Research out of University of Pennsylvania, published Oct. 19 2011 from the American Psychological Association (APA), tells us that when people attempt to enhance their own personal self esteem with false self-appeasement, they end up developing a negative self-image instead of a positive one overtime.
Based on study in the October edition of the APA journal Emotion, people did not feel depressed when they analyzed their themselves accurately in other words, they gave themselves low praise for low performance or high praise for high performance. This is compared to when people give themselves excessive praise for what they know is a low performance.
"Distress following excessive self-praise is likely to occur when a person's inadequacy is exposed, and because inaccurate self-assessments can prevent self-improvement," says co-author Chi-Yue Chiu, of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
The study suggests individuals posses inner conflicts (cognitive dissonance) when being too proud of themselves for something they did not accomplish to their satisfaction. The intrapersonal turmoil of trying to convince yourself of unsubstantiated self-praise can result in a depressed state of mind.


