The concept of self-esteem in the works of domestic and foreign psychologists. Self-esteem of a person as the most important component of his "I-concept

A person's awareness of himself, his mental abilities, actions, motives, physical capabilities, attitudes towards other people and himself - and there is a self-esteem of the individual. It is an integral part of self-awareness and includes the ability to assess one's strengths, capabilities, and treat oneself critically.

Personal self-esteem levels

In the course of his existence in society, a person constantly compares himself with other people. He also compares his own success with the achievements of colleagues and acquaintances. This analysis of one's capabilities and achievements is carried out in relation to all qualities: appearance, abilities, academic or work success. Thus, since childhood, a person has been forming a self-esteem of the individual. Influencing the behavior, activity and development of the individual, his relationship with other people, it performs a regulatory and protective function.

There are three levels of self-esteem of a person:

A person has a low opinion of himself. Often, low self-esteem is formed in childhood under the influence and evaluation of parents. Subsequently, it is finally fixed under the influence of the surrounding society. Such people often have a problem of self-esteem of the individual;
Normal level of understanding of one's own potential. Usually inherent in a self-confident person who successfully sets goals and easily achieves them in his career, business, creativity and personal life. At the same time, he knows his own worth, is aware of his positive and negative sides, advantages and disadvantages. Also, adequate self-esteem of the individual allows you to develop initiative, enterprise, ability to adapt in various social conditions;
High level of self-esteem. It is observed in most people who have achieved significant success in any area - politics, business, art. However, cases of inflated self-esteem are also common, when a person holds an unreasonably high opinion of himself, his talents, abilities and capabilities. Although, in fact, his real successes are much more modest.

In addition, psychologists distinguish general, private (personal) or specific situational self-esteem of the individual. The fact is that a person can evaluate himself in completely different ways, depending on the situation, for example, at work or in the family. Therefore, the results in this case are completely opposite. As for general self-esteem, it is more complex and is formed later than others.

There are also definitions of stable or floating self-esteem. It depends both on the emotional state and on other additional conditions.

Formation of self-esteem of the individual

A person's opinion of himself is a rather complex psychological construct. The process of formation of self-esteem of the individual takes place in the course of the formation of the inner world and goes through various stages. Thus, it can be said that during the course of life, a person's self-esteem is constantly changing, becoming more perfect. The source of evaluative ideas is the socio-cultural environment, the reactions of society to some manifestations of character, actions, as well as the results of self-observation.

An important role in shaping the understanding of one's capabilities is played by the comparison of the real image of the "I" with the ideal one, that is, with the idea of what a person would like to be. Moreover, the smaller the gap between what is in reality and the ideal image, the more significant is the recognition of one's own achievements. Real achievements in a wide variety of activities also have a significant impact in the course of the formation of a person's self-esteem.

Psychologists distinguish two types of behavior (motivation) - striving for success and avoiding failure. In the first case, a person has a more positive attitude, he is not very worried about the opinions of other people. In the second case, he is more prone to caution, tries not to take risks and is constantly looking for confirmation of his fears in life. This type of behavior does not allow you to raise your self-esteem.

It should be emphasized that self-esteem of a person is always subjective. Moreover, this happens regardless of whether it is formed under the influence of the individual's own judgments about himself or the opinions of other people.

Basically, a person develops an adequate opinion about himself, or inadequate, that is, erroneous. In this case, they say that there is a problem of self-esteem of the individual. Such a person is constantly haunted by some problems, the harmony of development is disturbed, he often comes into conflict with others. In addition, awareness of real possibilities quite strongly influences the formation of certain qualities. For example, adequate self-esteem of a person contributes to the formation of self-criticism, self-confidence, perseverance, exactingness. And inadequate - excessive self-confidence or, conversely, uncertainty.

If a person wants to achieve something in life, he needs to work on his self-esteem, objectively realizing his strengths and capabilities, while responding appropriately to difficulties, mistakes and criticism.

(method S.A. Budassi)

Consider four blocks of qualities, each of which reflects one of the levels of personality activity:

1. self-esteem in the field of communication.

2. self-assessment of behavior.

3. self-assessment in the field of activity.

4. self-assessment of one's own emotional manifestations.

Here are four sets of positive qualities in people. You need to choose from the list and circle those personality traits that, in your opinion, are most significant for you personally.

