Self-Esteem and Aggression

287 Pages·2015·2.53 MB·English

CARDIFF UNIVERSITY

Self-Esteem and Aggression:
The Relationships between Explicit-Implicit Self-Esteem,
Narcissism, and Reactive-Proactive Aggression

Suzana Amad

A thesis submitted for
the degree of Doctor of Philosophy

School of Psychology
Cardiff University
2015
I dedicate this thesis to my parents
Dato’ Prof. Amad Aman and Datin Norzila Ibrahim,
to my soulmate
Zaki Aini,
and to my daughter
Nina Adrianna

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DECLARATION

This work has not been submitted in substance for any other degree or award at this
or any other university or place of learning, nor is being submitted concurrently in
candidature for any degree or other award.

Signed ………………………………… (candidate) Date …………………………

STATEMENT 1

This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

Signed ………………………………… (candidate) Date …………………………

STATEMENT 2

This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where
otherwise stated. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. The views
expressed are my own.

Signed ………………………………… (candidate) Date …………………………

STATEMENT 3

I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and
for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside
organisations.

Signed………………………………… (candidate) Date …………………………

STATEMENT 4: PREVIOUSLY APPROVED BAR ON ACCESS

I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available for photocopying and
for inter-library loans after expiry of a bar on access previously approved by the
Academic Standards & Quality Committee.

Signed………………………………… (candidate) Date …………………………

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

In The Name of Allah, The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful

Alhamdulillah with His countless blessings, His showers of love and the courage He
granted me throughout this life, especially in driving me towards the completion of
this thesis. Earning a Ph.D. in Psychology has been a lifelong dream. I would have not
done this without the help and guidance from Him, and most importantly the
sustenance and opportunity to embrace on this journey that is full of turmoils. It has
indeed been a long and toughest ride so far, but finally has come to an end.

I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Robert Snowden for all his supports
and patience in guiding me throughout my time at Cardiff University. Thank you for
believing in me, not giving up on me, your understanding and for your words of
encouragement. You have taught me to trust my own abilities. You are an inspiration
and I admire your intelligence. Not forgetting Professor Rob Honey and Professor
Nicola Gray for their invaluable help and advice. I could not have completed this
process without you.

Special thanks to Rick Budd, Lyndsay Jackson, and Naader Abbasi from SOLAS, also
Siti Intan Liyana and Arief Afandi for their help during data collection and processing.
I would have not done it without you. Thank you to Dr. Rebecca Pepper, Dr. Bethan
Fulford, Dr. Rumaya Juhari, Dr. Nida Khambari, and Dr. Azira Adzis for sharing the
knowledge and experiences. To my fellow PhDers – Dayu, Suzila, Anuar, Marlon, and
Annie. Thanks for lending me your ears and cheering me up with the wonderful words
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that kept me going. To all the participants who contributed their time to my research,
and to all those who have been involved either directly or indirectly in this journey.

Finally, my deepest appreciation goes to my family, thank you for your endless love
and prayers for my endeavours and success in life. To my parents, thank you for raising
me and constantly providing me with encouragements and all the supports that I
needed. Thank you for pushing me to the top. To my sisters – Marina, Dr. Zarina, and
Dr. Aisha, thank you for being there when my world has gone crazy. Thank you my
beloved husband, Zaki, who has endured this journey with me. We both know it was
definitely not easy having to go through a number of obstacles, yet you amazed me
with your optimistic outlooks in life that gave me the courage. You helped me to cope
and supported me no matter what. Thank you for not losing faith in me. To my baby
girl Nina Adrianna, my precious gift, mummy can now spend more time watching you
grow.

I value each and every one of you. Thank you.

