Abstract:

Accumulating research has approached self-esteem from the perspective of social neuroscience. A review of relevant research indicates that: 1) self-esteem is related to brain physiologically with high self-esteem associating with larger hippocampus volume and regional gray matter volume of anterior cingulate cortex; 2) self-esteem is also related to the resting state of default mode network and functional connectivity among some specific brain areas; 3) self-esteem modulates brain activities to threats such that individuals with low self-esteem exhibit stronger neural responses to self-threatening stimuli; 4) self-esteem modulates brain activities during self-evaluation process. Overall, these findings shed light on the neural basis of self-esteem as well as its adaptive functions.

Key words: self-esteem, self-evaluation, threat, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)