The appeal of worthless groups: Moderating effects of trait self-esteem
The authors tested the hypothesis that people with low trait self-esteem prefer to join seemingly worthless groups because one's membership is less tenuous in worthless than in worthwhile groups. One hundred fourteen undergraduate students who completed a measure of trait self-esteem expressed their preference for working in a group versus alone on a task described as worthless or worthwhile. Furthermore, they were told that if they worked with the group, they might be removed from the group either randomly or by a group vote. Participants with low trait self-esteem preferred working with the worthless group more than the worthwhile group, whereas participants with high self-esteem snowed the opposite effect. In addition, the mere possibility of exclusion by a group vote lowered the state self-esteem of participants with low trait self-esteem but raised the self-esteem of those with high self-esteem. Copyright 1997 by the Educational Publishing Foundation.
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Related Subject Headings
- Social Psychology
- 5205 Social and personality psychology
- 5201 Applied and developmental psychology
- 1701 Psychology
- 1503 Business and Management
Citation
Published In
DOI
ISSN
Publication Date
Volume
Issue
Start / End Page
Related Subject Headings
- Social Psychology
- 5205 Social and personality psychology
- 5201 Applied and developmental psychology
- 1701 Psychology
- 1503 Business and Management