A Critical Thought Paper: Self-Esteem

Confidence is a human value and regarded as one of the most precious resources in social psychology. Generally, self-esteem is a highly positive human element in life and is associated with great achievements, satisfaction, and near-perfect relationships. Self-esteem refers to the assessment of self-concept.(Underwood &Rosen, 2013) Low self-esteem can be harmful to an individual as it results in depression, abusive situations, or even falling short of one’s distinctive abilities. Therefore, self-worth entails a degree of self-assessment and can either be a negative or positive view. The concept of self has played a critical role in understanding how individuals think about, perceive, or evaluate themselves. The anchor that will guide this concept is a social identity theory. According to the socio-psychological model, the concept of self is comprised of both personal and social identity.

Most scholars agree that self-concept denotes the totality of one’s feelings and thoughts regarding them as the object. Nonetheless, this concept has, for the longest time, been considered from different viewpoints. For instance, the psychoanalytic model views self-concept as a self-system that has inflicted conflict (Ajmal, Batool, Abid, & Iqbal). This form is, however, not all-inclusive as it does not resonate with the popular psychological arguments. For instance, according to the behavioral model, the concept is construed as a package of conditioned reactions. Other models, such as organismic theory, consider the concept of self as function and product of development. The cognitive model treats the self as a conceptual system that processes data on self (Ajmal et al. 2018). Mostly, the concept of self has been construed from many multifaced perspectives, and as a matter of diversity and pluralism, the concept of actual self refers to how an individual prefers to view themselves with others.

The actual self refers to how an individual prefers to view themselves with others. However, there is a consensus concerning the existence of the independent interactions between least two entities of self-concept motivations: self-consistency and self-esteem (Oberst, & Stewart, 2014). The self-consistency cause is regarded as the tendency of individuals to have a maintain behavior that is cohesive with their view of themselves. The self-esteem cause, on the other hand, is viewed as the tendency of an individual to pursue experiences critical for enhancing their self-concept. Ordinarily, the twin causes are always harmonious with each other but may conflict, depending on varied circumstances.

From both congruent and incongruent perspectives, the concept of self is considered to be contingent on reality. For example, in a school setting, students may think that they are talented at a given subject. However, this talent may not be reflected on their school transcripts. This phenomenon is what Carl Rodgers notes in the relationship between physical activity, self-esteem, and academic achievement in 12-year-old children as the extent to which an individual’s self-concept is consistent with reality (Tremblay, Inman, & Willms, 2000). Under certain circumstances, people tend to distort the truth to a given angle, but congruence defies that distortion by aligning self-concept with reality (Jiang, Chen, & Sedikides, 2019). Based on his arguments, Rodgers believes that incongruence as a concept is itself inculcated in childhood and are only shaped by parents who induce certain conditions on their children, which is particularly enhanced by unconditional love, leaving the children growing without ever questioning or distorting their memories (Shi, Li, & Zhang, 2008). With such supportive treatment, children accept who they are.

Future research on self-esteem and self-concept with a focus on education is necessary. The choice is informed by the fact that children need high self-esteem to excel in their studies. Therefore, it is vital to establish if high self-regard leads to top academic performance as the results would be a necessary tool in determining and developing the future curriculum. Future research is also essential to establish the best age at which efforts to improve self-worth may be impact, which is assumed to occur when children are younger and when their attitudes and personalities are not entirely established.

References

Ajmal, A., Batool, A., Abid, S., & Iqbal, H. (2018). Self-Concept and Self-Esteem among Adults. Peshawar Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences (PJPBS), 4(2), 237-246.

Jiang, T., Chen, Z., & Sedikides, C. (2019). Self-concept clarity lays the foundation for self-continuity: The restorative function of autobiographical memory — Journal of personality and social psychology.