List of qualities:


politeness	activity	thoughtfulness	cheerfulness
diligence	pride	efficiency	fearlessness
sincerity	good nature	skill	cheerfulness
collectivism	decency	comprehension	sincerity
responsiveness	courage	speed	mercy
	hardness	composure	tenderness
sympathy	confidence	accuracy	love of freedom
tact	honesty	industriousness	cordiality
tolerance	conscientiousness	passion	passion
sensitivity	initiative	perseverance	bashfulness
benevolence	intelligence	accuracy	excitement
friendliness	persistence	attentiveness	enthusiasm
charm	determination	foresight	compassion
sociability	adherence to principles	discipline	cheerfulness
obligation	self-criticism	diligence	amorousness
a responsibility	independence	curiosity	optimism
frankness	equilibrium	resourcefulness	restraint
justice	purposefulness	subsequence	satisfaction
compatibility	energy	performance	composure
exactingness	enthusiasm	scrupulousness	Sensitivity

Finished? Now find in the qualities you have chosen those that you really possess, put a tick next to it, and also find their percentage.

RESULTS.

Count the number of ideal qualities.
Count the number of real qualities that are included in the list of ideal qualities.
Calculate their percentage:

Self-esteem \u003d Nreal * 100%

Nreal - the number of real qualities;

Nid - the number of ideal qualities.

Table of standard values

	Adequate self-esteem
Below the average		Above average	Inappropriately high

Personal self-esteem can be adequate, overestimated or underestimated.

Adequate self-esteem corresponds to two positions: "average", "above average". A person with adequate self-esteem correctly correlates his capabilities and abilities, is quite critical of himself, sets realistic goals for himself, knows how to predict an adequate attitude of others to the results of his activities. The behavior of such a person is basically non-conflict, in conflict he behaves constructively.

With self-esteem "high level", "above average": a person deserves to appreciate and respect himself, he is pleased with himself, he has developed self-esteem. With self-assessment "average level": a person respects himself, but knows his weaknesses and strives for self-improvement, self-development.

Heightened self-esteem corresponds to the level of "inadequately high" in the psychodiagnostic scale. With an overestimated self-esteem, a person develops an idealized image of his personality. He overestimates his abilities, focuses only on success, ignores failures.

His perception of reality is often emotional, he regards failure or failure as a consequence of someone's mistakes or unfavorable circumstances. He perceives fair criticism in his address as nit-picking. Such a person is conflict-prone, tends to overestimate the image of a conflict situation, behaves actively in a conflict, betting on victory.

Low self-esteem corresponds to the positions: "low" and "below average". With low self-esteem, a person has an inferiority complex. He is unsure of himself, timid and passive. Such people are distinguished by excessive demands on themselves and even more demands on others. They are boring, whining, they see only flaws in themselves and others.

Such people are conflicted. The causes of conflicts often arise because of their intolerance towards other people. Self-esteem can be positive (high) and negative (low), as well as optimal and suboptimal.

With optimal self-esteem a person correctly correlates it with his capabilities and abilities, is quite critical of himself, strives to realistically look at his successes and failures, sets achievable goals for himself. He approaches the assessment of what has been achieved not only with his own personal measurements, but tries to foresee how other people will react to this.

But self-esteem can also be suboptimal - too high or too low.

On the basis of inflated self-esteem, a person develops a misconception about himself. In such cases, a person ignores failures in order to maintain the habitual and high appreciation of a loved one. There is an acute emotional "repulsion" of everything that violates the ideal idea of \u200b\u200bthe self.

A person with overestimated and inadequate self-esteem does not want to admit that all his failures are the result of his own mistakes, laziness, lack of knowledge, abilities or wrong behavior. A clear overestimation of one's capabilities is very often accompanied by internal self-doubt. All this leads to increased sensibility and chronic helplessness.

If high self-esteem is plastic, changes in accordance with the real state of affairs - it increases with success and decreases with failures, then this can contribute to the development of the personality, the goals set, to develop one's abilities and will.

Self-esteem may be low. Usually this leads to self-doubt, shyness and lack of initiative, the inability to realize one's inclinations and abilities. Such people are limited to solving everyday problems, they are too critical of themselves. Low self-esteem destroys a person's hopes for a good attitude towards him, and he perceives his real achievements and the positive assessment of others as accidental and temporary.

As a result of high vulnerability, the mood of such people is subject to frequent fluctuations. They react extremely sharply to criticism, censure, biasedly interpret the laughter of others, turn out to be suspicious and, as a result, more dependent on the assessments and opinions of others, or retire, but then suffer from loneliness.

