journal article Open Access Feb 04, 2016

Trait self-esteem and neural activities related to self-evaluation and social feedback

View at Publisher Save 10.1038/srep20274
Abstract
AbstractSelf-esteem has been associated with neural responses to self-reflection and attitude toward social feedback but in different brain regions. The distinct associations might arise from different tasks or task-related attitudes in the previous studies. The current study aimed to clarify these by investigating the association between self-esteem and neural responses to evaluation of one’s own personality traits and of others’ opinion about one’s own personality traits. We scanned 25 college students using functional MRI during evaluation of oneself or evaluation of social feedback. Trait self-esteem was measured using the Rosenberg self-esteem scale after scanning. Whole-brain regression analyses revealed that trait self-esteem was associated with the bilateral orbitofrontal activity during evaluation of one’s own positive traits but with activities in the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate and occipital cortices during evaluation of positive social feedback. Our findings suggest that trait self-esteem modulates the degree of both affective processes in the orbitofrontal cortex during self-reflection and cognitive processes in the medial prefrontal cortex during evaluation of social feedback.
Topics

No keywords indexed for this article. Browse by subject →

References
48
[1]
James, W. The principle of psychology. Vol. 1 (Henry Holt, 1890). 10.1037/10538-000
[2]
Leary, M. R. Making sense of self-Esteem. Current Directions in Psychological Science 8, 32–35 (1999). 10.1111/1467-8721.00008
[3]
MacDonald, G., Saltzman, J. L. & Leary, M. R. Social approval and trait self-esteem. Journal of Research in Personality 37, 23–40 (2003). 10.1016/s0092-6566(02)00531-7
[4]
Leary, M. R., Tambor, E. S., Terdal, S. K. & Downs, D. L. Self-Esteem as an Interpersonal Monitor: The Sociometer Hypothesis. Journal of personality and social psychology 68, 518–530 (1995). 10.1037/0022-3514.68.3.518
[5]
Leary, M. R. & Baumeister, R. F. The nature and function of self-esteem: Sociometer theory. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 32, 1–62 (2000). 10.1016/s0065-2601(00)80003-9
[6]
Maslow, A. Motivation and Personality. (Harper and Row, 1987).
[7]
Rosenberg, M. Society and the adolescent self-image. (Princeton University Press, 1965). 10.1515/9781400876136
[8]
Yang, J., Dedovic, K., Chen, W. & Zhang, Q. Self-esteem modulates dorsal anterior cingulate cortical response in self-referential processing. Neuropsychologia 50, 1267–1270, doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.02.010 (2012). 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2012.02.010
[9]
Eisenberger, N. I., Inagaki, T. K., Muscatell, K. A., Byrne Haltom, K. E. & Leary, M. R. The neural sociometer: brain mechanisms underlying state self-esteem. Journal of cognitive neuroscience 23, 3448–3455, doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_00027 (2011). 10.1162/jocn_a_00027
[10]
Yang, J., Dedovic, K., Guan, L., Chen, Y. & Qi, M. Self-esteem modulates dorsal medial prefrontal cortical response to self-positivity bias in implicit self-relevant processing. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, doi: 10.1093/scan/nst181 (2014). 10.1093/scan/nst181
[11]
Frewen, P. A., Lundberg, E., Brimson-Theberge, M. & Theberge, J. Neuroimaging self-esteem: a fMRI study of individual differences in women. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience 8, 546–555, doi: 10.1093/scan/nss032 (2013). 10.1093/scan/nss032
[12]
Moran, J. M., Macrae, C. N., Heatherton, T. F., Wyland, C. L. & Kelley, W. M. Neuroanatomical evidence for distinct cognitive and affective components of self. Journal of cognitive neuroscience 18, 1586–1594, doi: 10.1162/jocn.2006.18.9.1586 (2006). 10.1162/jocn.2006.18.9.1586
[13]
Han, S. et al. A cultural neuroscience approach to the biosocial nature of the human brain. Annual review of psychology 64, 335–359, doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-071112-054629 (2013). 10.1146/annurev-psych-071112-054629
[14]
Han, S. & Northoff, G. Culture-sensitive neural substrates of human cognition: a transcultural neuroimaging approach. Nature reviews. Neuroscience 9, 646–654, doi: 10.1038/nrn2456 (2008). 10.1038/nrn2456
[15]
Baumeister, R. F., Campbell, J. D., Krueger, J. I. & Vohs, K. D. Does High Self-Esteem Cause Better Performance, Interpersonal Success, Happiness, or Healthier Lifestyles? Psychological science in the public interest : a journal of the American Psychological Society 4, 1–44, doi: 10.1111/1529-1006.01431 (2003). 10.1111/1529-1006.01431
[16]
Brown, J. D. The self. (Psychology Press, 2007).
[17]
Brown, J. D. Self-esteem and self-evaluations: Feeling is believing. Vol. 4 (Erlbaum, 1993).
[18]
Zeigler-Hill, V. Self-esteem. (Psychology Press, 2013). 10.4324/9780203587874
[19]
Huang, X. & Zhang, S. Desirability, meaningfulness and familiarity ratings of 562 personality-trait adjectives. Psychological Science (in Chinese) 5, 17–22 (1992).
[20]
Type I and Type II error concerns in fMRI research: re-balancing the scale

