How Self-Esteem Determines Kin Selection within an Individual Self-esteem is not just a state of being but acts as a factor that influences decision making within an individual. Feelings of self-worth can influence the actions an individual takes when faced with situations that may threaten morale. In turn, some studies suggest that when moral identity takes a hit, moral behavior is used as a way to possess the self-esteem that has been lost (Sachdeva, Iliev, Medin, 2009). This means that when an individual is faced with a threat to their self-esteem, that individual can take positive action to recover. One way to measure self-esteem is to ask participants to decide how willing they are to lend a helping hand to a stranger or family member after their self-esteem has been attacked or given importance. There are several ways in which a person can feel as if they lack self-esteem or in other cases gain some self-esteem. Participants placed in a negative situation, where their morale is significantly lowered and they feel down, will for the most part behave in a way that allows for redemption or withdrawal of current guilt to feel better (Sachdeva et al's, 2009) . As stated by Davidson and Barber (1995), failure is a common threat to an individual's ability to perform a given task after failing. There is some pressure to alleviate guilt when morale is threatened. According to Sachdeva et al., 2009, how participants react after being positively or negatively reinforced has to do with a term called moral cleansing. In moral cleansing, the individual will take actions based on how their self-esteem has been manipulated. In Sachdeva et al (20...... half of the paper ...... moral cleansing is performed the more likely it is that the individual will feel good about himself and have a huge increase in his self-esteem and at the at the same time it will allow them to think that the behaviors they have committed are acceptable (Harkrider et al., 2013) to their morale. another individual, but are more influenced by what they perceive as the other's intentions when studying self-esteem and willingness to help this must be taken into account otherwise the conclusion may be incorrect that those with low self-esteem would be willing to help, but those in the low self-esteem condition would be more likely to help a stranger than those with high self-esteem.