SELF ESTEEM – The Confidence Of Your Worth
Self esteem is simply defined as confidence in one’s own worth. Synonymous to it is self-respect. Self esteem is related to personal beliefs about skills, abilities, and social relationships.
Its definition is however expanded by scholars in field of psychology. Sedikides and Gress (2003) stated that self esteem refers to individual’s perception or subjective appraisal of one’s own self-worth, one’s feelings of self-respect and self-confidence and the extent to which the individual holds positive or negative views about self.
A large number of theories view self-esteem as a personal trait that is relatively stable. This is because it is seen as a character that is built over time through personal experiences.
A number of studies, however, assumed that self-esteem can momentarily be manipulated or affected. Therefore, self-esteem can be viewed as a trait as well as a state.
Research has shown that self-esteem shoots with an individual’s success, praises, or experiences of love from another individual. Thus, self esteem is not only dependent on one’s perceptions of himself but also other’s perceptions of him. Self-esteem is a key to success in life.
POSITIVE EFFECTS OF HIGH SELF ESTEEM
- High self-esteem individuals experience more happiness, optimism, and motivation
- High self-esteem individuals suffers less depression, anxiety, and negative mood
- Persons with high self-esteem are more likely to persist in the face of difficult tasks.
- High self-esteem people are more resilient to the vicissitudes of life.
- High self-esteem individuals are more persistent in the face of failure.
- High self-esteem individuals also appear more effective in self-regulating goal-directed behaviour.
NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF LOW SELF ESTEEM
- Low self-esteem aids feelings of worthlessness, inferiority, and emotional instability.
- Low self-esteem leads to dissatisfaction with life.
- Low self-esteem causes one to have general negative attitude toward many things, including other people and personal circumstances
- Low self-esteem has been linked to depression, aggression, less competency to overcome difficulties and decreased level of well-being
- Low self-esteem has been linked to emotional abuse.
Self esteem could be high or low in individuals. The equilibrium shifts from normalcy as a result of many life events peculiar to the individual or the society in general. However, the development of a healthy self esteem is extremely important for good personal and social adjustment.
