The Self – Developing Self-Esteem

How People Create and Maintain a Stable Self-Evaluation

Sep 9, 2009

Levels of self-esteem have a great impact on the life and enjoyment of everyone. This article addresses how self-esteem is developed and maintained.

Self-esteem is the definition given to the feeling and emotions one has to their self-concept. A person with high self-esteem may respond positively and agreeably to statements such as "I am a strong, intelligent, well liked member of society," whereas someone with a low self-esteem would disagree and object to this statement.

High self-esteem is shown to link to high success levels and higher happiness levels throughout life. A person who continually feels that he/she is making a strong, sure step in life is more apt to succeed, whereas those that feel they may be making mistake and that their decisions are rarely, if ever, right may fail to reach his or her objectives.

This is an example of a self-fulfilling prophecy, as a person may well grow to embody their image of self. For example a person with high self-esteem and confidence may well succeed in finding well-paid, high-ranked career. Whereas someone who has low self-esteem and much less belief in their own ability may settle with a much lower status, less financially successful occupation.

Creating Levels of Self Esteem

Much like the self-concept, there are many differing routes through which people can distinguish and create a sense of self-esteem.

Although not everybody may have high self-esteem and one may not have as much self-belief as he/she may deserve. People do have a tendency to self-rate fairly confidently in their own mind.

Results from a 1987 study by Weinstein reveal that people regularly perform self-rating, like "higher than average" in terms of social traits, such as honesty or social awareness. Now it is obvious that not everyone can be "above average" as quite simply, where would the average arrive from? This finding is consistent with what other studies have revealed – people do have a tendency to hold the self above others.

One example of this is that people have "biased memories." For example people tend to remember their hard work and contributions to projects, when the outcome is successful. However when the outcome is less successful or if an individual encounters a complete failure, people tend to dismiss their contributions and recall them as being less extensive than they truly were.

This reveals that people have a very selective memory for success and will only truly remember the things that place the person in good, strong standing.

Another finding is that people use social comparisons much more commonly to increase self-esteem than decrease it. For example people rate themselves as much less ‘involved’ or ‘related’ to others who are more financially successful than them (Tesser, 1988). Whereas people who are less successful are considered on a more similar and level plateau. This suggests that people are naturally more willing to compare their own attributes with those of less successful peers in order to boost self-esteem.

Keeping a high self-esteem is linked with positive and happy emotions and a lower chance of depression (Tennen & Affleck, 1993). Therefore, any method by which a person can increase their self-esteem, or reduce damage that lowers the self-esteem will be more positive and thus, that person will find more enjoyment in life.

Cultural Differences in Self Esteem

Levels of this tendency to self-enhance and only concentrate on positive factors of the self seems only to occur in America and Europe.

In fact, it is shown that Japanese levels of self-enhancement are much lower than that of America. Often it seems the Japanese tend to socially compare themselves to more successful peers and accept negative consequences to the self esteem

In a 1997 study by Kitayama, Takagi & Matsumoto, the results show that Japanese students tend to score lower on self-esteem questionnaires than American students. So does this mean that the nation of Japan is a much more sullen and depressed place than America?

Explanations for the lower self-esteem in Japanese individuals can be found rooted in social and cultural differences. In the broadest terms, American culture and Japanese culture differ in the ways that they rank social and personal success. Although this is very subjective and perhaps stereotypical, it is common to find that in America, people are much more individual and look for success individually. Whereas in Japan, people search for much more harmonious and socially accepted successes. Where it is common for Americans to sympathise with their failings, the Japanese have a much more determined outlook to overcome failure.

Self-esteem is one of the two main parts of self-perception, the other being self-concept. Readers may also wish to read about development and maintenance of the self-concept.

The copyright of the article The Self – Developing Self-Esteem in Psychology is owned by Michael Catley. Permission to republish The Self – Developing Self-Esteem in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.