Self-Esteem: It's Not What You Think It Is
Author: PeterJulian Total views: 9 Word Count: 518
We've been tossing around the term 'self-esteem' for a long time in education and psychology, but what does it really mean? Is it the same thing as confidence? Can it be taught or improved? Let's start with a basic definition of the term.
Before we get much farther in our discussion, then, let's agree on a basic definition. Self-esteem is the belief each person has about whether or not they are valuable. If they don't think they have much value, that's referred to as 'low self-esteem'. If, on the other hand, they see themselves as being valuable, they are thought to have 'healthy self-esteem'.
Keeping that in mind, let's move on to the way that poor or healthy self-esteem predicts whether a person will be successful in life. It may surprise you to know that recent research has raised questions about the beliefs that formed the 'self-esteem-based education movement' of the past twenty five years.
You may already know that, beginning in California in the early 1980s, educators had formed curriculae around the concept that children who develop good self-esteem tend to resist peer pressure more successfully. That, in turn, has been thought to be an effective way of reducing drug use, high school dropout rates and teen pregnancy.
The proponents of the self-esteem movement believe children's self-esteem is most influenced by negative early childhood experiences such as abuse. Many states followed suit and made huge investments in bolstering the self-esteem of school children through education programs, so that they would become responsible adults.
But recent studies don't support that notion. They actually found little evidence that people who registered high on the self-esteem scale are any more likely to resist peer pressure or to achieve success.
But a seismic shift has occurred in the evidence on which that belief was based. Recent studies, most notably by Brown University, seem to indicate that there's very little difference in drug use, teen pregnancy or failure in school between those with poor or healthy self-esteem. A further blow to that movement is that the new study shows a person must succeed before they are able to exhibit healthy self-esteem.
Here's the other commonly-held belief that may have been shattered: since the 80s, educators and psychologists have followed the notion that self-esteem is based largely on the information they receive from their parents, teachers and others close to them. In contrast, the respondents in the 2003 study, and others since, seemed to base their feelings of personal value on how well they measure up in society at large.
Depending on the location, these might include freedom, brotherhood, family, knowledge, and all the other basic concepts upon which that society is formed. And so, the study at Brown points toward someone assigning value to himself based on how well he succeeds in what his society says is valuable.
All of which leads us to refine our original definition of self-esteem, based on the information we've just discussed. Try framing your thoughts around this new definition as you continue to consider the basis of self-esteem: it is how valuable a person feels when gauged against the values of his or her society.
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