Effects of contingencies of self -worth on self -regulation of behavior.

Abstract

Some people argue that contingencies of self-worth are indispensable sources of motivation (Pyszczynski & Cox, 2004; Sheldon, 2004). However, threatened egotism is associated with self-defeating behaviors that decrease the odds of success (Baumeister, 1997), and there are many situations in which contingent self-worth may lead to feeling more threatened. High and low self-esteem people also respond to threats differently (Brockner, 1979), and these differences interact with the effects of contingent self-worth to predict different self-regulatory outcomes for contingent high and low self-esteem people. In four laboratory studies, I tested the idea that contingencies of self-worth have costs for self-regulation as well as benefits. Contingencies of self-worth were associated with greater effort and better performance on medium difficulty or effort-dependent tasks, and for low self-esteem people on a very difficult task and on tasks following positive feedback. However, contingent self-worth also impaired self-regulation in several ways. It predicted greater ego depletion leading to poorer subsequent performance. In addition, contingent self-worth predicted marginally less effort and impaired performance for high self-esteem people on a very difficult task, and for low self-esteem people on tasks following negative feedback. These effects were not replicated with non self-esteem reasons for importance of a domain of life. Contingencies of self-worth seem to be a double-edged sword for self-regulation: when self-esteem is invested, people adjust their effort and performance to protect self-worth. If the behavior that protects self-worth is the same as the one that enhances performance, contingent self-worth leads to success, but if the behavior that protects self-worth differs from the one that enhances performance, success may be sacrificed to protect self-worth.