Relationship of Self-Esteem,IQ,and Task Performance for a Sample of USA Undergraduates

Abstract

Assessments of self-esteem, IQ, and performance on a cognitively demanding task were obtained from 45 college undergraduates. In addition, subjects were asked to predict how well they thought they would do on the “cognitive task” after having seen one sample problem, to estimate how well they thought they had done after completing all of the problems, how difficult they thought each problem was, and how certain they were that their answer was correct. Analysis indicated that self-esteem was significantly related to performance, independently of the covarying effect of intelligence. Contrary to expectations, however, individuals high in self-esteem did not predict that they would do better, and they did not express more confidence in their answers to the problems. Methodological and substantive implications pertaining to the mechanism whereby self-esteem influences achievement are discussed.

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