INTRODUCTION Self-esteem is a term used in psychology to reflect person's overall emotional evaluation of his or her own worth. It is a judgment of oneself as well as an attitude toward the self. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs (for example, "I am competent," "I am worthy") and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame. Smith and Mackie define it by saying "The self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem is the positive or negative evaluations of the self, as in how we feel about it. Self-esteem is also known as the evaluative dimension of the self that includes feelings of worthiness, prides and discouragement. One's self-esteem is also closely associated with self-consciousness. In the mid-1960s, Morris Rosenberg and …show more content…
American psychologist Abraham Maslow included self-esteem in his hierarchy of needs. He described two different forms of esteem: the need for respect from others, and the need for self-respect, or inner self-esteem. Respect from others entails recognition, acceptance, status, and appreciation, and was believed to be more fragile and easily lost than inner self-esteem. According to Maslow, without the fulfilment of the self-esteem need, individuals will be driven to seek it and unable to grow and obtain self-actualization .Modern theories of self-esteem explore the reasons humans are motivated to maintain a high regard for themselves. Sociometer theory maintains that self-esteem evolved to check one's level of status and acceptance in ones' social group. According to terror management theory, self-esteem serves a protective function and reduces anxiety about life and death. The importance of self-esteem lies in the fact that it concerns to ourselves, the way we are and the sense of our personal value. Thus, it affects the way we are and act in the world and the way we are related to everybody else. Nothing in the way we think, feel, decide and act escapes the influence of self-esteem. Abraham Maslow, in his hierarchy of human needs, describes the "need for esteem," which is divided into two aspects, the esteem for oneself self-love, self-confidence, skill, aptitude, and respect receives from other people recognition, success, etc. The healthiest expression of self-esteem, according to Maslow, "is the one which manifests in respect we deserve for others, more than renown, fame and flattery". Carl Rogers, the greatest exponent of humanistic psychology, exposed that the origin of problems for many people despise themselves and they consider themselves to be unvaluable and unworthy of being loved; thus the importance he/she gave to unconditional acceptance of client. Indeed, the concept
Self-esteem is confidence in one’s own worth or abilities or self-respect. Janie from Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston and Jefferson from A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines both struggle with establishing a positive self-esteem or a sense of self-worth. Both characters get so overwhelmed by the supremacy of someone or something around them that they doubt their own power, thus, creating a feeling of doubt for themselves and the voice that they have. In order to gain a sense of high self-esteem, a person must endure points of self-doubt.
In order to comprehend this article, one must have a concept of self-esteem. Self- esteem is the personal evaluation of one’s worth as a person. Most individuals subject self-esteem as the “feeling that one is ‘good enough.” Also, individuals believe those with high self- esteem tend to believe they are superior to others, which is not necessarily true. Another inaccurate assumption on self- esteem interprets that talents and abilities are influential on self-esteem. Also, self- esteem is not
older people imagine clear to a greater degree by their social roles. (Kuhn, 1960). The need for self-esteem plays an important role in psychologist Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which depicts self-esteem as one of the basic human motivations. Maslow suggested that people need both esteem from other people as well as inner self-respect. Both of these needs must be fulfilled in order for an individual to grow as a person and achieve self-actualization.
Maslow believed that there was a hierarchy of five innate needs that influence people’s behaviors (Schultz & Schultz, 2013, p.246-247). In a pyramid fashion, at the base are physiological needs, followed by safety needs, then belonginess and love needs, succeeded by esteem needs, and finally the need for self-actualization. Maslow claimed that lower order needs must be at least partially satisfied before higher level needs are addressed. Furthermore, behavior is dominated by solely one need
Psychologist Abraham Maslow created the hierarchy of needs, outlining and suggesting what a person need to reach self-actualization and reveal the true potential of themselves. In the model, Maslow propose that a person has to meet basic needs in order to reach the true potential of themselves. Biological/physiological needs, safety needs, love/belonging need, esteem needs according to Maslow is the fundamental frame for reaching the peak of self. The last need to be met on the scale
Self-concept is an individual’s compilation of feelings, self-perception, and an idea of the basis of human personality. Self-esteem, usually identified in a positive approach, is the concept of one’s confidence in abilities and self worth, and the idea of self-respect. Self-evaluative standards evidently have a vital role in shaping future emotions and subsequent behaviors (Kuiper & McHale, 2009; 143.4: 359-76). According to Abraham Maslow’s Theory of Self-Actualization, self-esteem, notably confidence in oneself, respect for and by others, is achieved after physiological needs, safety needs, and love and belonging needs. Self-esteem, then, is combination of several characteristics, which result in a physiological
The second to last level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is esteem. This stage includes having and giving respect, pride, and confidence. This stage is what truly separates humans from all other animals. In our community, I feel respected and have a high sense of value when I am succeeding academically and athletically. When I am doing these two things, my esteem is at an all time high, but when I am not, it’s hard to motivate myself at times. In our society today, esteem is based off mostly material things like money, beauty, and objects, but to truly make yourself happy you must take this one step
