Swann William B, Chang-Schneider Christine, Larsen McClarty Katie
Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
Am Psychol. 2007 Feb-Mar;62(2):84-94. doi: 10.1037/0003-066X.62.2.84.
Recent scholars have dismissed the utility of self-esteem as well as programs designed to improve it. The authors challenge these contentions on conceptual, methodological, and empirical grounds. They begin by proposing that the scope of recent analyses has been overly narrow and should be broadened to include specific as well as global self-views. Using this conceptualization, the authors place recent critiques in historical context, recalling that similarly skeptical commentaries on global attitudes and traits inspired theorizing and empirical research that subsequently restored faith in the value of both constructs. Specifically, they point to 3 strategies for attaining more optimistic assessments of the predictive validity of self-views: recognizing the utility of incorporating additional variables in predictive schemes, matching the specificity of predictors and criteria, and using theoretically informed standards for evaluating predictor- criterion relationships. The authors conclude that self-views do matter and that it is worthwhile and important to develop and implement theoretically informed programs to improve them.
近期学者们摒弃了自尊以及旨在提升自尊的项目的效用。作者们从概念、方法和实证依据方面对这些观点提出了质疑。他们首先指出，近期分析的范围过于狭窄，应当拓宽至包括特定的自我认知以及整体的自我认知。基于这一概念化，作者们将近期的批评置于历史背景中，回顾了对整体态度和特质的类似怀疑性评论如何激发了理论化和实证研究，随后恢复了对这两种概念价值的信心。具体而言，他们指出了三种策略，以实现对自我认知预测效度的更乐观评估：认识到在预测方案中纳入额外变量的效用、使预测因素与标准的特异性相匹配，以及使用基于理论的标准来评估预测因素与标准之间的关系。作者们得出结论，自我认知确实重要，并且开发和实施基于理论的项目来改善自我认知是值得且重要的。
