Take a step back to see your own value: on the role of metacognition in self-esteem regulation.

IF 2.6 3区心理学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY

Frontiers in Psychology Pub Date : 2025-03-14 eCollection Date: 2025-01-01 DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1530008

Lena Rader, Saskia Doreen Forster, Siegfried Gauggel, Barbara Drueke, Verena Mainz

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Introduction: When self-esteem is threatened (e.g., by social rejection), people regulate it through self-enhancement, self-protection, or self-affirmation. High self-esteem individuals use functional strategies like self-affirmation and self-enhancement, while those with low self-esteem rely more on self-protection strategies. This study explored whether decentering, a metacognitive process, aids in accessing resources and promoting functional self-esteem regulation.

Methods: 1,100 participants (age 18-65, 72% female) completed questionnaires online. Structural equation modeling was used to test whether decentering mediates the association between self-esteem and self-enhancement, self-affirmation and self-protection.

Results: Self-esteem positively predicted decentering, which promoted self-affirmation and self-enhancement. The decentering factor Accepting Self-perception positively predicted self-protection, while the Distanced Perspective factor reduced it. Decentering significantly mediated all three strategies.

Discussion: These findings suggest that enhancing decentering could improve self-esteem regulation and inform therapeutic interventions. Strengthening an accepting self-perception may help individuals with low self-esteem adopt protective strategies. Fostering a distanced perspective could further promote self-affirmation, leading to better mental health outcomes.

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来源期刊

Frontiers in Psychology PSYCHOLOGY, MULTIDISCIPLINARY-

CiteScore

5.30

自引率

13.20%

发文量

7396

审稿时长

14 weeks

期刊介绍： Frontiers in Psychology is the largest journal in its field, publishing rigorously peer-reviewed research across the psychological sciences, from clinical research to cognitive science, from perception to consciousness, from imaging studies to human factors, and from animal cognition to social psychology. Field Chief Editor Axel Cleeremans at the Free University of Brussels is supported by an outstanding Editorial Board of international researchers. This multidisciplinary open-access journal is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, clinicians and the public worldwide. The journal publishes the best research across the entire field of psychology. Today, psychological science is becoming increasingly important at all levels of society, from the treatment of clinical disorders to our basic understanding of how the mind works. It is highly interdisciplinary, borrowing questions from philosophy, methods from neuroscience and insights from clinical practice - all in the goal of furthering our grasp of human nature and society, as well as our ability to develop new intervention methods.