Lesson 9 : Development of Personality- Self Perspective
Self esteem
While self concept is the “cognitive" evaluation of self, self esteem is the “affective” dimension of self. It deals with the feelings we have about ourselves.
“Self esteem is the sense of self worth”.
Self esteem is based on many criteria. These can also be seen as factors that affect self esteem.
Coopersmith’s (1967)’s criteria of self esteem
Power - the ability to influence and control others
Significance – the acceptance, attention, and affection of others
Virtue- adherence to certain moral and ethical standards
Competence- successful performance in meeting demands for achievement
Other criteria include
Social comparisons – our feelings of self worth and self esteem grow in large part from our perceptions of where we see ourselves in relation to persons whose skills, abilities and talents are similar to our own.
Personal aspirations- what we set as personal level of aspiration determine what we regard as either success or failure. If we are able to meet our personal aspirations, our self esteem is secure.
Feedback from others / reflected appraisals – generally how we feel about ourselves in terms of self worth and self esteem is related to reflected appraisals we get from people in a social world. This depends on
How important we think the other person is
How much we value the trait / characteristic they have chosen to appreciate.
It is also possible that though positive feedback is important, negative feedback sometimes helps us do better and gain more respect for ourselves.
Participants