Self-Esteem Influences How People Resolve Conflicts
September 19th, 2012
Effective conflict resolution is a necessary element for the success of all interpersonal relationships. Couples, co-workers, and family members will all have disagreements at one time or another. Being able to navigate through these choppy waters with confidence and compromise will determine the outcome, and more importantly, the emotional well-being of each party involved. Self-esteem is one aspect of emotional well-being that can be impaired when conflict is addressed aggressively or defensively. Justin V. Cavallo of the Department of Psychology at Columbia University sought to determine if self-esteem is a contributing factor in conflict resolution.
Cavallo hypothesized that people with high self-esteem (HSE) have abundant emotional resources that allow them to pursue positive conflict resolution despite the risks involved. In contrast, Cavallo theorized that people with low self-esteem (LSE) are more avoidant in the face of risk, regardless of the potential rewards. To test his theories, Cavallo conducted four separate studies that utilized naturally occurring and manipulated threat/conflict scenarios to assess how self-esteem affected individuals’ conflict resolution strategies when executive function resources were abundant and when they were taxed.
The results revealed that self-esteem did influence conflict resolution approaches when executive resources were readily available. Specifically, HSE individuals tended to take more risks toward achieving a positive outcome than LSE people did. However, when executive function resources were scant, HSE and LSE participants engaged in more avoidant behaviors that served to protect them from risks involved. Although existing research has demonstrated these same behaviors in people with varying degrees of self-esteem, few studies have looked at the underlying causes and contributing factors for these responses. This study sheds light on those mechanisms. “Together, these studies provide support for our hypothesis that self-esteem serves a broad executive-based regulatory function that allows people to navigate conflicting goals,” Cavallo said.
Reference:
Cavallo, Justin V., John G. Holmes, Grainne M. Fitzsimons, Sandra L. Murray, and Joanne V. Wood. Managing motivational conflict: How self-esteem and executive resources influence self-regulatory responses to risk. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 103.3 (2012): 430-51. Print.
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Comments
This concludes that now, more than ever, we have to find a wya to instill more and higher self esteem in the people of society as a whole. perhaps if we put more time and energy into this endeavor we could, in effect, help to resolve so many of the issues that currently plague the world in general. This may sound like a reach to some of you out there reading, but I genuinely believe that there are times when many people act out of insecurity in themselves and their own unique abilities to problem solve and take care of the conflicts that they are experiencing. When this begins to happen on a global scale then I think that the world today is a perfect example of how disharmonious society can become. But if we resol;ved to improve self esteem in others one person at a time, then maybe we could make decissions with a cooler head and with an eye focused more toward peace than fighting and war.
spot on.those that indulge in conflicts for small reasons and find it difficult to get over them are actually the ones that have low self esteem and the conflicts are just a way for them to run from the fact.hope this opens people’s eyes.
When you feel good about yourself in general, then you will feel good about your ability to resolve issues that come up in life and know how to best manage people and situations as they come along. Those are all things that usually go along with having good, strong self esteem.
All this makes perfect sense but I just want to know which way it works – does high self esteem put you in a better decision making position or does it work the other way too – good decision making skills enhance your self esteem? I definitely think both are true and would love to hear an expert view on this.Thanks!
people who have lower levels of self esteem are generally looking for ways to avoid conflict so that they are not faced with having to stand up for themselves, which could naturally feel a little overwhelming for them to have to attempt.
I have seen real world cases to say just how true this is! Those with high self esteem often go about in a conflict resolution in a better manner and are able to resolve things in a peaceful manner whereas those with low self esteem just look to hide their low self esteem and act out in ways that shouts LOW SELF ESTEEM. They do not know they are doing this as it is almost instinctive but it is a dead giveaway for sure!
have you guys observed – often the people who do get into meaningless arguments and conflicts are actually trying to hide something in them.this can be either lack of confidence or self esteem and I truly hope this acting out of theirs due to reasons such as these can be controlled because not only does it affect them but also those around them.
I wish that there were more school programs that were geared toward increasing self esteem in todays students.
I see many children who are not somfortable with themselves and being around other people all because they are afraid of what others think of them and how this will impact them.
I want our children to be strong, they need to be strong, to be able to have a positive impact on society, and without a good sense of self esteem they will not have the ability to do that.
In general I think that you will find that those with high self esteem are more successful and are more willing to take risks in life because they are confident in their abilities to always turn out a success. They do not tend to have those fears of failure that you will often find in those people who are not fortunate enough to feel good about themselves. I bet if you looked at the most successful people throughout history, you would see that all of them were blessed with pretty high levels of self esteem, even when others were talking down to them or making fun of their theories. Just goes to show that having a lot of self confidence and a high regard for yourself really can get you pretty far in life.
Higher self esteem= better rates of conflict resolution
It is fairly evident that when you feel good about who you are then that extends to all areas of yourself. You like the way you look, you have accomplished great things and you know it, so it only stems to reason that you will also feel a little more confident in your abilities to handle tough decisions and to stem conflict and irrationality. If you have this then you have a good head on your shoulders and you have the faith that you can handle any of the lemons that life throws at you. If though you don’t have this inner confidence then you are certain to feel stress when having to handle problems that do not feel comfortable to you and getting through this kind of stress can be very difficult to you. So learning to manage all of this comes from knowing yourself and the reactions that others have, but mainly just finding a way to feel good about who you are and using that feeling to your definite advantage.
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