The role of self-esteem contingencies in the distinction between obsessive and harmonious passion

The Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand et al., 2003) shows that people can experience a harmonious or an obsessive passion toward an activity. Mageau and Vallerand (2007; Mageau et al., 2009) have argued that self-related processes, such as contingencies of self-worth, are central in the distinction between the two types of passion. Specifically, it was proposed that people with an obsessive passion rely more heavily on their passionate activity to derive self-esteem than people with a harmonious passion such that they should experience self-esteem fluctuations as a function of their performances in their passionate activity. This study tested this hypothesis. Using self-reports, results first showed that the more people have an obsessive passion the more they report experiencing self-esteem fluctuations that covary with their performances in their passionate activity. In contrast, people with a harmonious passion did not report experiencing more, or less, self-esteem fluctuations. Second, hierarchical linear modeling confirmed that, in a real-life setting, the more people report an obsessive passion toward a card game, the greater is the impact of performance on their state self-esteem. Taken together, these findings suggest that obsessive, but not harmonious, passion triggers contingencies between people’s self-esteem and their passionate activity. Copyright # 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Passionate people have the power to inspire others. Be they teachers, singers, or Olympic athletes, their dedication and accomplishments make them role models. Yet, looking more closely at their lives, it seems that having a passion can come at great costs. Some passionate people can only feel alive and worthy when they engage in their passionate activity. Indeed, many of our heroes live their lives in great turmoil as they suffer the emotional ups and downs that follow their successes and drawbacks. The Dualistic Model of Passion (Vallerand et al., 2003) shows that people can experience two different types of passion toward their activity, a harmonious and an obsessive passion, which lead to different affective, cognitive, and behavioral outcomes. Self-related processes have generally been assumed to be central in the distinction between obsessive and harmonious passion (Mageau & Vallerand, 2007; Mageau et al., 2009; Vallerand et al., 2003). Specifically, Mageau and Vallerand have argued that people with an obsessive and a harmonious passion differ in the extent to which they rely on their passionate activity to derive their sense of self-worth. The Self-Esteem Contingencies Model (Crocker & Wolfe, 2001) provides support for this hypothesis in showing that people greatly vary in the extent to which they use various domains to derive a sense of self-worth and that specific domains impact people’s self-esteem to the extent that these domains are part of people’s self-esteem contingencies. Yet, no research has specifically tested Mageau and Vallerand’s hypothesis. The goal of the present research was thus to verify if selfesteem contingencies differ between the two types of passion. Specifically, in line with Vallerand’s et al. (2003) Dualistic Model of Passion, we expected that the more people experience an obsessive type of passion, the more they should derive their sense of self-worth from their passionate activity and, thus, the more reactive they should be to performance cues in their passionate activity. These effects were not expected to occur in the case of a harmonious passion. THE CONCEPT OF PASSION Vallerand et al. (2003) propose a new conceptualization of passion, where passion is defined as a strong inclination toward an activity that one finds important, likes (or even loves), and to which one devotes time and energy. Empirical evidence offers support for this definition and shows that passion leads one to spend more time on the activity, value it more, and perceive it *Correspondence to: Geneviève A. Mageau, Ph. D., Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, P.O. Box 6128, Downtown Station, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3J7. E-mail: [email protected] Copyright # 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Received 31 March 2010, Accepted 18 February 2011 European Journal of Social Psychology, Eur. J. Soc. Psychol. Published online 3 May in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI: 10.1002/ejsp.798 41, 720 729 (2011) –