about self-construction, and thus performative. Future self-esteem research and theory should therefore focus on how people seek to enact, maintain, or defend a desired identity through performative actions.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1354-067X",
doi="10.1177/1354067X16650835",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1354067X16650835"
}