Running Head: SELF-ESTEEM, NEGATIVE MONOLOGUES, AND PESSIMISM 1

The Relation Between Low Self-Esteem, Negative Inner Monologue and Pessimistic Tendencies

Jacob M. Clark

Glen Allen High School

SELF-ESTEEM, NEGATIVE MONOLOGUES, AND PESSIMISM 2

Pessimism, a mindset in which one focuses on the negative outcomes in life, is becoming

more common within the adult community. Because of this, research has gone into the root

causes of pessimism and how these ideas can be reversed to create more optimistic ideas. One

idea is that those who had low or fluctuating self-esteem during their childhood years are more

likely to have these pessimistic ideas in adulthood. The main research question guiding this paper

is How can pessimism and negative self-talk be changed to lead a more optimistic view of

society? There will be an investigation into whether self-esteem plays a role in pessimistic ideas

in this paper, as well as whether or not pessimism can be a result of certain situations. Finally,

there will be a focus on how to reverse these thoughts to create an optimistic view of society

rather than focus on pessimistic views throughout adulthood.

Pessimism is a mental attitude in which one has a negative attitude about the outcome of

the world. Often referred to as the glass half empty kind of attitude, pessimists find themselves

growing in numbers, which isnt necessarily a good thing. So what causes pessimism, is it one

born into this attitude, or can situational outcomes cause one to have a pessimist outlook, and is

it able to be overcome?

Multiple studies point to the situational approach to pessimism. According to one

researcher, adults who are in a caretaker position (such as hospice) tend to focus more on the

negative outcomes of life rather than the positives. Those not in these caretaker positions

however find themselves in much happier positions leading to an implied situational pessimistic

attitude. However, the same researcher pointed to younger thinkers approaching a situation in

black and white compared to adults who tend to have an array of experiences to draw from

(Robinson-Whelen, Kim, MacCallum, Kiecolt-Glaser, 1997). Robinson-Whelen also came to the

conclusion that pessimism in adulthood is more likely to focus on negative outcomes of that
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situation only rather than fester in ones mind to create a negative outcome of the world.

Compared to adults, children, however, take a much different approach. In childhood, situations

rather can take the form of self-esteem. When tested to find a correlation between self-esteem

and pessimism, those that are found to have lower self-esteem levels during adolescence tend to

have higher levels of pessimism in mid adulthood (around 30-40). When tested at ages 12, 18,

and 33, those that consistently scored lower on a self-esteem inventory both at ages twelve and

eighteen achieved scores indicative of higher levels of pessimism. Those who fluctuated

between high and low self-esteem tended to also score higher on levels of pessimism. However,

those that had medium to high levels of self-esteem scored higher on levels associated with

optimism (Heinonen, Rikknen, Keltikangas-Jrvinen, 2005). Because teenagers have a lack

of experiences to draw from in regards to helping themselves overcome self-esteem or situational

issues in general, teenagers and young adults tend to fester on pessimistic thoughts rather than

viewing these situations as temporary. Using this same logic, older adults are able to use their

repertoire of experiences in order to overcome negative outcome experiences, therefore adults

are less likely to look at the world in a pessimist-optimist lens, rather they tend to focus on a

realist lens.

Because self-esteem has such a large outcome on adolescence world outlooks, it is

important to look at certain aspects of self-esteem to see whether they affect adolescence

opinions of the world. When looking at education, there is evidence to support a negative

correlation between personal self-esteem (GSE) and academic self-esteem (ASE). Students with

lower general self-esteem were more likely to be academically successful than their counter

parts with higher general self-esteem. Also, those with lower academic self-esteem tend to have

[negative] academic outcomes, while academic performance has an outcome on academic self-
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esteem, it was found that academic performance had no effect on general self-esteem

especially in young men, yet large academic achievements tend to be included in a students

opinion of themselves. While low academic self-esteem does not show a correlation with overall

pessimism, there is a correlation between low academic achievers and defensive pessimism.

These defensive pessimists use this type of coping in order to protect themselves from the

consequences of failure (Pullmann, Allik, 2008).

