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Defensiveness Versus Remediation: Self-Theories and Modes of Self-Esteem Maintenance
A. David Nussbaum*
and
Carol S. Dweck
Stanford University
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: nuss{at}stanford.edu.
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Abstract |
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How people maintain and repair their self-esteem has been a topic of widespread interest. In this article, the authors ask, What determines whether people will use direct, remedial actions, or defensive actions? In three studies, they tested the hypothesis that a belief in fixed intelligence (entity theory) would produce defensiveness, whereas a belief in improvable intelligence (incremental theory) would foster remediation. In each study, participants assigned to the entity condition opted for defensive self-esteem repair (downward comparison in Studies 1 and 3; a tutorial on already mastered material in Study 2), but those in the incremental condition opted for self-improvement (upward comparison in Studies 1 and 3; a tutorial on unmastered material in Study 2). Experiment 3 also linked these strategies to self-esteem repair; remedial strategies were the most effective in recovering lost self-esteem for those in the incremental condition, whereas defensive strategies were most effective for those in the entity condition.
First published on February 14, 2008, doi:10.1177/0146167207312960
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 2008;34:599.
A more recent version of this article appeared on May 1, 2008
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