Representational Differences Of Personal Self-esteem And Relational Self-esteem In Interdependent Self-construal

Personal self-esteem is implicated when peoples derive their sense of self-worth from personal attributes,such as their abilities and qualities.For example,I feel that I have a number of good qualities.Relational self-esteem pertains to self-worth derived from one's relationships with significant others such as family and friends.There are two different basic sources of relational self-worth,including one's value in relationships with significant others and the value of significant others.One's value in relationships with significant others refers to peoples' judgments of how worthy they are in relationships with significant others.For example,in general,I'm glad to be a member of my circle of friends.The value of significant others refers to peoples' and perceived others' judgments of how worthy their significant others are.For example,I am proud of my family;In general,most people think my family is very good.Not only did people evaluate the value of significant others from an introspective perspective,but they assess the value,particularly by assuming a third-person perspective.That is,how others evaluate the value of significant others.Previous researches on personal self-esteem and relational self-esteem have proven that they are two different types of self-esteem,with different dimensions and functions.Personal self-esteem has a stable one-dimensional model,which is the overall sense of self-worth,including the feelings of self-worth and the feelings of self-efficiency.The relational self-esteem has been found to have different dimensions in different groups.A one-dimensional model of relational self-esteem was found in college students,emphasizing the overall relational self-worth.The two-dimensional model was considered to be more stable in the middle students,including family-related self-esteem and friends-related self-esteem.Relational self-esteem could predict the subjective well-being of people.After controlling for PSE,RSE was associated with greater life satisfaction,positive affect,meaning in life.However,there are no clear conclusions as to whether the two types of self-esteem have different representations.Thus,the purpose of this study was to explore the representations of relational self-esteem and personal self-esteem at the questionnaires and neural level,and then to further explore the representation differences of this.Our research enriches the knowledge of self-esteem and helps people to understand the nature of personal self-esteem and relational self-esteem and the relationship between them.Self-esteem is closely related to self-construal.The representational differences of personal self-esteem and relational self-esteem may be affected by self-construal.Self-construal refers to how people perceive and define themselves and it can be distinguished as independent and interdependent self-construal.Separating the self from interpersonal relationships and social groups,the independent self-construal perceive themselves as an independent entity,and emphasize the independent ingredients of the self.The uniqueness of the self is an important basis for self-esteem.The interdependent self-construal when defining themselves emphasize the social role of the self and the connection with others,perceiving the self is reflected in the relationships with others.They attach more importance to the social relationships.They first consider the requirements of groups and social norms when making decisions,and the inherent characteristics of the self are secondary.Relationships with other members of the group form the basis of their self-esteem.China is a typical collectivist country and the interdependent self-construal is dominated in Chinese.In the present study,we want to explore the representational differences between PSE and RSE among the interdependent self-construal.In study 1,it was used to explore the behavioral differences between PSE and RSE based on subjective questionnaires and the influences of interdependent self-construal.There were recruited a total of 581 Chinese college students and collected the data about PSE,RSE and self-construal,using Rosenberg self-esteem Scale,relational self-esteem scale and the self-construal scale,then compare the scores of PSE and RSE and their relationship with the interdependent self-construal.The descriptive results showed that the scores of PSE and RSE were negative-skewed distribution and were significantly higher than the midpoint of the scale.Moreover,compared to the distribution of scores of PSE,the distribution of scores of RSE is more negatively skewed.The results of partial correlation revealed that interdependent self-construal was associated with greater RSE after controlled for PSE.When controlling for RSE,we found that interdependent self-construal was not associated with PSE.It shows that individuals with high interdependent self-construal have a more positive evaluation of RSE,compared with PSE.In study 2,we want to explore the neural difference between PSE and RSE and the neural mechanism of RSE.There were recruited 42 Chinese college students and they need to evaluate whether they agreed with three types of sentences concerning the relational self-worth,the personal self-worth and the semantics during the functional brain imaging scans.The sentences of relational self-worth were adopted from the relational self-esteem scale,and the sentences pertaining to personal self-worth were adopted from the Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale.The semantic condition contained common sense sentences.The results of the questionnaires were consistent with study 1.The rating scores of relational self-worth were significantly higher than personal self-worth during the task and the reaction time of relational self-worth was significantly higher than personal self-worth.fMRI results showed that there is significant activation of the left TPJ,precuneus and PCC when people evaluated relational self-worth versus semantic.Compared to personal self-worth,when people evaluated relational self-worth,the ventral/dorsal medial prefrontal cortex,bilateral middle temporal gyrus,precuneus,PCC and bilateral TPJ were strongly activated.Further Region of interest analysis showed the interdependent self-construal could moderate the association between the activation of ventral medial prefrontal cortex and the difference score between the Relational self-worth rating and the Personal self-worth rating.Especially,higher relational self-worth rating was related to more ventral medial prefrontal cortex activation among people with high interdependent self-construal.The relational self-worth rating was not correlated with the activation of the vmpfc in the low interdependent self-construal.Overall,it's concluded that individuals with high interdependent self-construal have a more positive evaluation of RSE than PSE.This could be accountable for the way where people who have a high interdependent see and define themselves.They look more emphasis on their relationship with others than their personal attributes,and the self is reflected in their relationships with others.And neuroimaging evidence further reveals the positive nature of RSE.Comparing the representational differences of PSE and RSE,we found the phenomenon that RSE is more positive than PSE among interdependent self-construal in our study and reveals the reason why RSE is more positive.This discovery has enriched our understanding of PSE and RSE,and deepened our knowledge about the meaning and value of existence.At the same time,education managers are reminded to continue to attach importance to collectivist education and to cultivate students' collectivist values.