Self-Esteem Research Paper Samples

Self-esteem refers to the evaluation of oneself. It refers to the worth that one attaches to himself or herself. Self-esteem is the aggregate of what people believe about themselves and their emotions. Self-esteem is an important subject in psychology because it influences people’s lifestyle and their performance in various tasks. Self-esteem may be an enduring trait in which case it constitutes one’s personality or it may be influenced by events of the recent past. A positive evaluation of oneself leads to feelings of worthiness and elicits happiness. A negative evaluation of oneself results in a poor self-concept and makes one feel worthless. Self-esteem is important because it determines whether one will lead a happy or miserable life.
Morris Rosenberg came up with the Rosenberg self-esteem scale in the mid-1960s. Rosenberg equated self-esteem to self-worth. The Rosenberg scale is popular in the field of social sciences. Later in 1969, Nathaniel Braden came up with his definition of self-esteem that proposes that self-esteem is the evaluation of oneself as being competent and able to solve life’s challenges. Braden believes that self-esteem is the aggregate the respect of oneself and self-confidence. Braden believes that for one to be happy they must be capable of solving problems. People with a high self-esteem feel that they deserve happiness, and they also feel the need to be respected.
According to Abraham Maslow, self-esteem is a necessary building block for one to achieve self-actualization. Maslow includes self-esteem in his hierarchy of needs as the fourth need that should be fulfilled before one can self-actualize. For Maslow, self-esteem is a constituent of self-respect and respect from others. Self-respect is more stable as compared to respect that one gets from others and, therefore, respect from others needs to be constantly sought. According to modern theorists, self-esteem is rooted in the need to gain acceptance in social groups. The terror management theory proposes that self-esteem plays a protective function and reduces the anxiety levels that people harbor about life and death.
In order to build self-esteem, one needs to start by getting rid of any negative thoughts one may be harboring. Reciting affirmation every day is a good way of doing this. Psychologists suggest that ‘self-fulfilling prophesy’ influences one’s performance. Repeated confession that you are of no use to anyone in life you end up believing it and chances are that you will become a failure. There is also a need to keep off people with negative thoughts or pessimists. Even with a high self-esteem, sticking around people who never have anything nice to say can make you lose your self-esteem.
Everyone is unique, and this means that an attempt to ape someone else can only yield anything but the desired results. One should strive to be original and do things the way they believe they ought to be done as opposed to doing what others do. Believing in oneself and doing what feels right and what others expect of you is a step towards the right direction. You should also form the habit of learning from mistakes instead of letting them weigh you down. You should also worry less about being perfect and put your energy towards achieving the goals you have set for yourself. Working towards perfection is an exercise in futility because the definition of perfect is different for different people.
Low self-esteem leads to a less fulfilling life since one fears venturing novel grounds. The evaluation of people with low self-esteem about themselves is that their competence is low. Such an evaluation about oneself can be especially detrimental to one’s career. Low self-esteem can also lead to mental health problems such as depression and anxiety. People develop these complications because they tend to isolate themselves. People with a low self-esteem feel that they have nothing to offer, so they tend to keep to themselves rather than be a burden to others.
A defeatist mental disposition results in low self-esteem. People with this mentality are those who believe in an external locus of control. The belief that these people hold is that an outside force controls their life. Majority of this people prefer not to try rather than try and fail. Getting rid of this mindset is not easy but it is possible. One should start by setting achievable goals and seeing to it that they are accomplished. Being aware of your strengths and weaknesses becomes a great help in knowing how much effort needs to be put for the successful completion of a task. Establishing a winning streak helps build self-esteem, and this helps achieve of a stable self-concept.
High self-esteem is necessary for the wholesome betterment of an individual. One needs to take simple steps to build and maintain their self-esteem because it important in all spheres of life from relationships to career advancement. Effort should be put towards achieving high self-esteem because this is a stepping stone to achieving self-actualization as suggested by Abraham Maslow. Self-esteem is important because it determines whether one will lead a happy or miserable life. People must have a high self-esteem and this increases their confidence in the manner they handle things.