Matthew D. Lieberman, William A. Cunningham

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 2009 10.1093/scan/nsp052
[21]
Nathan, P. E. Oxford handbook of Positive Psychology. (Oxford University Press, 2009).
[22]
Newman, B. M. & Newman, P. R. Development Through Life: A Psychosocial Approach., (Dorsey, 1975).
[23]
Smith, E. R. & Mackie, D. M. Social Psychology. (Psychology Press, 2007).
[24]
The human orbitofrontal cortex: linking reward to hedonic experience

Morten L. Kringelbach

Nature Reviews Neuroscience 2005 10.1038/nrn1747
[25]
Nauta, W. J. The problem of the frontal lobe: a reinterpretation. Journal of psychiatric research 8, 167–187 (1971). 10.1016/0022-3956(71)90017-3
[26]
Rolls, E. T. The Brain and Emotion. (Oxford Univeristy Press, 1999). 10.1093/oso/9780198524649.001.0001
[27]
Berridge, K. C. & Kringelbach, M. L. Affective neuroscience of pleasure: reward in humans and animals. Psychopharmacology 199, 457–480, doi: 10.1007/s00213-008-1099-6 (2008). 10.1007/s00213-008-1099-6
[28]
A neuronal model of a global workspace in effortful cognitive tasks

Stanislas Dehaene, Michel Kerszberg, Jean-Pierre Changeux

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 1998 10.1073/pnas.95.24.14529
[29]
Rolls, E. T. et al. Representations of pleasant and painful touch in the human orbitofrontal and cingulate cortices. Cerebral cortex 13, 308–317 (2003). 10.1093/cercor/13.3.308
[30]
Abstract reward and punishment representations in the human orbitofrontal cortex