Maslow’s theory is based on basic needs he believes need to be meet and if not will negatively impact a person. I was intrigued on his view on esteem as my husband and I married young and were both still trying to figure out who were. We have been together for seventeen years and our self-esteem has changed based on how loved we felt by each other. There are may periods in our marriage where we both had low self-esteem because we were not getting certain needs meet from each other and were not quite sure how to draw improve our esteem based on our own self-worth. With some counseling and guidance, we were able to work on building our own self-esteem as well as help build each other up. The more confidant we became in ourselves the easier it was to help boost each others self-esteem and with that we grew and foster a healthier marriage. Maslow believed that; “positive self-esteem further leads them to trust their instincts and is less worried about what is going to happen in the future” ("Self-esteem and Motivation – Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs",
Gage and Berliner (1998) point out that apart from the way people see about themselves, self-concept also measured on what to do in the future, and how they evaluate the performance of theirselves. Hence, self-concept is very important in life because one's understanding of their self-concept will define and guide their behavior in various situations (Arnold 2007). If their self-concept is negative, so their behavior is potentially negative; otherwise, if the person's self-concept is positive, then the person's behavior is positive (Mercer 2011, Craven & Marsh 2000). Furthermore, the self-concept of the individual could also determine the success and failure of a person in relation to society (Yoshida 2013, Mercer 2011, Navarro & Thornton 2011). From the definition above, we can conclude that the concept of self is a viewpoint or the individual's perception of itself that is formed through interaction with the environment and affect the activity of the
Unlike many of his colleagues at the time who were focusing on psychopathology, or what is wrong with individuals, he focused on how individuals are motivated to fulfill their potential and what needs govern their respective behaviors (McLeod)). Maslow developed the hierarchy over time, adjusting from a rigid structure where needs must be met before being able to achieve a higher level, to where the individuals can experience and behave in ways across the hierarchy multiple times daily depending on their needs. The hierarchy is comprised of 5 levels; Physiological, Safety and Security, Love and Belonging, Esteem, and Self-Actualization. The bottom two levels are considered basic needs, or deficiency needs because once the needs are met they cease to be a driving factor, unlike psychological needs. Loving and Belonging and Esteem needs are considered psychological needs, and are different from basic needs because they don’t stem from a lack of something, but rather the desire to grow. Maslow theorizes that individual’s decisions and behavior are determined based on their current level of needs, and the ideal level to achieve full potential culminates in self-actualization; however, operating on this level cannot be achieved until the preceding levels of needs have been
In Interplay self esteem is defined as the “part of the self-concept that involves evaluation of self worth (Alder, 2015, p.70).” Self esteem to me is how we feel about ourselves. Are we proud of our accomplishments in life? Are we happy with our physical appearance or ashamed. Self esteem can be referred as persons judgements of competency regarding ones self worth (Mohammad,
Similarly, Maslow's theory also reflects that humans have an internal force to reach their highest potential (Maslow, 1968). Maslow examined the hierarchy of basic human needs and developed a pyramid of requirements which motivates human beings and shapes their personality. At the bottom of his pyramid are found the basic physiological motivations which are necessary for survival such as food and shelter. The next level incorporates the need for safety, both physical and psychological. This is followed by love and belongingness which relate to receiving and giving affection. Presuming the love need is met, the next level up is the need for esteem which includes the feeling of self-esteem and self-respect. At the top of the pyramid stands the complex need for self-actualization which is a meta-need as per Maslow (1964) and we can reach it through peak experiences. It is the highest level of growth when someone reached her or his capacity to the fullest. Maslow estimated that only 1 percent of people ever really fulfil this need (Maslow,
The hierarchy of needs and person-centered theory share humanistic psychology’s approach toward the person. In the Abraham Maslow hierarchy of needs, humans satisfy
What is Self Esteem? Self Esteem is a confidence in one’s own worth or abilities. Self-esteem is the way you value and view yourself individually. In “The Troubles with Self-Esteem “(2002) Lauren also explains how low self can trigger women to have a negative self-image. “It has not been much disputed, until recently, that high self-esteem-defined quite simply as liking yourself a lot, holding a positive opinion of your actions and capacities-is essential to well-being, and that its opposite is responsible for crime and substance abuse and prostitution and murder and rape and even terrorism” (Slater). In my opinion, I understand how this could be true in some cases, but I believe this could all depend on how women value themselves. I agree that having low self -esteem can make you do certain things that people with high self-esteem don’t do, but you have to value yourself enough not to. Having low self-esteem could make teens go into deep depression, make bad choices, and not understand the strengths that they do have. This could make woman think that life has nothing to offer them so why care about how you live. Which could explain why they may partake into prostitution, substance abuse, and many more harmful things. Low self-esteem involves lots of thoughts about yourself, like the opinion of
Abraham Maslow wrote the Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. This theory was based on fulfilling five basic needs: physiological, safety, social, esteem and self-actualization. Maslow believed that these needs could create internal pressures that could influence the behavior of a person. (Robbins, p.204)