Contrasting the idea above, general self-esteem can play a role in predicting ones

possible outcome in certain aspects of education, such as testing. In a three-part study, it was

determined that as a situation approached, those with lower self-esteem predicted themselves as

having a negative outcome on a situation compared to their counterparts with higher self-esteem.

In two parts of this study, self-esteem played a major role in determining the outcome of the

situation for certain students. In part two of the study, students were preparing themselves for

feedback from an examination, where students were asked on four different time intervals to

predict their score. It was found that at time one, students predicted themselves to have higher

and less accurate scores, while at times two, three and four, students consistently lowered their

score but were more accurate in their predictions. In part three of this study, self-esteem was

evaluated as a potential cause for this decrease in score predictions from study two. It was found

that individuals with higher self-esteem showed no change in their estimates, and in the same

logic individuals with lower self-esteem lowered their estimates, drastically particularly

between times three and four. While these low self-esteem individuals tended to lower their

scores, their score predictions tended to be lower than their true score because of the increasing

anxiety as time to feedback [drew] closer. While these individuals with low self-esteem tend to

poorly predict their outcomes, these predictions were concluded to have no effect on their
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performance on the original examination (Shepperd, Ouellette, Fernandez, 1996). Students with

low self-esteem tended to show pessimistic tendencies as feedback time drew nearer, yet these

tendencies tend to point more in a direction of defensive pessimism rather than overall

pessimism.

However, general self-esteem has a more lasting impression on adolescence in their

journey to adulthood. In one study, adolescents were followed as a part of a longitudinal study in

which their self-esteem would be tested at ages fourteen, eighteen, and twenty-three. It was

found that boys tended to increase in self-esteem as adolescence went on, yet girls tended to

continually decrease during the same time period. Researchers tend to attribute this to boys

being given autonomy at an earlier stage than girls, as well as personality differences between

genders, such as a strong correlation between boys and self-focused characteristics, such as

controlling of anxiety level. Of course there were outliers in this data, where some boys

decreased in self-esteem and some girls increased, however, this data needed to be further

analyzed by researchers. (Block, Robins, 1993). During this same time period, it was determined

that those who fluctuated between high and low levels of self-esteem achieved scores indicative

of higher levels of pessimism. in mid-adulthood. It was also found that those with low self-

esteem tend to be more pessimistic during their adulthood and vice-verse with high self-esteem

(Heinonen et al., 2005). Because of this, there is a strong correlation between low self-esteem

and higher levels of pessimism later in adulthood.

Because there is a correlation between low self-esteem and pessimism, there needs to be

a focus on how these ideas can be reversed and what can be done to create an environment in

which high self-esteem is encouraged. Further research needs to be completed on how these

pessimistic ideas can be changed (and not stuck in a fixed mindset) in order to create a glass
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half full thought process. Analysis of current adolescent and adult behavior shows a correlation

between low self-esteem and pessimism, however, these ideas are able to be overcome with

practice of more optimistic or even realistic thought processes.

References

Block, J., & Robins, R. W. (1993). A Longitudinal Study of Consistency and Change in Self

Esteem from Early Adolescence to Early Adulthood. Child Development, 64(3), 909-

923.

Heinonen, K., Rikknen, K., & Keltikangas-Jrvinen, L. (2005). Self-Esteem in Early and Late

Adolescence Predicts Dispositional OptimismPessimism in Adulthood: A 21-year

Longitudinal Study. Personality and Individual Differences, 39(3), 511-521.

Pullmann, H., & Allik, J. (2008). Relations of Academic and General Self-Esteem to School

Achievement. Personality and Individual Differences, 45(6), 559-564.

Robinson-Whelen, S., Kim, C., MacCallum, R. C., & Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K. (1997).

Distinguishing Optimism from Pessimism in Older Adults: Is It More Important to Be

Optimistic or Not to Be Pessimistic. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(6),

1345-1353.

Shepperd, J. A., Ouellette, J. A., & Fernandez, J. K. (1996). Abandoning Unrealistic Optimism:

Performance Estimates and the Temporal Proximity of Self-Relevant Feedback.

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(4), 844-855.

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