Self-Esteem

Self-esteem is a concept whose history can be located back through time. It is a concept that was propounded by psychologists from different parts of the world. However, the concept is observed to be first coined by William James in 1890. The American Anthropologists was part of studies of the notion based on introspection. He found the subject as an affective phenomenon and a dynamic procedure influenced by success and failure.
According to Smith and Mackie (2007) self-esteem is the individual concept in the thought of self; a positive or negative evaluation of an individual. In a nutshell, it encompasses the feeling a person has about self. Relying on this definition, it is then right for one to argue that self-esteem is social psychologically constructed as it predicts outcomes on development and growth, culture and gender issues. The paper within is a debate on self-esteem and its significance from a holistic perspective (Erol, & Orth, 2011).
The concept of self-esteem dates back to the 18th and 19th century. It has been commonly used in social sciences like sociology and psychology in reflecting a person’s subjective emotional evaluation of worthiness. Self-esteem has its roots emerging from the movement connected to notions of children’s vulnerability and the need for adult support and protection. During the child research movement, social psychologists were observed to consider self-esteem as a core element in successful child development and growth. Though education experts later adopted the concept of developing a supportive school environment, it mainly gained popularity in the 1960s (Josephs, Bosson, & Jacobs, 2003).
Self-esteem is a component that has several proponents namely, John Dewey, William James (1890), Robert White (1963), Morris Rosenberg (1965), Stanley Coopersmith (1967) just to mention but a few. The psychologists had their thought over the subject directed towards the institutions of self. In the 1880s through to 1930s, self-esteem was observed by James and Dewey to be connected to aspects of growth and development of children. It is during this time the discipline of psychology geared towards popularity emphasizing the significance of self-esteem on the subject of children’s need for expert help. However, in the 1950s to the current time, the link between self-esteem and the supportive programs in learning institutions. The use of the concept in a different field is an indicator of the compounded role played by self-esteem in human life (Mackie, & Smith, 2007).
Cultural Issues: Culture as well influences the construction of aspects about self profoundly influence and. Cultural issues define the ways of life of people based on its established customs, values, traditions and beliefs within a given group. The tiny structures that form the cultural whole are based on self-esteem. For instance, the desire of the Americans to deconstruct self-esteem would be equated to the deconstruction of individuals and the nation. It is for this reason that American states challenged the contribution of Baumeister’s and Elmer’s researches. The continuous existence and importance of self-esteem is based on the fact that is a quasi-religion that defines and confines a group or community (Tsai, Ying, & Lee, 2001).
Research carried out by scholars such as Brown, Cai, Oakes, & Deng (2008) have showed that cultural difference have an influence on the levels of the esteem of a group. The ideologies of Brown, Cai, Oakes, & Deng (2008) are of significance in the field of social psychology as well as culturally based disciplines as it enlightens scholars to avoid discriminative judgments of individuals and groups. The hypothesis test responded to in the article provides a broader perspective through which variation in self-esteem among East Asian and Western cultures occur. People from East Asia and Africa record lower levels of self-esteem as compared to populations in the Western Europe. An explanation of the difference is quite unclear though its effect is well established. The influence of cultural difference on self-esteem has been reported by psychologists to be enhanced by the unfair scales used to measure global esteem. The low and high esteemed highly appreciate themselves. However, the cognitive and affective components of measurement bring out the difference established between the two groups. It is of importance that a fair scale be employed to measure global esteem to avoid dangerous aspects of discrimination and feelings of worthlessness that come with the invalid results (Brown, Cai, Oakes, & Deng, 2008).
Despite the existing self-esteem differences globally, similarities have also been recorded. The controversy built as a result of the variation has provided room for scholars to point out the similarities in the psychometric properties. A study carried out by Schmitt and Allik (2005) based on the Rosenberg (1965) Self-Esteem Scale showed similar aspects of factor structure and internal reliability across 28 languages of the world. The existing similarities were identified under controlled conditions of gender. The results showed that self-esteem is proportionally related to extraversion and un-proportionally linked to neuroticism in all the 53 nations under study. The correlations were observed to reach 97% a sign of statistical significance. The study was essential in determining the existing commonalities in esteem demonstrating a current form of universal equivalence in experience and expression of self-esteem. The different studies are a clear explanation of how specific cultural domains connect to self-esteem evaluation procedures (Schmitt, & Allik, 2005).
