ON THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN EXPLICIT AND IMPLICIT GLOBAL SELF-ESTEEM AND PERSONALITY

Global self-esteem refers to the general value that a person places on him- or herself and should be distinguished from appraisals of specific traits or abilities (such as academic self-concept). Psychologists, psychia-trists, sociologists, and educators have identified global self-esteem as a factor that influences motivation, career aspirations, educational success, job satisfaction, and mental and physical health (e.g., Baumeister, Camp-bell, Krueger, & Vohs, 2003). Because of its apparent connection to many important outcomes, global self-esteem is one of the most extensively studied individual differences. Self-esteem has tended, however, to be treated as a freestanding construct and as quite distinct from other indi-vidual differences. This treatment of self-esteem as an independent entity is surprising because it seems implausible that feelings of global self-worth should be unconnected to or independent of the individual’s gen-eral temperament or personality. For one thing, a person’s consisten