Self-esteem

Self-esteem is an individual's subjective evaluation of their own worth. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs about oneself (for example, 'I am competent', 'I am worthy') as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame. Smith and Mackie (2007) defined it by saying 'The self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem, is the positive or negative evaluations of the self, as in how we feel about it.':107 'Attempts by pro-esteem advocates to encourage self-pride in students solely by reason of their uniqueness as human beings will fail if feelings of well-being are not accompanied by well-doing. It is only when students engage in personally meaningful endeavors for which they can be justifiably proud that self-confidence grows, and it is this growing self-assurance that in turn triggers further achievement.' Self-esteem is an individual's subjective evaluation of their own worth. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs about oneself (for example, 'I am competent', 'I am worthy') as well as emotional states, such as triumph, despair, pride, and shame. Smith and Mackie (2007) defined it by saying 'The self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem, is the positive or negative evaluations of the self, as in how we feel about it.':107 Self-esteem is an attractive psychological construct because it predicts certain outcomes, such as academic achievement, happiness, satisfaction in marriage and relationships, and criminal behaviour. Self-esteem can apply to a specific attribute (for example, 'I believe I am a good writer and I feel happy about that') or globally (for example, 'I believe I am a bad person, and I feel bad about myself in general'). Psychologists usually regard self-esteem as an enduring personality characteristic (trait self-esteem), though normal, short-term variations (state self-esteem) also exist. Synonyms or near-synonyms of self-esteem include many things: self-worth, self-regard, self-respect, and self-integrity. The identification of self-esteem as a distinct psychological construct is thought to have its origins in the work of philosopher and psychologist, geologist, anthropologist William James (1892). James identified multiple dimensions of the self, with two levels of hierarchy: processes of knowing (called the 'I-self') and the resulting knowledge about the self (the 'Me-self'). Observation about the self and storage of those observations by the I-self create three types of knowledge, which collectively account for the Me-self, according to James. These are the material self, social self, and spiritual self. The social self comes closest to self-esteem, comprising all characteristics recognized by others. The material self consists of representations of the body and possessions, and the spiritual self of descriptive representations and evaluative dispositions regarding the self. This view of self-esteem as the collection of an individual's attitudes toward oneself remains today. In the mid-1960s, social psychologist Morris Rosenberg defined self-esteem as a feeling of self-worth and developed the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES), which became the most-widely used scale to measure self-esteem in the social sciences. In the early 20th century, the behaviorist movement minimized introspective study of mental processes, emotions and feelings, replacing introspection with objective study through experiments on behaviors observed in relation with environment. Behaviorism viewed the human being as an animal subject to reinforcements, and suggested placing psychology as an experimental science, similar to chemistry or biology. As a consequence, clinical trials on self-esteem were overlooked, since behaviorists considered the idea less liable to rigorous measurement.In the mid-20th century, the rise of phenomenology and humanistic psychology led to renewed interest in self-esteem. Self-esteem then took a central role in personal self-actualization and in the treatment of psychic disorders. Psychologists started to consider the relationship between psychotherapy and the personal satisfaction of persons with high self-esteem as useful to the field. This led to new elements being introduced to the concept of self-esteem, including the reasons why people tend to feel less worthy and why people become discouraged or unable to meet challenges by themselves. In 1992 the political scientist Francis Fukuyama associated self-esteem with what Plato called thymos - the 'spiritedness' part of the Platonic soul. As of 1997 the core self-evaluations approach included self-esteem as one of four dimensions that comprise one's fundamental appraisal of oneself - along with locus of control, neuroticism, and self-efficacy. The concept of core self-evaluations as first examined by Judge, Locke, and Durham (1997), has since proven to have the ability to predict job satisfaction and job performance. Self-esteem may be essential to self-evaluation. The importance of self-esteem gained endorsement from some government and non-government groups starting around the 1970s, such that one can speak of a self-esteem movement. This movement can be used as an example of promising evidence that psychological research can have an effect on forming public policy. The underlying idea of the movement was that low self-esteem was the root of the problem for individuals, making it the root of societal problems and dysfunctions. A leading figure of the movement, psychologist Nathaniel Branden, stated: ' cannot think of a single psychological problem – from anxiety and depression, to fear of intimacy or of success, to spouse battery or child molestation – that is not traced back to the problem of low self-esteem'.:3 Self-esteem was believed to be a cultural phenomenon of Western individualistic societies since low self-esteem was not found in collectivist countries such as Japan.Concern about low self-esteem and its many presumed negative consequences led California assemblyman John Vasconcellos to work to set up and fund the Task Force on Self-Esteem and Personal and Social Responsibility in California in 1986. Vasconcellos argued that this task force could combat many of the state's problems - from crime and teen pregnancy to school underachievement and pollution. He compared increasing self-esteem to giving out a vaccine for a disease: it could help protect people from being overwhelmed by life's challenges.