SELF-ESTEEM AND AGGRESSION THROUGH THE SCOPE OF DEFENSIVE

MECHANISM

Students: Jialing Ding (r0866068), Irene Ruiz Sánchez (r0876518), Michela Ferri (r0875479)

and Varvara Sycheva (r0827203)

Word count: 1552 words

Assignment due date: 14.12.2021

Supervisor: Professor Peter Kuppens

Course: Topics in Psychology of Individual Differences [P0R69a]

Master in Psychology: Theory & Research

Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven

Submitted on: 14/12/2021

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Abstract

Self-esteem, as defined by Cambridge Dictionary (n.d.), is the belief and confidence in one's

own ability and value. It has always been one of the hottest topics in the study of individual

differences. However, though there have been many focuses on its relationship with

aggression, scientists cannot come to a common opinion. Most of the debates stand on the

two ends of the scale, arguing whether high or low self-esteem causes aggression. Here we

propose an alternative way of thinking that both high and low self-esteem can lead to

aggression due to the same mechanism, namely a defensive mechanism. In addition, we

discuss different dimensions and levels of self-esteem as the potential explanation of the

proposed interaction.

Keywords: self-esteem, aggression, defensive mechanism, narcissism

Word count: 117

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Self-esteem and Aggression

The link between self-esteem and various problematic behaviors for a long time has

been a hot topic in psychology. Numerous research papers attempted to define the

relationship between antisocial behavior, aggression, violence and individuals’ self-esteem.

Nevertheless, it seems to raise more questions than to give answers, as so far, the research in

this field presented many contradictory findings. For a long time, it was thought that

individuals with low self-esteem are more prone to show patterns of violent or aggressive

behavior (Trzesniewski et al., 2006; Fong et al., 2008), but lately, this view was debated.

Some research failed to prove this correlation (Jang & Thornberry, 1998), whereas many

recent papers found a link between high self-esteem and aggression (Baumeister, Bushman,

& Campbell, 2000; Bushman et al., 2009). Furthermore, some research distinguishes between

different types of aggressive behavior, namely proactive, or “cold”, planned, and reactive,

“hot”, impulsive, which occurs as a defensive response when one feels threatened (Walters,

2005). Consequently, proactive aggressors tend to have higher self-esteem, whereas the

reactive ones tend to have lower self-esteem (Ostrowsky, 2010).

It is important to delve into the meaning and mechanisms involved in the terms

“aggression” and “self-esteem” by distinguishing its different types and levels. We rather

think that previous research, while investigating different aspects of the same variables, leads

to a common conclusion that is centred around the notion of a defensive mechanism.

The aim of this paper is first to examine the controversial interaction between

individuals' self-esteem and some aspects of problematic behavior, namely violence and

aggression through the scope of defensive mechanisms; and second to provide possible

explanations for the contradicting findings.

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Low self-esteem

Based on several theories, for a long time it has been hypothesized that low self-

esteem leads to several problematic behaviors, including aggressive ones. Both humanistic

psychologists and neo-Freudians believed that a lack of self-esteem motivated aggression

(Donnelan, 2005). Rosenberg (1965) referring to the theory of social bonds, suggested that

low self-esteem weakens the bonds with society leading to an increase in delinquency.

According to these theories, notable findings come from longitudinal field studies

conducted by Donnellan, Trzesniewski, Robins, Moffitt, and Caspi (2005), who observed a

strong relationship between low self-esteem and externalizing problems. Similarly,

Trzesniewski et al. (2006), controlling for other variables such as gender, depression, and

socioeconomic status, found that the likelihood of being convicted of a violent crime as an

adult was significantly higher in adolescents with low self-esteem than in adolescents with

high self-esteem. Also, Sutherland and Shepherd (2002) reported that low self-esteem is a

particularly strong predictor of adolescent violence (Ostrowsky, 2010). Ostrowsky (2010),

likewise, assumed that individuals with low self-esteem react with violence and aggression

towards others, to protect themselves from their feelings of inferiority, inadequacy and

shame.

However, a review of the literature by Baumeister, Smart, and Boden (1996) as well

as the reanalysis data of Bushman et al. (2009) did not support the hypothesis that low self-

esteem causes aggression, proposing instead that threatened egotism may better predict

aggression (Bushman et al., 2009). These hypotheses were later confirmed by the

experimental results of Bushman and Baumeister (1998), who found that the highest rates of

aggression came from the combination of high scores on the trait of narcissism and ego threat

(Bushman & Baumeister, 1998).

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These findings suggested that it is not low self-esteem that causes aggressive behavior

but rather aggressive behavior comes as a result of self-protecting reaction of the threatened

ego, i.e., as a defensive mechanism.

High self-esteem and aggression

On the other hand, many recent studies have also found a potential link between high

self-esteem and aggression. For example, one feature shared by many violent individuals, like

murderers, rapists, wife-beaters, violent youth gangs, aggressive nations, and other categories

of violent people is that they strongly held views of their superiority (Baumeister, Smart, &

Boden, 1996). However, we cannot simply conclude that high self-esteem causes violence.

