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The main concept of sociometer theory is that the self-esteem system acts as a gauge to measure the quality of an individuals current and forthcoming relationships. Furthermore, this measurement of self-esteem assesses these two types of relationships in terms of relational appreciation. This is how other people might view and value the relationships they hold with the individual. If relational appreciation of an individual differs negatively, relational devaluation is experienced. Relational devaluation exists in the format of belongingness, with a negative alteration allowing the sociometer gauge to highlight these threats, producing emotional distress to act to regain relational appreciation and restore balance in the individuals self-esteem.

Cameron and Stinson further review the Sociometer Theory definition, highlighting two key constructs of the concept:

1. Specific experiences of social acceptance and rejection are internalised to form a representation of one's own worth and effort they are contributing as a social partner.
2. The higher self-esteem someone has the more they will perceive as being valued by others. For individuals with low self-esteem, they question their value as a social partner, often letting their subsequent insecurities devolve onto future relationships.

Types of Self-Esteem Relating to Sociometer Theory

1. State self-esteem gauges the person's level of current relational appreciation and assesses the likelihood to which the individual is to be accepted and included versus rejected and excluded by other people in the immediate situation. The state self-esteem system monitors the person's behaviour and social environment for cues relevant to relational evaluation and responds with affective and motivational consequences when cues relevant to exclusion are detected.
2. Trait self-esteem is a subjective measure of how likely an individual is to be accepted or rejected in a social situation. This form of self-esteem aids in the assessment of an individual in social situations, furthermore estimating whether current or future relationships would be respected and valued long-term.
3. Global self-esteem is a stable, internal measure of self-esteem that an individual elicits to assess the potential global outlook that different races, ethnicities and communities might say about an individual. Often, this internal measure of self-esteem is beneficial in restoring relational appreciation if an individuals self-esteem drops below normal levels.
4. Domain-specific self-esteem is a measure by which an individual will examine their own accomplishments such as in social, academic, and athletics situations which could alter self-esteem. This domain specific measure is an effective way to identify outliers in a current performance, instead of creating a misinformed trend (i.e that you are consistently underperforming).

Evidence Supporting Sociometer Theory

Support for Sociometer Theory has come from an international, cross sequential study conducted in the Netherlands, assessing self-esteem in 1599 seven and eight year olds. The study examined firstly how self-esteem would develop in childhood, and secondly whether self-esteem develops alongside changing peer and family relationships. Inter-individual differences and intra-individual changes in social support over time were assessed. Mean-level self-esteem was found to remain stable in middle childhood and elicited no alterations. Additionally, both within and between person level assessments elicited positive reports of self esteem, showing a more robust social network from self-report measures that participants completed after these assessments.

Cameron and Stinson again showed evidence in support for Sociometer Theory by demonstrating acceptance and rejection experiences can have a strong influence on self-esteem levels both in the short and long-term.

1. Self-esteem is responsive to social acceptance and rejection: State self-esteem (self-esteem in the immediate situation) is heavily responsive to both social acceptance and rejection. It is known that that acceptance causes increases in state self-esteem and rejection elicits negative views in self-esteem to occur. In a laboratory setting, these alterations are due to future projections of social rejection/acceptance or remembering past experiences in which social rejection/acceptance occurred which can allow an individuals self-esteem to subjectively deviate from normal levels.
2. Global self-esteem is associated with perceptions of social worth: Social worth is a concept that can be utilised as a sociometer to measure self-esteem. Furthermore, this association is thought to exist because global self-esteem influences self-views in a top-down manner. In this top-down process, the traits that are normally associated with the sense of belongingness in social situations act to mediate self-esteem. Additionally, if this top-down manner of global self-esteem influences self-views, then an individuals perceptions of their belongingness and social worth should be positively correlated with global self-esteem.
3. Self-esteem regulates responses to acceptance and rejection: Sociometer theory emphasises that a negative alteration in self-esteem should disrupt the self-esteem system balance, alarming the sociometer to distinguish these discrepancies, allowing for behaviour that restores this balance by restoring belongingness and an individuals self-worth in social situations .

See Also

• Deep social mind
• Evolutionary psychology and culture
• Primate empathy
• Simulation theory of empathy
• Assertiveness
• Body image
• Clinical depression
• Fear of negative evaluation
• Identity
• Inner critic
• Invisible support
• List of confidence tricks
• Optimism bias
• Outline of self
• Overconfidence effect
• Passiveness
• Performance anxiety
• Self-affirmation
• Self-awareness
• Self-confidence
• Self-compassion
• Self-enhancement
• Self-esteem functions
• Self-esteem instability
• Self-evaluation maintenance theory
• Self image
• Shyness
• Social anxiety
• Social phobia