c. 1996 Religion News Service

CLEVELAND (RNS)-Enhancing self-esteem as an antidote to violent behavior is not only fruitless, it may even lead to aggression, a Case Western Reserve University psychology professor says.

In an article that contradicts some widely held ideas about bad behavior, Roy F. Baumeister and two graduate students reviewed nearly 200 studies of assault and murder, rape, domestic violence, youth gangs and juvenile delinquency as well as terrorism, oppression and genocide.

They conclude that people who engage in those behaviors rarely suffer from low self-esteem. In fact, people with poor self-images are less violent and less aggressive than people with inflated egos.

In study after study-including many in which the original researchers asserted that low esteem was to blame-Baumeister and his colleagues found instead that many of the most hostile people have high opinions of themselves and act out when that positive self-appraisal is challenged.

“In our view, the heavily positive connotation that self-esteem has acquired in recent American thought is partly a result of biased and wishful thinking that simply refuses to acknowledge the darker side,” the authors wrote in the article appearing in the February issue of the journal Psychological Review.

“As compared with other cultures and other historical eras, modern America has been unusually fond of the notion that elevating self-esteem of each individual will be best for society. America is also, perhaps not coincidentally, one of the world’s most violent societies, with rates of violent crime that far exceed even those of other modern, industrialized nations.”

Although it appears Baumeister is swimming against a strong current, he said psychologists are actually beginning to come around to his way of thinking. Mark R. Leary, a self-esteem researcher and professor at Wake Forest University, called Baumeister’s article a “wake-up call” for the psychology community and said it has convinced him that far too much has been made of the usefulness of self-esteem.

Correlations between high self-esteem and success, and low self-esteem and social failure may actually be measuring people’s realistic assessment of themselves and their accomplishments, Leary said.

“Some people with low self-esteem, it sounds crass, but they deserve to have low self-esteem in a sense,” he said. “To take somebody with low self-esteem and just puff them up with affirmations may give you someone with higher self-esteem, but that’s going to be unstable.”

Baumeister and his co-authors note that those whose self-image is unstable or inflated seem to be the most dangerous. “One major cause of violent response is threatened egotism, that is, a favorable self-appraisal that encounters an external, unfavorable evaluation,” the article says.

People who are depressed, self-deprecating, insecure or shy-hallmarks of low self-esteem-are less likely to act out, the authors say.

Among many studies cited is one that found juvenile delinquents were more likely to be self-assertive, socially assertive, defiant and narcissistic than nondeliquents and were less likely to feel helpless, unloved and suffer general anxiety than other juveniles. Similarly, gang members in a separate study tended to believe their parents had accepted a humble life of poverty and failure, which they were determined not to follow.

Reviewing literature about genocide and discrimination, Baumeister notes it is unlikely that whites subjugated blacks because they felt inferior to them, nor is it likely that Nazis killed millions of Jews out of feelings of inadequacy.

“What about Hitler and the `master race?’ That’s not a low self-esteem slogan,” Baumeister said. “And it’s the same thing if you look at Stalin or Idi Amin or Saddam Hussein, they all thought they were God. Does anyone really think that the cause of world peace would be served if we boosted Saddam Hussein’s self-esteem?”

Baumeister began studying violent behavior and its roots during research for a new book, “Why Is There Evil?” due out later this year. He concludes that a little more modesty and humility would do more for society than boosting self-image.

“I’d put it this way: Self-esteem feels good to the self, but the costs are borne by the people around you. In some ways it’s a mirror image of guilt, which is a cost to yourself, but better for everyone around you,” Baumeister said.

“I’d advise people to become a better person,” he said, “rather than just staying the same person and thinking better of yourself.”

MJP END TORASSA