As it is shown in Kernis, Grannemann, & Barclay (1989) study, people with high self-esteem

tended to cluster at the two extremes of the spectrum of hostility, which clearly shows that

high self-esteem does not always lead to aggression. Instead, they suggested that the core is

the stability of self-esteem. They defined the stability of self-esteem as the magnitude of

short-term fluctuations in one’s global self-evaluation. One feature of aggressive high self-

esteem individuals is that their self-esteem is unstable. As shown in Kernis et al., (1989),

people who had stable high self-esteem were found to be the least hostile of any group.

Whereas people with unstable high self-esteem were most prone to be hostile. This can be

explained because unstable self-esteem is characterized by fragile and vulnerable feelings of

self-worth affected by evaluative information, making people with this kind of self-esteem

react very strongly to events that seem relevant to their self-worth and respond badly to the

negative inputs. It is associated with a heightened degree of ego-involvement in daily

activities (Kernis, Brown, & Brody, 2000; Kernis et al., 1993; Waschull & Kernis, 1996),

stronger reactions to events (Kernis et al., 1997), and higher levels of anger and hostility

(Kernis et al., 1989).

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However, Sandstrom and Jordan (2008) focused on another dimension of self-esteem

and published a study on childhood aggression dividing self-esteem into explicit and implicit.

The first refers to a conscious, reflective assessment of oneself, and the latter entails an

automatic, spontaneous, unconscious vision of oneself. Thus, people with confident self-

esteem score high in explicit and implicit self-esteem, and people with the defensive one has

high explicit but low implicit self-esteem. High explicit self-esteem is defined as conscious

feelings of self-liking, self-worth, and acceptance (e.g., Brown, 1993; Kernis, 2003;

Rosenberg, 1965), and low implicit self-esteem consists of nonconscious, automatic and

overlearned self-evaluations (Greenwald & Banaji, 1995; Pelham & Hetts, 1999), what

means that people with defensive self-esteem have a positive self-view that is vulnerable to

threats because of underlying insecurities and self-doubts. Studies in both children and adults

have shown a positive correlation between aggression and high rates of explicit self-esteem

only when the implicit self-esteem is low, i.e., when the individual is characterized by

defensive self-esteem.

This tendency to display increased self-enhancement and defensive behavior is

consistent with classic views of narcissism. According to literature, it is characterized by a

sense of entitlement and superiority, grandiose self-views, arrogance, abusive authority and

control over others, excessive need for admiration, vanity, intolerance of criticism, selfish

orientation, lack of empathy and sense of privilege expecting favourable treatment. This

sense of entitlement and privilege makes them lash out when they fail because of having

harmed their thin skins and fragile egos.

Virgil Zeigler-Hill (2005) conducted a study to examine whether defensive self-

esteem was associated with narcissism and self-esteem instability in an undergraduate

sample. The results showed how defensive self-esteem possessed the highest levels of
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narcissism and reported unstable explicit self-esteem, supporting the idea that defensive self-

esteem may be the reason that narcissists are characterized as fragile and volatile (Brown &

Bosson, 2001). Therefore, unstable self-esteem, defensive high-self-esteem and narcissism

have some points in common that can be related to aggressive attitudes, considering that they

share the same pattern of bad and strong reactions to anything that threatens their enhanced

and vulnerable self-view.

Possible reasons for contradiction

Part of the reason for the contradicting findings lies in how scientists define and

further measure the parameter of self-esteem. In the research, it is often done using the

Rosenberg self-esteem scale test, a unidimensional test that does not allow to examine in

detail different aspects of self-esteem. First, this approach fails to distinguish between

confident self-esteem and defensive self-esteem. Consequently, the research has shown that

different dimensions of self-esteem appear to have unique effects on aggressive behavior

(Kirkpatrick et al., 2002; Webster & Kirkpatrick, 2006).

Secondly, in many studies where only the Rosenberg self-esteem scale test is used,

not only the level of self-esteem is not taken into account, but also its stability across time.

Thus, Kernis (2005) emphasizes the need to take into account the stability of self-esteem in

the study of its relation to anger. The results of many studies have shown a stronger

correlation between high but unstable self-esteem and aggressive behavior (Webster et al.,

2007).

Third, the problem may lie in the ambiguity of self-reported measures. Walker &

Bright (2009) talk about the so-called false inflated self-esteem when the aggressive behavior

with high self-esteem is the attempt to cover self-doubt and fear of humiliation. In such a

case, self-reported measures are not reliable.

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Conclusion

Based on the mentioned findings we rather think the link between self-esteem and

violent behavior is better explained through the interference of defensive mechanisms.

Unstable self-esteem, defensive high-self-esteem and narcissism all can be related to

aggressive attitudes, as they appear in a form of bad and strong reactions to anything that

threatens enhanced and vulnerable self-view. In order to explain exactly how the defensive

mechanism manifests itself in relation with self-esteem and aggression, further research is

needed with a more in-depth approach when measuring the parameters of self-esteem and

violent behavior. Thus, it should take into account different dimensions of self-esteem, its

stability level and differentiate between proactive and reactive aggression. Providing

alternatives and changing the prevailing assumptions about the nature of the relationships

between self-esteem and aggression is important to properly monitor and prevent patterns of

violent behavior.
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