Social Psychology and Common Sense
The Stanford Daily Online Edition:
“I’ve gotten letters from both sides,” she said, “People just don’t believe it. Or they say they’ve been waiting 20 years for an article like this because they’ve known this all along. That’s often what happens in psychology. Whatever finding you have, half of the people will say they knew it all along, their grandmother said it; the other half won’t believe it.”
This quote is a pretty good depiction of how we often react to research findings. The focus of this particular article: self-esteem and performance.
Contrary to popular belief, high self-esteem does not necessarily lead to increased productivity or better academic performance, according to Roy Baumeister, professor of social psychology at Florida State University, in an article titled “Rethinking Self-Esteem.” Published in The Stanford Social Innovation Review, his findings created a stir among nonprofit groups who aim to raise child self-esteem.
But:
Hazel Markus, a professor of psychology at Stanford who studies related issues, disagreed with Baumeister’s conclusions. “I thought it was too harsh and that there are many ways to look at the evidence,” Markus said. “Most importantly, it depends on your understanding of self-esteem. If you just think of self-esteem as going around and saying, ‘I’m wonderful, I’m great,’ then it’s not going to work.”
….According to Markus, with a solid foundation of self-esteem, one will be more able to have a positive outlook, and that will be the cause of good outcomes. She said she finds Baumeister’s view too narrow, as it only takes into account the kind of self-esteem that is felt but not earned…..
“You can’t just tell kids to look in the mirror every morning and say I’m beautiful and expect to do something,” she said. “You just end up with a bunch of conceited people.”
Trying to boost school performance by getting kids to have more confidence in their ability may sound good, but it also sounds like the typically American approach that puts everything on the individual. If one kid has a problem with self-esteem and school work when everyone else is flourishing, it makes sense to figure out what’s going on with that kid. When millions of kids supposedly have the same self-esteem and performance problems, we need to raise our sights a little higher and look at what’s wrong with surrounding system. It’s easy to blame the kid, harder to change the schools and families and neighborhoods and mass media and everything else that replicates our so-called individual problems.
