Friday, January 7, 2011

Youngsters prefer self-esteem over sex, money

2011-01-07 16:50:00
Washington, Jan 7 (IANS) A study has found that college students prefer self-esteem over sex, money and other indulgent activities like food and alcohol.

'It is somewhat surprising how this desire to feel worthy and valuable trumps almost any other pleasant activity you can imagine,' said Brad Bushman, professor of communication and psychology at the Ohio State University, who led the study.



Full article.

6 comments:

  1. Well... this is certainly a different generation than mine was! However, I think Bushman's research needs to be read to get the context. What was left out of the above first paragraph was "...or receiving a paycheck."

    For example, the linked article said "One of the items they were asked about was self-esteem building experience, such as receiving a good grade or receiving a compliment." Hmmmmm... the "good grade" seems more like a reward or work compensation (like money/paycheck, in a sense) with a dual tie to self-esteem.

    Employees (public and private) are motivated by different things and, thus, there needs to be varying methods to reward people and not just the same things. Some people like 'participation' trophies (i.e., employee-of-the-month plaques) while others just want the cold hard cash, jack.

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  2. I would rather them have self-esteem over sex also. I don't want them to procreate.

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  3. I'd like to have all three: sex, money, and self-esteem. Oh, and bourbon.

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  4. If you have the bourbon, you don't need the other three.

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  5. What a dumb study. Of course that's the answer in multiple choice form. But they drink and screw and all that other stuff because they don't know HOW to esteem themselves, US News & World Report doesn't rank them, so they have to go out and do field research. And "50 frat guys want to bang me when I'm drunk" is the most easily obtained data they can use, and being lazy, they stop the search after the first data points come in.

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  6. Would you rather be hit by a bus or have high self esteem?
    Would you rather get a low grade or have high self esteem?
    Would you rather accidentally impregnate your girlfriend's BFF or have high self esteem?

    Hmm... flawed research methods, anyone? That said, I think they're actually right on. A student can earn a D on a paper and still smile and be happy when I tell him/her/it I like his/her/its choice of TOMS shoes. My favorable pinion of their fashion choice trumps their grade.

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