In psychology, self–esteem is a term that is used for appraisal of your own worth or value and how you feel about your own limitations and abilities regardless of the circumstances.
Self–esteem encompasses emotions such as pride, shame, triumph and despair, and beliefs ( “I am worthy” or “I am competent”) and some more evaluative statements like “I am good at math”, which means you put worthiness on yourself and you do not describe yourself negatively.
Your self–esteem is influenced by many factors such as:
In childhood, self–esteem seems to be the lowest, and it increases in adolescence and as you grow older. Having a healthy amount of self–esteem is important to face life’s challenges and take part in activities you find enjoyable and rewarding. It also influences your motivation, and you will feel inspired to make new challenges in your life. Let’s see which self-esteem is perceived as good and which as bad and help you feel free to choose the right behavior in certain life situations.
According to the American Psychological Association and the definition of self–esteem in social psychology, self-esteem is the degree to which characteristics and qualities you contain you perceive as positive.
The more positive attitude you have towards your qualities and characteristics, the higher your self–esteem is.
Self–esteem can influence your life choices and help you navigate in life with a positive attitude. There are 3 known types of self–esteem:
Having inflated self–esteem means that you have an excessive amount of self–esteem and is usually perceived as a negative characteristic.
People who have overly high self-esteem will have problems with socializing because they do not like to be criticized, they will crave praise from others and they usually think that they are perfect, so they do not change themselves and grow as persons. All these characteristics may badly influence their social and love life.
They are always ahead of others and sometimes hurt other people’s feelings to achieve their goals because they think that this will make them happy. In addition, they blame and undervalue other people all the time and never listen to their opinions because they have a great fear of rejection and always try to hide their incompetence.
If you have high self–esteem, it means you will feel comfortable with social and personal assertiveness and enjoy the humorous aspects of life. (1)
There are some other aspects and characteristics of people with high self – esteem and we brought this into the spotlight in this article.
There are many examples of characteristics that differentiate someone from others related to their self–esteem.
If you have high self – esteem you will probably:
People with high self–esteem will also usually:
Low self–esteem may be a result of socioeconomic status, bullying from peers and physical appearance and, in some cases, may lead to suicidal ideation.
If you have low self – esteem you will feel worthless and it may lead to depression and negative thoughts, you will be afraid to try new things because you think you won’t be capable of reaching them and have issues with your needs and relationships. In addition, you will have a lower level of confidence and feel unlovable and unworthy.
People with low esteem do not believe in their capabilities and never put their worthiness on themselves.
They usually have:
People with low self-esteem will usually:
Self–esteem and self–confidence are different, although in some cases, they overlap.
As noted above, self–esteem is related to your self-value and appreciation of your own capabilities and values. It can change during your life as a result of the interaction and experiences you have with other people.
Self-confidence, on the other hand, is the belief you have in your capabilities and in yourself, and it can change according to certain life situations.
Having low self-esteem and self–confidence can restrict you from many things in life and you will feel very often negative about yourself, which will discourage you from continuing with some activities and may result in:
Self-image and self-esteem are connected, but they are still different. Self–image is how you see yourself and the image you have created yourself about how you look and behave, while self–esteem is how you value yourself.
