Abstract

A traditional view holds that low self-esteem causes aggression, but recent work has not confirmed this. Although aggressive people typically have high self-esteem, there are also many nonaggressive people with high self-esteem, and so newer constructs such as narcissism and unstable self-esteem are most effective at predicting aggression. The link between self-regard and aggression is best captured by the theory of threatened egotism, which depicts aggression as a means of defending a highly favorable view of self against someone who seeks to undermine or discredit that view.

Keywords

NarcissismAggressionPsychologySelf-esteemSocial psychology

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Year
2000
Type
article
Volume
9
Issue
1
Pages
26-29
Citations
549
Access
Closed

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Roy F. Baumeister, Brad J. Bushman, W. Keith Campbell (2000). Self-Esteem, Narcissism, and Aggression. Current Directions in Psychological Science , 9 (1) , 26-29. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.00053

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DOI
10.1111/1467-8721.00053