Ayn Rand's The Importance Of Self-Esteem

The reason self-esteem is increasing because people are using multiple ways to make themselves feel better. Some ways described in the book are; downward social comparison, upward social comparison, compensatory self-enhancement, discounting, external attribution, internal attribution and basking in the reflected glory. Downward social comparison is comparing your performance with the performance of someone who is doing even worse than you, whereas upward social comparison is surrounding yourself with successful people to make yourself feel more successful. Compensatory self-enhancement is when you acknowledge the poor grade you got in class but instead start to think about your excellent clarinet-playing skills. Discounting is reducing the
perceived importance of the domain in which you performed poorly. External attribution is making an excuse for your poor performance, where internal attribution is when people locate the cause within ourselves, such as our abilities. Basking in the reflected glory is the success of a group to which you belong. The range of strategies whe have to choose from, it becomes less surprising that so many people have high self-esteem and such unrealistically positive views of themselves.

2. What do you think are some societal consequences from this increase in self esteem?
Some societal consequences could happen from the increase in self-esteem such as; increase development of narcissism, putting others down for their opinions, always thinking they are right and controlling over others.

3. How does comparing your performance on a task with others affect the positivity of your self feelings?
You might engage in downward social comparisons by comparing your performance with the performance of someone who is doing even worse than you. When we compare ourselves to someone who is worse off than us we create a favorable comparison that casts our own performance in a positive light.

4. What are some key ways that self esteem differs from face?
Self-esteem is when an individual views himself or herself positively, whereas face is the amount of social value others give you if you live up to the standards associated with your position. The higher you social position, the greater the amount of face available to you. Face is more easily lost than gained. It is only maintained when others evaluate oneself positively.

5. How does Weber argue that the Protestant Reformation contributed to achievement motivation?
Martin Luther the founder of Protestantism, proposed that each individual had a calling, this means each person had to fulfill a purpose during his or her mortal existence.
Each individual had a certain dut to take care of while they are on the planet, the each had unique skills and capabilities needed to fulfill his or her calling. The highest moral duty that individuals were believed to have was to serve God well by working hard at their calling. With the Protestant Reformation, work had become a moral obligation rather than something necessary for subsistence. Protestants came to view work as a spiritual task, the take their work very seriously. Weber maintained that each individual had a calling and that this shift in attitude had an enormous impact on
society.

6.
What are some ways that students use primary and secondary control when preparing for an exam?
A way that students use primary control when preparing for an exam would be wanting to get a good grade so they go out of their way to study continuously and effectively to achieve that grade. Secondary control is when a group of friends get together and decided they would like to study for the test, you realize this is a good idea because this will help your own test
grade.

7. How do Indians make choices compared with Americans?
When individuals listed situations in which someone had tried to influence their decisions in the past, the Indians assumed the influence was doing this more for altruistic rather than selfish reasons, whereas the Americans assumed the opposite. Indians were more likely than Americans to say they would go along and make decisions in accordance with the influencers’ preferences, they were able to convey more of a sense that they influencer could help them make a better decision. Making choices appears to be more difficult for Indians than Americans; Indian take significantly more time to make choice than Americans do. They don't respond as negatively when they are deprived of the opportunity to choose when compared with Americans. Indians also have less free choice in their lives .

8. Why do you think Americans seem to value choice so much compared with people in other countries?
When Americans are given an opportunity to choose something they almost always select the option that they prefer. Making individual choices seems to be especially valued in individualistic cultures and appears to be the most true in the United States- the world champion of individualism.

9. Why did people conform so often in the Asch conformity study?
People are often in the position to make such a decision and the way they reach their decisions is influenced by their cultures. One potential cost of not conforming is that people might laugh at you. People tend to take an active dislike to those who won’t conform. The social cost of dissenting must be considerable greater in collectivistic societies in which people feel more obligation to their ingroup members and have a strong