Consider whether you can answer these questions to check your understanding of the chapter. Trying writing out answers to practice for your exams.

1. Give an example of a pessimistic attribution for a romantic break-up and give three reasons why it would be likely to be destructive to a person who made it.

2. Baumeister and colleagues have argued that high self-esteem has few, if any positive, effects, and that most of its associations with desirable outcomes are merely side-effects. If this is true, what implications does it have for efforts to improve self-esteem? Justify your conclusions.