Nussbaum A David, Dweck Carol S
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
Pers Soc Psychol Bull. 2008 May;34(5):599-612. doi: 10.1177/0146167207312960. Epub 2008 Feb 14.
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.
人们如何维持和修复自尊一直是广受关注的话题。在本文中，作者提出疑问：是什么决定了人们会采取直接的补救行动还是防御性行动？在三项研究中，他们检验了这样一个假设：相信智力是固定不变的（实体理论）会导致防御心理，而相信智力是可以提高的（增量理论）会促进自我提升。在每项研究中，被分配到实体条件组的参与者选择了防御性的自尊修复方式（在研究1和3中进行向下比较；在研究2中选择已掌握材料的辅导课程），而处于增量条件组的参与者则选择了自我提升（在研究1和3中进行向上比较；在研究2中选择未掌握材料的辅导课程）。实验3还将这些策略与自尊修复联系起来；补救策略对处于增量条件组的人恢复失去的自尊最为有效，而防御策略对处于实体条件组的人最为有效。
