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By Bob
Reasoner
Implicit self-esteem refers
to those aspects of the self that are represented in memory via
routinized associations that are not readily available to
introspection. This is another approach to the assessment of
self-esteem, along with many of the other concepts of
self-esteem reported in the literature.
Recently questions have been
raised about the validity of self-report measures of self-esteem
since they can only tell us what people believe to be true about
themselves. We know that behavior is determined not only by
conscious thought but also by emotional reaction. As a result,
there is a growing interest in measuring information that people
may not be willing or able to report because it is at the
unconscious level. Many researchers are now using implicit
measures of self-esteem rather than traditional self-esteem
assessment instruments such as Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale
or Coopersmith’s Self-Esteem Inventory.
The most widely used measure
of implicit self-esteem is the Implicit Association Test IAT
(Greenwald & Farnham (2000) "Using the Implicit
Association Test to measure self-esteem and self-concept." Journal
of Personality and Social Psychology, 79, 1022-1038.) It
assesses the relative strength of automatic positive and
negative associations with self and with others. Another widely
used measure is the Initials-Preference Task (IPT). (Greenwald
& Banaji (1995) "Implicit social cognition: Attitudes,
self-esteem, and stereotypes." Psychological Revi ew,
102, 4-27). It indirectly measures self-esteem by capitalizing
on individual differences in the tendency to evaluate stimuli
associated with the self more favorably than stimuli not
associated with the self. For example, individuals rate their
preferences for the 26 letters of the alphabet and their
preference for letters of their own initials as opposed to other
letters of the alphabet.
The most recent issue of the
journal SELF AND IDENTITY, April-September 2007,
is devoted to research on the "The Implicit Self."
For more information about
this research topic or other research on self-esteem, contact
Bob Reasoner, President, International Council for Self-Esteem
at Esteem1@aol.com
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