Previous studies have obtained mixed results regarding whether competence or morality predominates in self-esteem. The present research aimed to make sense of the inconsistent results by examining the role of system-justifying motives in determining the relative importance of competence and morality in self-esteem. Studies 1 and 2 correlationally and causally, respectively, examined the strength of competence/morality in predicting self-esteem, contingent upon general system justification. Study 3 directly measured participants' perceived importance of competence/morality in self-esteem and examined how it was influenced by general system justification. The findings consistently indicated that competence was more important than morality in self-esteem when system-justifying motive was low, whereas morality was more important than competence in self-esteem when system-justifying motive was high. The findings provide us with an alternative framework for establishing the basis of self-esteem, and thereby offer a contingency approach to understanding self-esteem.

先前的研究在能力或道德是否在自尊中占主导地位方面获得了不同的结果。本研究旨在通过检查系统证明动机在确定能力和道德在自尊中的相对重要性方面的作用来理解不一致的结果。研究 1 和 2 分别从相关性和因果关系上检验了能力/道德在预测自尊方面的强度，这取决于一般系统的合理性。研究 3 直接测量参与者对自尊的能力/道德重要性的感知，并检查它如何受到一般系统论证的影响。研究结果一致表明，当系统证明动机较低时，自尊中的能力比道德更重要，而当系统证明动机很高时，道德比自尊的能力更重要。研究结果为我们提供了一个建立自尊基础的替代框架，从而提供了一种理解自尊的应急方法。