TOPIC: SELF ESTEEM SUBMITTED TO: DR. ANILA AMBER SUBMITTED BY: S. KHUZAIMA JAMAL HASHMI (10166) ABSTRACT We all know that self-esteem can be an important part of success. Too little self-esteem can leave people feeling defeated or depressed. It can also lead people to make bad choices, fall into destructive relationships, or fail to live up to their full potential. Self-esteem is the "feeling of self-appreciation" and is an indispensable emotion for people to adapt to society and live their lives. In particular, the environment in which they are raised contributes profoundly to the development of their self-esteem, which in turn helps them to adapt better to society. Various psychologists have provided definitions of self-esteem, and examined methods of objectively evaluating self-esteem but what about too much self-esteem? Narcissism can certainly be off-putting and can even damage personal relationships. KEYWORDS: Self-Esteem – High Self-Esteem – Low Self-Esteem – Self Worth INTRODUCTION In psychology, the term self-esteem is used to describe a person's overall sense of self-worth or personal value. Self-esteem is often seen as a personality trait, which means that it tends to be stable and enduring. Self-esteem can involve a variety of beliefs about the self, such as the appraisal of one's own appearance, beliefs, emotions, and behaviors. DEFINITION: Confidence is one's own worth or abilities; self-respect. TYPES OF SELF ESTEEM There are four types. 1. Low Self Esteem. 2. High Self Esteem. 3. Worthiness Based Self Esteem. 4. Competence Based Self Esteem. To help explain these different types of self-esteem a bit better, take a look at the diagram below On the horizontal line sits your Competence. As you may remember, competence is how good your abilities are at doing something, whether it is your job, sport, or creating something. In this sense it’s an easily observed and rated behavior. In this case -10 is very poor performance and +10 is highly successful performance. On the vertical line is Worthiness. It is more of an internal feeling about how good you feel about yourself as a person. The scale here goes from -10 being very depressed, self-hating state, to +10 having an extremely high sense of worth. “0” on each scale is average. As you can see, this sets up 4 quadrants: • Low Self Esteem: At -10,-10 sit a person who has a poor belief in both their self-worth and competence. They basically have constant feelings of insecurity, are very cautious, timid, have poor initiative, avoid conflict, and suffer with a lot of anxiety and depression • High Self Esteem: At +10, +10 is a person who has a good belief in their competence and worth. They generally feel good about themselves, are open to new experiences, feel accepted, and are pleasant to be around. They have a high competence level, which means they have the skill set to succeed in life, and show good mental health, happiness, and are secure in their own identity. • Worthiness Based Self Esteem: +10,-10 Individuals that fit into this quadrant base their self-esteem on how others view them and how they view themselves. They make up for their perceived lack of competence by denying shortcomings, minimizing failures, and surrounding themselves with people who accept them. • Competence Based Self-Esteem: -10, +10 these individuals measure how they feel about themselves by their achievements and successes. They compensate for their lack of worth by exaggerating the importance of their successes Components of Self-Esteem According to one definition (Braden, 1969), there are three key components of self-esteem: 1. Self-esteem is an essential human need that is vital for survival and normal, healthy development. 2. Self-esteem arises automatically from within based upon a person's beliefs and consciousness. 3. Self-esteem occurs in conjunction with a person's thoughts, behaviors, feelings, and actions. Self-Esteem Theories 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. It is important to note that self-esteem is a concept distinct from self-efficacy, which involves the belief in future actions, performance, or abilities. Factors That Can Influence Self-Esteem As you might imagine, there are a number of different factors that can influence self-esteem. Genetic factors that help shape overall personality can play a role, but it is often our experiences that form the basis for overall self-esteem. Those who consistently receive overly critical or negative assessments from caregivers, family members, and friends, for example, will likely experience problems with low self-esteem. Self-Esteem Synonyms: • Self-worth. • Self-respect. • Self-value. RESEARCH QUESTIONS Q1. How I feel about myself? Q2. If I want to feel better myself, so what I will have to do and why? Q3. Can I improve my self-esteem? REASON FOR CHOOSE THIS TOPIC First of all I want to learn about self-esteem because it is directly relate to myself self -Esteem is very important. Self-esteem is like that, except it is yourself that you love, care for and feel proud of. When children believe they are valuable and important, they take good care of themselves. Self-esteem refers to a person's beliefs about their own worth and value. It also has to do with the feelings people experiences that follow from their sense of worthiness or unworthiness. Self-esteem is important because it heavily influences people's choices and decisions. In other words, self-esteem serves a motivational function by making it more or less likely that people will take care of themselves and explore their full potential. Answers of Research Questions Q1.How I feel about myself? A1. Since high self-esteem is based on what you think and how you feel about yourself, when it is dependent on the opinions of others, you feel as though you're on a self-esteem roller coaster - feeling good about yourself when people agree with or compliment you and then headed for a valley of depression when someone disagrees with or withholds recognition. Q2. If I want to feel better myself so what I will have to do and why? A2. Sometimes, people don't even realize that they're thinking so negatively about themselves. But once you're aware of it, and know that the way you think is up to you, you can begin to change the way you think. And changing the way you think about yourself changes the way you feel about yourself. So if you want to feel better about yourself, you should try some of these things: Manage your inner critic. Focus on what goes well for you. Aim for effort rather than perfection. View mistakes as learning opportunities. Edit thoughts that get you feeling inferior. Remind yourself that everyone excels at different things. Try new things, and give yourself credit. Recognize what you can change and what you can't. Set goals. Take pride in your opinions and ideas. Accept compliments. Make a contribution. Relax and have fun. Q3. Can I improve my self-esteem? A3.Yes exactly everybody can improve their self-esteem because Self-esteem is made up of the thoughts, feelings, and opinions we have about ourselves. That means self-esteem isn't fixed. It can change, depending on the way we think. Over time, habits of negative thinking about us can lower self-esteem. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION Self-esteem refers to the positive (high self-esteem) or negative (low self-esteem) feelings that we have about ourselves. We experience the positive feelings of high self-esteem when we believe that we are good and worthy and that others view us positively. We experience the negative feelings of low self-esteem when we believe that we are inadequate and less worthy than others. Our self-esteem is determined by many factors, including how well we view our own performance and appearance, and how satisfied we are with our relationships with other people. • Self-esteem refers to the positive (high self-esteem) or negative (low self-esteem) feelings that we have about ourselves. • Self-esteem is determined both by our own achievements and accomplishments and by how we think others are judging us. • Self-esteem can be measured using both direct and indirect measures, and both approaches find that people tend to view themselves positively. • Self-esteem shows important variations across different cultural, gender, and age groups. • Because it is so important to have self-esteem, we may seek out, process, and remember information in a way that allows us to see ourselves even more positively. • High self-esteem is correlated with, but does not cause, a variety of positive outcomes. • Although high self-esteem does correlate with many positive outcomes in life, overly high self-esteem creates narcissism, which can lead to unfriendly, rude, and ultimately dysfunctional behaviors. CONCLUSION While the focus of this course is on improving self-esteem through positive thinking, having a more positive attitude can make you open to a world of physical changes. In addition to changing your way of thinking, you can also change your behavior and abilities by learning new skills. But the bottom line is, you play a huge part in your happiness, and you can greatly increase it by taking action and changing your attitude toward yourself. You are responsible for yourself. Your happiness (or your misery) depends in a great part upon what you tell yourself, how you treat yourself, and how you interpret your world. Believe in yourself and believe that you are capable of handling life's problems. SELF ESTEEM