People intuitively recognize the importance of self-esteem to their psychological health, so it isn't particularly remarkable that most of us try to protect and enhance it in ourselves whenever possible. What is remarkable is that attention to self-esteem has become a communal concern, at least for Americans, who see a favorable opinion of oneself as the central psychological source from which all manner of positive outcomes spring. The corollary, that low self-esteem lies at the root of individual and thus societal problems and dysfunctions, has sustained an ambitious social agenda for decades. Indeed, campaigns to raise people's sense of self-worth abound.

Consider what transpired in California in the late 1980s. Prodded by State Assemblyman John Vasconcellos, Governor George Deukmejian set up a task force on self-esteem and personal and social responsibility. Vasconcellos argued that raising self-esteem in young people would reduce crime, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, school underachievement and pollution. At one point, he even expressed the hope that these efforts would one day help balance the state budget, a prospect predicated on the observation that people with high self-regard earn more than others and thus pay more in taxes. Along with its other activities, the task force assembled a team of scholars to survey the relevant literature. The results appeared in a 1989 volume entitled The Social Importance of Self-Esteem, which stated that "many, if not most, of the major problems plaguing society have roots in the low self-esteem of many of the people who make up society." In reality, the report contained little to support that assertion.

This article was originally published with the title Exploding the Self-Esteem Myth.

5 Comments

1. 1. Thethirdeye 09:53 AM 9/11/09

   This is the most absurd thing that I have ever read of...
   
   -Firstly, saying that self-esteem is not important in the job, or in the school is very fault belief...How can somebody do or perform some task if he doesn't believe that he is capable of doing it...??? The corelation between success and self-esteem is huge...How can humanity progress, if people don't believe that they are capable of doing better?
   
   -Self esteem is not the same as narcicism...The scientific studies confirm that there are two types of self-esteem that are known for now...The secure and the fragile self-esteem
   The secure self-esteem lead to positive outcomes, good social functioning, better using of ones onw potential and better sense of self...The fragile self-esteem is more connected with egoism and narcicissm...It is result of someone's own implicit insecurity that leads him towards constant afirming of his own ego so he supress the others around him...The implicit insecurity is connected with the low-esteem so we can conclude that agressive behavior is more connected with someones low self-esteem....
   
   -If you are good guitar player...Shoud you be confident on the scene or you should be insecure...Do you personaly have high or you have low self esteem??? If you have low self esteem that might lead you listen the autorities be uncapable of bringing solutions on your own...You will depend of the others opinion and never be sure of the capability of your own thinking....Is that good????
   
   -It is well known that the well confident people are morse succesfull in the area of love and relationships...
   The low self-esteem people might believe that everything they do is bad and they will do it bad, and reinforce unsuccess in their love life...The more confiden't people are more sure and more responsible about their behaviors...How would somebody expect to be loved and respected by the others if he is not respecting himself...
   
   1. Is it wise to teach people that it is even NOT recomended for them to have self-esteem???
   2. What are the proofs that high self-esteem is not recomended and how can you know that high self-esteem is the same as narcicissm?
   3.Isn't it stupid to believe in some kind of researchings that can never be proved, because high and low self esteem are subjective, there are people with high self-esteem that are lovable, inteligent and great persons...and if you take their self-esteem you can make them anxious, depressive and very distant from the other people and social life...IS that good???
   
   Do you have self-esteem???

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2. 2. tornado_whiz in reply to Thethirdeye 02:44 PM 6/22/10

   Self esteem is beneficial generally in most situations but having a high self esteem is not enough to succeed in life and at work, you also need to have the ability to do so. What if a student has a high self esteem but does not have the ability to do so as the exam is too difficult for him to handle? In that case, high self esteem does not result in being able to score in exams always.
   
   What if also if the reason the person have high self esteem is because of performing well in ones job and not the other way round. The relationship involving self-esteem and academic results does not signify that high self-esteem contributes to high academic results. It simply means that high self- esteem may be accomplished due to high academic performance.
   
   An average amount of self esteem will do to perform at an optimal level, too high a self esteem and you may cross over the fine line to overconfidence and arrogance. You have to be balanced. Prudency is best.
   
   Also self esteem does not make people great people, it is their sense of justice, morality, wit and charm that make them so that occurs independently of self esteem but rather on their experiences that shape their character.

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3. 3. tornado_whiz 02:52 PM 6/22/10

   Some characterstics of people with an inflated sense of self esteem are:
   
   -Being prone to self satisfied boasting
   -Tending to be smug and superior
   -Abusing relationships, assuming their needs come first in any situation. If this doesn’t happen, they will become angry and push their own weight around.
   -Adopting an air of superiority, simply because they have skill or luck in a particular area of life
   -Being blind to their own faults and so are unlikely to change or improve themselves
   -Tending to have impulse control problems
   
   From http://www.self-confidence.co.uk/self/esteem/high.html

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4. 4. tornado_whiz in reply to Thethirdeye 03:05 PM 6/22/10

   "While high self-esteem is still generally valued as a good quality that is important to a happy and productive life, more researchers are breaking it down into finer gradations and starting to understand when high self-esteem turns from good to bad. In fact, it is now thought that there are multiple forms of high self-esteem, only some of which consistently relate to positive psychological functioning.
   
   One of the ways in which high self-esteem can turn bad is when it is accompanied by verbal defensiveness--lashing out at others when a person's opinions, beliefs, statements or values are threatened."
   
   From High Self-Esteem Is Not Always What It's Cracked Up To Be (Science Daily),
   http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080428084235.htm

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5. 5. NotoriousUnknown 01:51 PM 12/9/11

   The funny thing is they didn't prove that there's no correlation, they just said that the report offered "little". Which means another report might offer a lot, or that this one was simply speculation.

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