Self-esteem reactions to social interactions: Evidence for sociometer mechanisms across days, people, and nations.

Abstract

People have a fundamental need to belong that motivates them to seek out social interactions with close others (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Leary and Baumeister's (2000) sociometer theory (SMT) poses that people who succeed in satisfying this need have higher self-esteem (SE). This prediction was tested across three hierarchical levels: intraindividual, interindividual, and international. Indicators of social interaction quantity, quality, and the interaction between quality and quantity were collected for relationships with friends, family members, and romantic partners. On the intraindividual level, relationship quality and the interaction between quantity and quality emerged as significant predictors of daily fluctuations in SE. Cross-lagged analyses indicated that this association is at least partly due to the effect of social inclusion on changes in SE. On an interindividual level, people who generally reported higher quality relationships also had higher levels of trait SE. On an international level, countries whose inhabitants regularly interact with friends were characterized by higher nationwide SE levels than countries without such practices, even when happiness, individualism, gross domestic product, and neuroticism were controlled.

Transitions in romantic relationships and development of self-esteem.

“…The theory proposes that self-esteem reflects a person's relational value, as subjectively perceived by the individual, and that the self-esteem system evolved as a part of the human mind because it helps the individual to monitor whether the need for social inclusion is satisfied or threatened. The empirical evidence from observational and experimental studies is in line with sociometer theory (for a review, see Leary, 2003), documenting the strong association between self-esteem and social relationships, including romantic relationships (e.g., Denissen, Penke, Schmitt, & van Aken, 2008;Leary, Haupt, Strausser, & Chokel, 1998;Murray, Griffin, Rose, & Bellavia, 2003;Neyer & Asendorpf, 2001;Neyer & Lehnart, 2007).…”

The development of global and domain-specific self-esteem from age 13 to 31.

“…The interpersonal perspective on self-esteem and the sociometer hypothesis would further predict that self-evaluations of one's own abilities to form close relationships and gain social acceptance are closely related to global self-esteem. The expected strong relationships between self-esteem in social domains and global self-esteem are supported by research showing that the quality of social interaction and a feeling of social inclusion predict global self-esteem (Denissen, Penke, Schmitt, & van Aken, 2008;Leary et al, 1995).…”

Evolved individual differences: Advancing a condition-dependent model of personality

“…The high pole of extraversion in humans, for example, may be conceptualized as an interpersonal strategy that can increase mating opportunities (MacDonald, 2006). High levels of extraversion could lead to increased mating opportunities both directly by engaging potential mates and indirectly by leading to the formation of friendships and social alliances that facilitate increases in status and ascension in the social hierarchy (Denissen & Penke, 2008;Nettle, 2005Nettle, , 2006. Data from non-human animals offer evidence consistent with this hypothesized function of extraversion; bold behavior by Trinidadian guppies (Godin & Dugatkin, 1996), zebra finches (Schuett & Dall, 2009), and collared flycatchers (Garamszegi, Eens, & Török, 2008) is associated with increased mating success.…”