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Images of the self and self-esteem: do positive self-images improve self-esteem in social anxiety?

Images of the self and self-esteem: do positive self-images improve self-esteem in social anxiety?
Images of the self and self-esteem: do positive self-images improve self-esteem in social anxiety?
Negative self-images play an important role in maintaining social anxiety disorder. We
propose that these images represent the working self in a Self-Memory System that regulates retrieval
of self-relevant information in particular situations. Self-esteem, one aspect of the working self,
comprises explicit (conscious) and implicit (automatic) components. Implicit self-esteem reflects an
automatic evaluative bias towards the self that is normally positive, but is reduced in socially anxious
individuals. Forty-four high and 44 low socially anxious participants generated either a positive or a
negative self-image and then completed measures of implicit and explicit self-esteem. Participants
who held a negative self-image in mind reported lower implicit and explicit positive self-esteem, and
higher explicit negative self-esteem than participants holding a positive image in mind, irrespective of
social anxiety group. We then tested whether positive self-images protected high and low socially
anxious individuals equally well against the threat to explicit self-esteem posed by social exclusion in a
virtual ball toss game (Cyberball). We failed to find a predicted interaction between social anxiety and
image condition. Instead, all participants holding positive self-images reported higher levels of
explicit self-esteem after Cyberball than those holding negative self-images. Deliberate retrieval of
positive self-images appears to facilitate access to a healthy positive implicit bias, as well as improving
explicit self-esteem, whereas deliberate retrieval of negative self-images does the opposite. This is
consistent with the idea that negative self-images may have a causal, as well as a maintaining, role in
social anxiety disorder.
1650-6073
163-173
Hulme, Natalie
5f638cb6-4545-42c4-ae5c-bfc11f776dec
Hirsch, Colette
8adaaf68-5339-444d-a716-d2ac0072a08d
Stopa, Lusia
b52f29fc-d1c2-450d-b321-68f95fa22c40
Hulme, Natalie
5f638cb6-4545-42c4-ae5c-bfc11f776dec
Hirsch, Colette
8adaaf68-5339-444d-a716-d2ac0072a08d
Stopa, Lusia
b52f29fc-d1c2-450d-b321-68f95fa22c40

Hulme, Natalie, Hirsch, Colette and Stopa, Lusia (2012) Images of the self and self-esteem: do positive self-images improve self-esteem in social anxiety? Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 41 (2), 163-173. (doi:10.1080/16506073.2012.664557).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Negative self-images play an important role in maintaining social anxiety disorder. We
propose that these images represent the working self in a Self-Memory System that regulates retrieval
of self-relevant information in particular situations. Self-esteem, one aspect of the working self,
comprises explicit (conscious) and implicit (automatic) components. Implicit self-esteem reflects an
automatic evaluative bias towards the self that is normally positive, but is reduced in socially anxious
individuals. Forty-four high and 44 low socially anxious participants generated either a positive or a
negative self-image and then completed measures of implicit and explicit self-esteem. Participants
who held a negative self-image in mind reported lower implicit and explicit positive self-esteem, and
higher explicit negative self-esteem than participants holding a positive image in mind, irrespective of
social anxiety group. We then tested whether positive self-images protected high and low socially
anxious individuals equally well against the threat to explicit self-esteem posed by social exclusion in a
virtual ball toss game (Cyberball). We failed to find a predicted interaction between social anxiety and
image condition. Instead, all participants holding positive self-images reported higher levels of
explicit self-esteem after Cyberball than those holding negative self-images. Deliberate retrieval of
positive self-images appears to facilitate access to a healthy positive implicit bias, as well as improving
explicit self-esteem, whereas deliberate retrieval of negative self-images does the opposite. This is
consistent with the idea that negative self-images may have a causal, as well as a maintaining, role in
social anxiety disorder.

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Published date: 22 March 2012

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 338184
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/338184
ISSN: 1650-6073
PURE UUID: 61d16163-858a-4316-9cf3-1823eb0fb3e7

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Date deposited: 10 May 2012 13:48
Last modified: 14 Mar 2024 11:02

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Contributors

Author: Natalie Hulme
Author: Colette Hirsch
Author: Lusia Stopa

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