Library Help

As I mentioned earlier, when I was trying to search for the basics of my topic, I realized all the results for "insecurity" were topics related to jobs, food, living standards, etc. So I decided that I'd ask a librarian at the Auraria Library for help.

I asked him: I'm trying to research why people have fears and insecurities and I want it to relate to psychology, self-esteem, emotion, personal issues, etc. I'm required to use Academic Search Premier Plus and all that shows are materialistic topics, such as job insecurity or food insecurity. What can I do to solve this problem?

He answered:

I do remember getting taught this in my Intro to Psychology I class; however, I didn't care to think that Maslow's Theory of the Hierarchy of Needs was related to insecurities and fears. I now understand that materialistic things and the basic needs may be the root of the problem. So, I tried to look up "Maslow" and "Insecurities," and I couldn't find any articles that came under both search terms. 

Next, I decided to use the search terms "insecurity," "psychology," and "self esteem." I found an article called Jetten, J., Branscombe, N. R., & Spears, R. (2002). On being peripheral: effects of identity insecurity on personal and collective self-esteem. European Journal Of Social Psychology, 32(1), 105-123. doi:10.1002/ejsp.64

In it, psychologists conduct an experiment which measured the self esteem/insecurity levels of a person connected to a group, like a clique or a group of friends.  They told the participants that they are in a certain clique that they all value. Later, they informed some people that in the future they'd be even more involved in the group. Whoever was told that, their self esteem seemed to increase immediately. 
  
The results to the experiment made complete sense to me. I decided that my next few blogs were to look for and examine more on groups and self-esteem.