Psychologists and psychiatrists have considered the observation of esteem at the global level as an essential elements to psychological health and well-being. Cultural orientations, such as language, social affiliation, and cultural pride are some items that relate to self-esteem. The cultural predictors of self-esteem are considered useful due to their operation beyond gender, age, and socioeconomic factors. A study carried out among American and Chinese students brought out an understanding on how cultural relativism encouraged a positive self-esteem. However, an affiliation between the two groups was observed to have a negative impact on self-esteem. The high levels of esteem at national and international levels have been reported to have less depressive effects in the lives of individuals. However, low-level self-esteem has serious effects on health and confidence of individuals. The aspect of connecting and separating from cultures in a group motivate or jeopardize the manner in which one evaluates self. Therefore, it is necessary for communities to appreciate alien cultures before passing judgment to avoid development of low esteem levels (Josephs, Bosson, & Jacobs, 2003).
Like cultural issues, gender aspects have a substantial impact on self-esteem. The relationship between gender roles, identity, and self-esteem, are based on individual importance associated with masculinity and femininity. Additionally, failure to adhere to defined societal gender roles subjects a person to low levels of self-esteem. For example, homosexuals are reported to have low levels of esteem as it is an illegal institution in the societies opposing the act. It is then proper to conclude that gender-role identity relate variedly to the value of masculinity and femininity. The article by Burnett, Anderson, & Heppner (1995) demonstrates an active level of self-esteem on a female and male perception of self. The article is in line with the arguments of James (1890) on the account that individual’s base their self-esteem on their performance on domains considered of importance. Therefore, there exists an active link between self-esteem and gender-role identity considered of the essence to a given gender (Burnett, Anderson, & Heppner, 1995).
Over years, social psychology has concentrated on reflected appraisals, self-perception and social comparisons as the only factors affecting self-esteem. Little attention was placed on the relative essence of the information from the sources. Hence, gender aspects were ignored for over time. The sources of the factors considered core to the past psychologists was based on gender. Since reflections come from people’s reaction towards a situation, then femininity and masculinity affected the considerations. For example, the way male resolve their conflict varies from the way women handle their conflict. It is then essential for psychologists to consider looking into gender issues as the source of their fundamental aspects of self-esteem (Marcotte, Fortin, Potvin, & Papillon, 2002).
The redefinition of gender in the psychological structures has an impact on the way gender orientation connect to self-evaluation. Psychologically, researchers considered the human standards of mental health (androgynous orientation) to define individual’s self-esteem. The orientation was later realized to have little effect on the definition of self-esteem as the concept of gender has a broad spectrum of factors such as the environment, identity, self-perception, roles and societal regulation. Therefore, attention on the psychological spectrum on gender and self-esteem needs to be widened to encompass the variety of aspects surrounding gender. The article is of great significance in the study of self-esteem as it points out ignored elements in the gender that influence the evaluation of self (Burnett, Anderson, & Heppner, 1995).
The growing alterations in the concept of gender profoundly affect the assessment of self. The environment in which a given gender interacts in the contemporary world defines their self-esteem. For instance, children brought up in town set up have a high self-esteem as compared to children raised in the rural setup. As much as the environment impacts on self-esteem, its effect on gender issues are diverse from one culture to another. To understand the whole structure of gender, environment and self-esteem, the psychological well-being of individuals need to be examined over time and space. The environment highly influences the way one evaluates self. Individuals living in developed nations have a high esteem as compared to people in less developed regions (Marcotte, Fortin, Potvin, & Papillon, 2002).
The different recent researches on cultural and gender issues are of great value to the society and the study of self-esteem. The documentation on the existing biases on the global esteem scale is essential in the present and future society as it helps in developing the current range to avoid adverse outcomes established between high and low-level self-esteem nations. Speaking of the negative consequences, cultural ethnocentrism, and discrimination and under grading of self is likely to improve. The improvement is likely to be experienced at a fast rate since cultural similarity in global esteem reveals a significant relation between expression and evaluation. Additionally, studies on gender issues and self-esteem are important in explaining the variation between male and female appreciation over time and space. Furthermore, the study has pointed out areas commonly ignored in social psychology that surround gender and equally affect self-esteem. One can then conclude that the articles, regardless of their origin are of importance to the study (Tsai, Ying, & Lee, 2001).