J. O'Doherty, M. L. Kringelbach, E. T. Rolls et al.

Nature Neuroscience 2001 10.1038/82959
[31]
Beer, J. S., John, O. P., Scabini, D. & Knight, R. T. Orbitofrontal cortex and social behavior: integrating self-monitoring and emotion-cognition interactions. Journal of cognitive neuroscience 18, 871–879, doi: 10.1162/jocn.2006.18.6.871 (2006). 10.1162/jocn.2006.18.6.871
[32]
Scheff, T. J., Retzinger, S. M. & Ryan, M. T. In The social importance of self-esteem (eds Mecca, A. M., Smelser, N. J. & Vasconcellos, J. ) 165–199 (University of California Press, 1989). 10.1525/9780520355033-007
[33]
Buckner, R. L. & Carroll, D. C. Self-projection and the brain. Trends in cognitive sciences 11, 49–57, doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2006.11.004 (2007). 10.1016/j.tics.2006.11.004
[34]
Leary, M. R., Haupt, A. L., Strausser, K. S. & Chokel, J. T. Calibrating the Sociometer: The Relationship Between Interpersonal Appraisals and State Self-Esteem. Journal of personality and social psychology 74, 1290–1299 (1998). 10.1037/0022-3514.74.5.1290
[35]
Moran, J. M., Lee, S. M. & Gabrieli, J. D. Dissociable neural systems supporting knowledge about human character and appearance in ourselves and others. Journal of cognitive neuroscience 23, 2222–2230, doi: 10.1162/jocn.2010.21580 (2011). 10.1162/jocn.2010.21580
[36]
Modinos, G., Ormel, J. & Aleman, A. Activation of anterior insula during self-reflection. PloS one 4, e4618, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004618 (2009). 10.1371/journal.pone.0004618
[37]
Molnar-Szakacs, I. & Uddin, L. Q. Self-processing and the default mode network: interactions with the mirror neuron system. Frontiers in human neuroscience 7, 571, doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00571 (2013). 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00571
[38]
Raichle, M. E. et al. A default mode of brain function. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98, 676–682, doi: 10.1073/pnas.98.2.676 (2001). 10.1073/pnas.98.2.676
[39]
Distinct Regions of the Medial Prefrontal Cortex Are Associated with Self-referential Processing and Perspective Taking

Arnaud D'Argembeau, Perrine Ruby, Fabienne Collette et al.

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 2007 10.1162/jocn.2007.19.6.935
[40]
Beer, J. S. The default self: feeling good or being right? Trends in cognitive sciences 11, 187–189, doi: 10.1016/j.tics.2007.02.004 (2007). 10.1016/j.tics.2007.02.004
[41]
Qin, P. & Northoff, G. How is our self related to midline regions and the default-mode network? NeuroImage 57, 1221–1233, doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.05.028 (2011). 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.05.028
[42]
Finding the Self? An Event-Related fMRI Study

W. M. Kelley, C. N. Macrae, C. L. Wyland et al.

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience 2002 10.1162/08989290260138672
[43]
Macrae, C. N., Moran, J. M., Heatherton, T. F., Banfield, J. F. & Kelley, W. M. Medial prefrontal activity predicts memory for self. Cerebral cortex 14, 647–654, doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhh025 (2004). 10.1093/cercor/bhh025
[44]
Symons, C. S. & Johnson, B. T. The self-reference effect in memory: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletion 121, 371–394 (1997). 10.1037/0033-2909.121.3.371
[45]
Heatherton, T. F. & Polivy, J. Development and Validation of a Scale for Measuring State Self-esteem. Journal of personality and social psychology 60, 895–910 (1991). 10.1037/0022-3514.60.6.895
[46]
Bollich, K. L., Johannet, P. M. & Vazire, S. In search of our true selves: feedback as a path to self-knowledge. Frontiers in psychology 2, 312, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00312 (2011). 10.3389/fpsyg.2011.00312
[47]
Vazire, S. Who knows what about a person? The self-other knowledge asymmetry (SOKA) model. Journal of personality and social psychology 98, 281–300, doi: 10.1037/a0017908 (2010). 10.1037/a0017908
[48]
Vazire, S. & Carlson, E. N. Self-knowledge of Personality: Do people konow themselves? Social and Personality Pscyhology Compass 4/8, 605–620 (2010). 10.1111/j.1751-9004.2010.00280.x
Metrics
36
Citations
48
References
Details
Published
Feb 04, 2016
Vol/Issue
6(1)
License
View
Cite This Article
Juan Yang, Xiaofan Xu, Yu Chen, et al. (2016). Trait self-esteem and neural activities related to self-evaluation and social feedback. Scientific Reports, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/srep20274