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THESIS SUMMARY

Aggression can be detrimental to both victims and perpetrators. Recent research on the
theoretical risks for aggressive behaviours fail to demonstrate consistent links with the
human’s evaluation of self-worth, hence the nature of this relationship remains
unclear. Specifically, the purpose of the investigation was to examine the differential
association between multidimensional self-esteem using both explicit and implicit
measures, narcissism, and reactive and proactive aggression across three samples of
different cultures and characteristics. Chapter 1 discusses the general background of
the study and a brief review of the possible issues that might have contributed to the
ambiguous findings on the relationships between self-esteem and aggression. Chapter
2 discusses the theoretical links between self-esteem and aggression, which includes
the limitations of self-report assessments (i.e., explicit measures) and how the
alternative of indirect assessment tools (i.e., implicit measures) may help to overcome
this issue by assessing more automated forms of processes involved in the
development of aggressive behaviours. The investigation examines whether the use of
the current Single-Target Implicit Association Test (ST-IAT) would provide a greater
empirical support for the links between multidimensional self-esteem with reactive
and proactive aggression, relative to self-report questionnaires. Chapter 3 describes the
evidence surrounding the role of multidimensional self-esteem in different types of
aggression in a different culture of similar characteristics, through a replication of the
aforementioned investigation. The cross-cultural comparisons were inspected based
on the individualistic-collectivistic perspectives. Chapter 4 further explores the
relationship of interest by taking into account the content dimensions of self-esteem,
namely agency and communion. These dimensions were assessed using both explicit
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and implicit measures on a high-risk population sample within the community. Across
each chapter, the current results concerning explicit self-esteem demonstrated
consistent evidence to show that low self-esteem is associated with high reactive
aggression, whereas narcissism is positively related to aggression, and proactive
aggression in particular. Unfortunately, the use of the IAT paradigms in this current
investigation did not improve prediction of group membership or estimated risk of
aggression. Chapter 5 describes how such findings may be of benefit in unravelling
the inconsistency within the self-esteem and aggression relationships. Through further
replication and methodological refinement, the current findings could be utilised in
support of forensic risk assessment needs within the violence/aggression treatment
programmes.

