Characteristics of self-esteem and perceptual sensitivity to pictures of self and others

Zuber, Irena

The results of my research described in abstract bellow confirm data on verbal denial and projection of own voice in the context of theory of self-deception (Trivers, 2014). People show signs of self- recognition unconsciously, based on galvanic skeen response (GSR), but some of them verbally deny (make fault of no self- recognition) and some show narcissistic projection (make fault of self-recognition). The two groups represent two types of defensive self-esteem, narcissistic high self-esteem and defensive low self-esteem. The last group is most often represented among patients who seek psychotherapy.

Polish Psychological Bulletin, Vol 12(2), 1981, 97-105

ABSTRACT
1. Presents a typology of defensive self-esteem, based on the criterion of strength of social approval need (D. Crowne and D. Marlowe, 1964) and experimental results obtained from 109 students (aged 18–19 yrs). Two types of self-esteem are distinguished: genuine (not defensive) and defensive, within both high and low self-esteem, yielding 4 self-esteem types. Two types of errors in recognition of the photos of self—misidentification of others as self (narcissistic projection) and inferior recognition of the photo of self (denial of self), as compared to pictures of others, were expected to depend on self-esteem level, strength of need for social approval, and on their interaction. The latter variables were also expected to influence recognition of photos of disliked persons. Results indicate that the 3 effects were significantly affected by interaction between self-esteem level and strength of social approval need. Ss with defensive low self-esteem showed the strongest tendency for inferior recognition of the photo of self and inferior recognition of the photos of disliked persons as compared to that of liked persons. Ss with genuine (not defensive) low self-esteem had the smallest tendency for inferior self-recognition and were the only group displaying better recognition of disliked compared to liked persons. Ss with defensive high self-esteem had the strongest tendency for narcissistic projection; it was significantly stronger than that in Ss with genuine high self-esteem. The most important result of this study is that defensive low self-esteem is related to perceptual defensivness facing threat.