My research interest in the Self and Social Motivation Lab are as follows:

When failure occurs in the domain in which we base our self-worth, we tend to protect our self-esteem by denying the failure, by blaming external sources, etc. The overly defensive reactions are inadaptive in the long run because they unable us to see what needs to be improved and learn from failure. Why are we so vulnerable to failure experience? How can we accept failure and learn from it?

With Dr. Jennifer Crocker, I have shown that having contingent self-worth makes one’s self-esteem vulnerable to failure, but that the drops of self-esteem after failure can be attenuated when people endorse learning orientations such as an incremental theory of self (i.e. belief that an ability can be improved; cf. Dweck, 2000) or mastery goals (cf. Elliot & Church, 1997). However, learning orientations seem to only alter instances in which failure indicts lack of ability. People with incremental theories of intelligence or with mastery goals are in fact very sensitive to the implication of effort on ability. When these people fail in a task in which they have invested a lot of effort, their self-esteem was found to be more vulnerable than those who do not have the learning orientations. In my disseration, I have developed a scale that distinguishes two types of learning goals, the goal to acquire knowledge which can be compatible with the goal of proving self-worth and the goal to learn from failure, which is less compatible with proving self-worth. I am currently testing whether the goal to learn from failure is associated with reduced vulnerability to failure, increased persistence, and increased learning.

Publications:

Crocker, J., Niiya, Y., Luthanen, R. K. (under review). Ecosystem goals
and learning orientations. Journal of Educational Psychology.

Crocker, J., Niiya, Y., & Mischkowski, D. (under review). Why does
writing about important values reduce defensiveness? Self-affirmation and the role of positive, other-directed feelings. Psychological Science.

Niiya, Y. & Crocker, J. (under review). Mastery goals and contingent self-
worth: A field study. International Review of Social Psychology.

Niiya, Y., Ballantyne, R., North, M. S., & Crocker, J. (under review).
Gender, contingencies of self-worth, and achievement goals as predictors
of academic cheating in a controlled laboratory setting. Basic and
Applied Social Psychology.

Crocker, J., Breines, J. G., Canevello, A., Liu, M. Y., Niiya, Y. (in
press). Egosystem and ecosystem goals: Implications for learning,
relationships, and well-being. In R. Craven, H. Marsh, & D. McInerney
(Eds.), Advances in self research (vol. 3). Charlotte, NC: Information
Age Publishing.

Crocker, J. & Niiya, Y. (in press). Contingencies of self-worth:
Implications for motivation and achievement. Advances in Motivation and Achievement, 15.

Niiya, Y. & Crocker, J. (in press). Gakushu shikosei ha shippai ga
jisonshin ni ataeru kyoui wo kansho suruka. [Do mastery goals buffer self- esteem from threat of failure?]. Shinrigaku Kenkyu [Japanese Journal of Psychology].

Crocker, J., Brook, A. T., Niiya, Y., & Villacorta, M. (2006). The
pursuit of self-esteem: Contingencies of self-worth and self-regulation.
Journal of Personality, 74, 1749-1771.

Niiya, Y., Crocker, J., & Bartmess, E. N. (2004). From vulnerability to
resilience: Learning orientations buffer contingent self-esteem from
failure. Psychological Science, 15, 801-805.

Niiya, Y. & Crocker, J. (in prep). Effects of learning orientations on contingent self-worth: A double-edged sword.

Niiya, Y. & Crocker, J. (submitted). Acquiring knowledge and learning
from failure: Theory, measurement, and validation of two learning goals.

Niiya, Y., Ballantyne, R.; North, M. S., & Crocker, J. (in prep). Gender,
contingencies of self-worth, and achievement goals as predictors of
academic cheating in a controlled laboratory setting.

Crocker, J., Brook, A. T., Niiya, Y., & Villacorta, M. (in press). The pursuit of self-esteem: Contingencies of self-worth and self-regulation.
Journal of Personality.

Niiya, Y., Crocker, J., & Bartmess, E. N. (2004). From vulnerability to
resilience: Learning orientations buffer contingent self-esteem from failure. Psychological Science, 15, 801-805.

For more info: http://www-personal.umich.edu/~yniiya/

E-mail: yniiya@umich.edu