88 I. THEORETICAL  PERSPECTI vES AND  CONCEPT uAL uNITS
they are far more likely to interfere with at -
tachment relationships. We know that this is 
when infants are forming relationship sche -
mas and begin to show phenomena such as 
stranger anxiety.
Thus, trust should result when children 
represent their world as accepting and pre -
dictable, and can integrate these represen -
tations. This combination of acceptance/
warmth and predictability has been shown 
to promote optimal development (e.g., Born -
stein, 1989; Steelman, Assel, Swank, Smith, 
& Landry, 2002; see also van den Boom, 
1994).
The Need for Control (the Conjunction 
of Predictability and Competence)
The need for control (see Bandura, 1977 
[control, efficacy]; Brehm, 1966 [freedom 
and control vs. reactance]; DeCharms, 1968 
[origin vs. pawn]; Deci & Ryan, 2000 [au -
tonomy]; Erikson, 1950 [autonomy]; Heck -
hausen & Schulz, 1995 [control]; Higgins, 
2012 [control]; Rothbaum, Weisz, & Sny -
der, 1982 [control]) includes the desire for 
agency, autonomy, and self-  control; that 
is, the need for control encompasses not 
just the desire to have an impact on the 
world but also the desire to make one’s 
own choices (act freely) and the desire to 
exert control over the self. It appears that 
the need for control enters when children 
have grasped the order and predictability 
in their world and become aware of them -
selves as agents who can now use their com -
petence to change things: to take charge of 
situations and to make or change the rules 
(Erikson, 1950; Shapiro, 1981; see Lewis 
& Brooks-  Gunn, 1979). This is likely to 
begin sometime in the second year of life 
(see Heckhausen, 1988). In line with self- 
determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), 
the failure to grant children control or au -
tonomy is among the strongest predictors 
of heightened anxiety (McLeod, Wood, & 
Weisz, 2007) and has been found to have 
deleterious effects on children’s motivation 
and self-  regulation (Ryan, Deci, Grolnick, 
& LaGuardia, 2006). (It is important to 
note that the support of autonomy and the 
encouragement of control can take quite 
different forms in different cultures [Fu & 
Markus, 2014].)The Need for Self‑Esteem/Status (the Conjunction 
of Acceptance and  Competence)
Many theories have designated the desire 
for self-  esteem or status as a basic human 
need (e.g., Anderson, Hildreth, & Howland, 
2015; Maslow, 1943). In the current theory, 
the need for self-  esteem or status is seen as 
a compound need, arising from the conjunc -
tion of the need for acceptance and the need 
for competence (see Anderson et al., 2015 
[status]; Leary & Baumeister, 2000 [self- 
esteem]; Maslow, 1943 [esteem]; McClel -
land, 1987 [power]; Murray, 1938 [status, 
power]; Stevens & Fiske, 1995 [enhancing 
the self]; Sullivan, 1953 [self-  esteem]; Tesser, 
1988 [self-  esteem])—outcomes from both 
acceptance-  related goals and competence- 
related goals can convey information about 
one’s merits and one’s standing relative to 
others. (Later, self-  esteem may also rest on 
other things, such as adherence to one’s in -
ternalized values.)
The need for self-  esteem/status rests on 
two developments: self-  awareness and stan -
dards. Children must have an awareness of 
the self and the ability to evaluate the self 
against a standard. Meeting a standard can 
then support feelings or worth or status. 
Like self-  awareness, self-  standards seem to 
appear in the second year of life (and into 
the third year), which is when children first 
show evidence of pride (rather than just 
pleasure) after success or shame after failure 
(Kagan, 1981; Lewis, Sullivan, Stanger, & 
Weiss, 1989; Stipek et al., 1992).
Low self-  esteem is a predictor of depres -
sion and impaired functioning from child -
hood on (e.g., Donnellan, Trzesniewski, 
Robins, Moffitt, & Caspi, 2005; Orth & 
Robins, 2013, 2019). Unstable self-  esteem 
(Kernis, 2003) and contingent self-  esteem 
(Crocker & Wolfe, 2001) also appear to cre -
ate vulnerability. Moreover, the correlates 
of low self-  esteem are found across highly 
diverse cultures (Cai, Wu, & Brown, 2009), 
although, of course, self-  esteem may be de -
fined, experienced, and maintained in dif -
ferent ways in different cultures.
The Need for Self-  Coherence. The need 
for self-  coherence is the desire to feel that 
one is psychologically intact and rooted as 
opposed to unmoored or “falling apart” 