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CONTENTS
List of Tables ......................................................................................................... xi
Introduction ......................................................................................1
1.1 Overview .........................................................................................................1
1.2 Problems and Challenges .................................................................................3
Aggression versus Violence: Conceptualisations and Variations ................3
Definitions ..........................................................................................4
Varieties of Aggression.......................................................................5
Theoretical Perspectives of Aggression ............................................. 12
Multidimensional Self-Esteem: Conceptualisations and Variations .......... 17
Definitions of Self-Esteem ................................................................ 18
Self-Esteem Dimension: Global versus Domain Specific .................. 19
Self-Esteem Dimension: Explicit versus Implicit Self-Esteem........... 22
Stability of Self-Esteem .................................................................... 26
Heterogeneity of High Self-Esteem ................................................... 27
Narcissism: Conceptualisations and Variations ........................................ 31
Definitions ........................................................................................ 31
The Association of Self-Esteem and Narcissism ............................... 33
Adaptive versus Maladaptive Narcissism .......................................... 35
1.3 The Current Research ..................................................................................... 38
1.4 Thesis Plan ..................................................................................................... 44
Multidimensional Self-Esteem, Narcissism and Aggression ......... 45
2.1 Introduction.................................................................................................... 45
2.2 Aggression and Self-Esteem ........................................................................... 46
Low Self-Esteem Leads to Aggression .................................................... 46
High Self-Esteem Leads to Aggression .................................................... 50
Narcissism and Aggression ...................................................................... 52
Adaptive and Maladaptive Narcissism with Aggression .................... 56
2.3 Self-Esteem Domains and Dimensions ........................................................... 58
Global Self-Esteem .................................................................................. 58
Measures of Global Self-Esteem ....................................................... 58
Limitation of Explicit Measures ........................................................ 60
Implicit Self-Esteem ................................................................................ 61
Measures of Implicit Self-Esteem ..................................................... 62
Implicit Association Test (IAT) ........................................................ 63
Implicit Self-Esteem and Aggression ....................................................... 64
Defensive Self-Esteem/Discrepancies of Self-Esteem .............................. 65
Fragile Self-Esteem .......................................................................... 65
Damaged Self-Esteem ....................................................................... 66
2.4 Aggression: Reactive and Proactive................................................................ 68
2.5 Aims of this Chapter ...................................................................................... 70
2.6 Methods ......................................................................................................... 71
Sample .................................................................................................... 71
Measures ................................................................................................. 72
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Demographic Measures .................................................................... 72
Self-Report Measures ....................................................................... 73
Implicit Measure ............................................................................... 74
Procedure ................................................................................................ 78
Analyses .................................................................................................. 79
2.7 Results ........................................................................................................... 81
Sample Averages and Gender Differences ............................................... 81
Relationships between Explicit Self-Esteem and Aggression ................... 83
Relationships between Implicit Self-Esteem and Aggression ................... 87
2.8 Discussion ...................................................................................................... 90
Limitations .............................................................................................. 92
2.9 Conclusions.................................................................................................... 93
Cross-Cultural Comparisons ......................................................... 94
3.1 Introduction.................................................................................................... 94
3.2 Different Cultural Values ............................................................................... 94
Individualism versus Collectivism ........................................................... 95
Individualism .................................................................................... 95
Collectivism ..................................................................................... 97
3.3 Levels of Aggression in Different Cultures ..................................................... 98
3.4 Different Levels of Self-Esteem ................................................................... 102
Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Explicit Self-Esteem ............................. 102
Cross-Cultural Comparisons of Implicit Self-Esteem ............................. 105
3.5 Cross-Cultural Comparisons: Self-Esteem and Aggression ........................... 107
3.6 Aim of the Chapter ....................................................................................... 109
3.7 Methods ....................................................................................................... 110
Sample .................................................................................................. 110
Measures ............................................................................................... 111
Demographic Measures .................................................................. 111
Self-Report Measures ..................................................................... 112
Implicit Measure ............................................................................. 112
Procedure .............................................................................................. 113
Analyses ................................................................................................ 114
3.8 Results ......................................................................................................... 116
Sample Averages and Gender Differences ............................................. 116
Relationships between Explicit Self-Esteem and Aggression (Part 1a) ... 118
Relationship between Implicit and Explicit Self-Esteem and Aggression
(Part 1b) ................................................................................................ 123
Cross-Cultural Comparisons (Part 2) ..................................................... 126
Levels of Aggression ...................................................................... 126
Levels of Self-Esteem ..................................................................... 127
Relationships between Explicit Self-Esteem and Aggression .......... 128
Relationships between Implicit and Explicit Self-Esteem and
Aggression...................................................................................... 132
Relationship between Explicit Self-Esteem and Aggression
(Moderated by Gender and Culture) ................................................ 134
Relationship between Implicit and Explicit Self-Esteem with
Aggression (Moderated by Gender and Culture) ............................. 137
3.9 Discussion .................................................................................................... 139
Limitations ............................................................................................ 145
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3.10 Conclusions ................................................................................................ 146
Self-Esteem and Aggression in a High Risk Population Sample 147
4.1 Introduction.................................................................................................. 147
4.2 Limitations of Global Self-Esteem Measures: The Need to Include
Interpersonal Content of Self-Esteem ........................................................... 148
4.3 Agency and Communion as Dimensions of Self-Esteem .............................. 151
4.4 Measurements of Agency and Communion .................................................. 155
Explicit Measure: The Use of Personal Attributes Questionnaire (PAQ) 155
Implicit Measures of Agency and Communion ...................................... 156
4.5 Agency and Communion and Relationships with Aggression ....................... 159
4.6 Aims of the Chapter ..................................................................................... 161
4.7 Methods ....................................................................................................... 162
Sample .................................................................................................. 162
Measures ............................................................................................... 164
Demographic Measures .................................................................. 164
Self-report Measures ....................................................................... 164
Implicit Measures ........................................................................... 166
Procedure .............................................................................................. 167
Analyses ................................................................................................ 169
4.8 Results ......................................................................................................... 170
Sample Averages and Gender Differences ............................................. 170
Relationships between Explicit Self-Esteem and Aggression ................. 173
Relationships between Implicit Self-Esteem (and Explicit Self-Esteem)
and Aggression ...................................................................................... 177
Relationships between Explicit Measures of Agency and Communion
with Aggression..................................................................................... 180
Relationships between Implicit Measures of Agency and Communion
with Aggression..................................................................................... 181
Agency Measures Predicting Aggression ............................................... 181
Communion Measures Predicting Aggression ........................................ 183
4.9 Discussion .................................................................................................... 184
Limitations ............................................................................................ 190
4.10 Conclusions ................................................................................................ 191
General Discussion ....................................................................... 192
5.1 Aims of this Thesis....................................................................................... 192
5.2 Summary of Findings ................................................................................... 193
Self-Esteem and Aggression .................................................................. 193
Narcissism and Aggression .................................................................... 194
Implicit Self-Esteem and Aggression ..................................................... 196
Interaction between Explicit and Implicit Self-Esteem and Aggression .. 198
Agency and Communion with Aggression ............................................. 199
5.3 Clinical Implications .................................................................................... 202
5.4 Current Research Limitations ....................................................................... 203
Potential Issues with Research Design ................................................... 203
Potential Issues with Current Self-Report Measures ............................... 204
Potential Issues with Current IAT Measures .......................................... 204
5.5 Future Direction ........................................................................................... 206
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