Importance of Healthy Self-Esteem
- Self-concept and self-esteem are connected. Self-esteem is a belief and confidence in one’s own worth and abilities.
- It is an emotional evaluation and response to the questions of "what kind of a person am I" and "am I good enough".
- Self-esteem shows in various aspects of life, for instance in how confident you feel about your physical characteristics, personality traits, achievements, or social status.
- Having a high self-esteem in one area can compensate for a low self-esteem in another.
- For example, some people may be insecure about their looks but have confidence in their ability to perform any task.
- Someone else might be confident in sports but be nervous about academic work.
- Overall it's impossible to be confident in every aspect.
- Self-esteem develops in interaction with other people.
- Childhood experiences are vital, to build a healthy self-esteem, children must have experiences of being valued, which happens when the guardians respond to the child’s needs and enjoy quality time with the child.
- Later on individual expectations and received feedback shape self-esteem.
- Through reflection, individuals try to bridge the gap between their understanding of themselves and that of others.
- Healthy self-esteem entails an idea of respecting oneself despite some character flaws and the confidence to try and take risks even in the face of failing.
- If one views the self positively and has a feeling of being enough in spite of some imperfections, the individual has high and secure self-esteem.
- People with a healthy level of self-esteem have a realistic sense of themselves, are able to trust their capacity to cope, respect themselves, and enjoy life.
- They express their opinions, make independent decisions, and learn from past mistakes.
- Moreover, having a healthy self-esteem does not only mean respecting oneself but also other people.
- People with good self-esteem and self-compassion can get over hard times or struggles due to supporting themselves, understanding that mistakes can happen and trying to make the most of everything.
- Low self-esteem is linked to negative self-concept or a struggle to meet real or imagined expectations.
- It can also lead to disorders such as depression.
Attributions
- Attribution is the process by which individuals explain the causes of behavior.
- Whenever they succeed or fail at a certain task, people automatically attribute the outcome to some causal factors that can be external or internal.
- Attributions can either enhance or interfere with self-efficacy and self-esteem.
- There is a tendency to perceive oneself in a favorable manner, attributing success with internal factors and failure with external circumstances. This is referred to as a self-serving bias.
- External attribution in a time of failure maintains self-esteem as situational factors are guaranteed to change.
- This means that a failure does not challenge one’s confidence in personal abilities.
- Someone with high self-esteem is also pays attention to positive feedback and disregards negative comments.
- People with low self-esteem typically think that failure is due to personal factors.
- Such internal attribution is further linked with a tendency to attribute success to situational factors and luck, which results in even lower levels of self-esteem.
- Although accepting social encouragement may lead to the enhancement of self-efficacy and self-esteem, it is difficult to convince someone with negative self-concept of possibilities to develop personal abilities and attributing mistakes to situational factors.