Societies are likely to benefit from the researches by taking caution in the identified areas to have members of high esteem. To achieve this, cultural structures need to be built in a way that motivate the team to appreciate themselves and their way of life. It is from self-appreciation that one can gain the courage to recognize other groups without any adverse judgment. Additionally, the contribution, perception and reflection of male and female over a phenomenon needs to be understood based on the fact that different domains are of value to a different gender. The appreciation of how male and female define aspects will help the society to define appropriate roles and rules to the two groups maintaining high levels of self-esteem. Though the articles point out necessary steps to be considered by the study and society on maintenance of high levels of self-esteem, it raises eyebrows on how those with low evaluation of self can be supported to gain a high standard of self-esteem (Schmitt, & Allik, 2005).
Societies and individuals need to come together and combine forces to ensure members suffering from low self-esteem are helped to improve on their levels. Additionally, those with high levels of self-evaluation need to be observed to maintain their positions. To accomplish the objective, psychologists and individuals need to encourage persons with low esteem first to believe in themselves than others. The low esteemed person needs to have a self-concept, image and perception that motivate better belief in self. Additionally, self-enhancement is also essential in driving low esteem people to feel good about self and also helps in maintenance of high self-esteem. The enhancement process requires individuals to practice skills that they do not possess, criticize other people to seem better by comparison, be in company of individuals who have high levels of esteem and seek help from psychologists on how to boost their esteem. The mechanisms vary in the application as people have got different issues that affect their levels of esteem over time and space (Link, Struening, Neese-Todd, Asmussen, & Phelan, 2014).
In conclusion, the concept of self-esteem has its history back in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is an aspect that calls for an evaluation of self from different angles of the society. The ideology was first developed by William James (1890) to explain aspects of child development and growth. It is later in the 1960s that the term began to find its way into other fields such as education. Social psychologists from different parts of the world argue that cultural and gender aspects influence self-esteem at the global and traditional level. The issues define the levels of esteem at the individual and community level with their outcomes established worldwide.
Cultural issues affect esteem by building difference and similarities between and among cultures. The difference in culture has resulted in low levels of esteem in inferior communities and high levels in superior communities. Psychologists observed that the negative variation leading from discrimination and ethnocentrism was based on the weak global scales used to measure esteem levels. The consideration of the scales to be poor comes with the observed similarities in the way cultures express issues of esteem. Gender issues, on the other hand, are essential in defining esteem since there exists a difference in the value accorded to issues by male and females. Therefore, societies and psychologists need to look at esteem from a holistic perspective.











References
Brown, J. D., Cai, H., Oakes, M. A., & Deng, C. (2008). Cultural similarities in self-esteem functioning: East is east and west is west, but sometimes the twain do meet. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology.
Burnett, J. W., Anderson, W. P., & Heppner, P. P. (1995). Gender roles and self‐esteem: a consideration of environmental factors. Journal of Counseling & Development, 73(3), 323-326.
Erol, R. Y.; Orth, U. (2011). "Self-Esteem Development from Age 14 to 30 Years: A Longitudinal Study". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 101 (3): 607–619.
Josephs, R. A., Bosson, J. K., & Jacobs, C. G. (2003). Self-esteem maintenance processes: Why low self-esteem may be resistant to change. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29(7), 920-933.
Link, B. G., Struening, E. L., Neese-Todd, S., Asmussen, S., & Phelan, J. C. (2014). Stigma as a barrier to recovery: The consequences of stigma for the self-esteem of people with mental illnesses. Psychiatric services.
Mackie, C. and Smith, T. (2007). Achieving sobriety: A narrative investigation of women, identity, and relationships. ProQuest.
Marcotte, D., Fortin, L., Potvin, P., & Papillon, M. (2002). Gender differences in depressive symptoms during adolescence role of gender-typed characteristics, self-esteem, body image, stressful life events, and pubertal status. Journal of Emotional and Behavioral Disorders, 10(1), 29-42.
Schmitt, D. P., & Allik, J. (2005). Simultaneous administration of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale in 53 nations: exploring the universal and culture-specific features of global self- esteem. Journal of personality and social psychology, 89(4), 623.
Tsai, J. L., Ying, Y. W., & Lee, P. A. (2001). Cultural predictors of self-esteem: A study of Chinese American female and male young adults. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 7(3), 284.