Theories of Self-Concept Maintenance

¶ … Self-Concept Maintenance

The level of individuals' self-esteem can have an enormous effect on their performance and behaviors in the workplace. People with high levels of self-esteem will likely be more confident, assertive and accepting of constructive criticism while those with low levels of self-esteem will probably be less likely to positively assert themselves and more likely to experience poor interpersonal relationships with others. The theories of self-concept maintenance are used in this paper to help explain these dichotomous outcomes, followed by a comparison of the similarities and differences of the three theories of self-concept maintenance. An explanation concerning how each theory explains the difference of the behavior of the women in the animated workplace vignette, "The Virtual Office." Finally, the paper concludes with a description concerning fresh insights that emerged based on the above-described research.

SELECT AND DESCRIBE ONE OF THE WOMEN IN THE MEDIA PROGRAM EXHIBITING EITHER POSITIVE SELF-ESTEEM OR NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY STYLE.

In the animated vignette, "The Virtual Office," the character "Kathy" is bubbling over with positive self-esteem. According to the definition provided by Crisp and Turner (2010), self-esteem is "an individual's personal evaluation of their own self-concept" (p. 390). In every instance in the animated vignette, the "boss's" criticisms are handled with complete aplomb by Kathy who uses a general formula of acknowledging the criticism, accepting full responsibility, offering minimal excuses, and providing solid assurances that her performance will improve in this area in the future. Likewise, in response to compliments about her performance, Kathy is consistently humble but confident and again provides assurances that her contributions will continue in the future.

COMPARE THE SIMILARITIES AND THE DIFFERENCE OF THREE THEORIES OF SELF- CONCEPT MAINTENANCE

A comparison of the similarities and differences of the three theories of self-concept maintenance is provided in Table 1 below.

Table 1

Comparison of similarities and differences of the three theories of self-concept maintenance

Control Theory of Self-Regulation

Self-Discrepancy Theory

Social Comparison Theory

Similarities

This theory focuses on "comparing the self with & #8230;the self" (Crisp & Turner, 2010, p. 11)

This theory also involves a comparison "of the self with & #8230;the self" (Crisp & Turner, 2010, p. 11).

This theory also "proposes that we form a definition of the self by comparing ourselves with those around us" (Crisp & Turner, 2010, p. 391).

Differences

This theory proposes that "we use our self-awareness to assess whether or not we are meeting our goals and, if not, make efforts to improve the self in line with these goals" (Crisp & Turner, 2010, p. 382).

Unlike the other theories, this approach focuses on the awareness of discrepancies between actual and ideal identity as well as people's emotional response to such discrepancies" (cited in Crisp & Turner, 2010, p. 13).

This theory posits that when people seek to improve themselves, they will likely emulate those who demonstrate the desired characteristics through upward comparisons (Fiske, 2010).

EXPLAIN HOW EACH THEORY EXPLAINS THE BEHAVIOR OF THE WOMEN IN THE MEDIA PROGRAM