Underestimation of one's usefulness reduces social activity, lowers initiative and readiness for competition.

The article is devoted to self-esteem as a complex concept of personality psychology. The types of self-esteem of a person and their features are characterized, general approaches to the formation of an adequate perception of oneself are given.

Self-esteem is part of a person's self-awareness. It represents the opinion of the individual about himself, his own significance, the value of certain aspects of his personality, as well as behavior, individual actions and activities in general.

Self-esteem is a holistic education that makes up the concept of one's "I" (I-concept) and self-awareness of a person.

Through self-assessment, the individual has the opportunity to:

implement self-protection function;
to regulate relations with others, personal behavior in society;
feel a sense of self-respect;
feel their own autonomy and relative independence.

Self-esteem is often equated with any personal judgment about oneself, one's characteristics, features, age, plans and experiences. Then it is the opposite of expert (objective) judgments and estimates.

Self-assessment is invaluable in making predictions about individual success, which manifests itself as the claims of a person who has a certain level (high or low).

Self-awareness and self-esteem arise, form and develop even in childhood, in the course of the formation of a personality (this is actively manifested after about 3 years).

The child slowly begins to understand his abilities (mental and others), motives and behavioral manifestations, goals, physical and spiritual abilities, relationships with others.

The formation of self-esteem occurs in the course of self-knowledge. The attitude towards one's own "I" is not created immediately, but gradually: step by step, each individual acquires a habitual view of himself, approving or disapproving of certain manifestations, actions, thoughts, relationships, results, and so on. The value and significance of one's own personality develops into a strong conviction.

The sources of self-esteem through which it is directly formed are:

self image. It is created by comparing the components of the "I" of the individual - real and ideal (a comparison between what a person is now in his perception and what he would like to become in order to change for the better).
Mathematically, this is determined through the value the difference between a person's claims to his real results and achievements. The larger this gap, the lower the level of self-esteem in a person, and vice versa.
The transition of external assessments of the individual(from the side of the social environment) into an internal assessment of oneself - internalization. It is common for each person to start in evaluating himself from how, in his perception, he is evaluated by other people.
Evaluation of the success of your own results. Here, self-esteem manifests itself in the mind of a person through the level of achievements and their evaluation: the individual is satisfied / dissatisfied with what has been achieved, the quality of the results - this is the measure of the value of the score on the positive-negative evaluation scale.
Comparison with significant others. The benchmark for evaluation is set by people who are authoritative and important to the individual. Such assessments of others may be subjective, but they serve as the basis for creating ideals and standards that a person aspires to.

Types of self-assessment

In psychology, the classification of types of self-esteem has been developed depending on various grounds:

proximity to reality- adequate (realistic, optimal) and inadequate (non-optimal, tendency to overestimate or underestimate);
quantities(level) - high self-esteem (maximum and close to it level), medium (intermediate level), low (minimum level);
sustainability- stable (also called "personal") and floating (current);
coverage– general, particular or specific-situational.

Adequate/Inadequate

This kind of self-esteem is the result of a tendency to look at oneself and one's own manifestations objectively or subjectively.

Adequate- is characterized as the optimal ratio between the level of claims and the achievements of the individual. Possessing it, the individual manages to best correlate his own strengths with the ability to solve problems of varying complexity and with the demands of others.

The indicators of the adequacy of self-esteem are:

setting goals that are sure to be achieved;
realism in assessing a certain situation and one's potentials in it.

inadequate self-esteem- regardless, overestimated or underestimated, - it deforms the internal properties of the psyche of the individual, creates obstacles to personal development, makes it impossible to harmonize the motivational and emotional-volitional spheres of a person.

Indicators of inadequately high self-esteem are:

reassessment of one's own strengths;
excessive idealization of the personal image of "I";
ignoring unsuccessful actions and results;
unfounded claims and arrogance;
unconditional rightness and sinlessness.

Evidence of inadequately low self-esteem is:

lack of faith in one's own strengths;
timidity in everything;
indecision in the manifestation of their own abilities and capabilities.

High/Medium/Low

The level of self-esteem is displayed by the magnitude of its manifestation in the self-consciousness of the individual:

High. Successful people who achieve well-being in life are accompanied by high self-esteem. It serves as a motivating and mobilizing factor for the individual.
Medium. Individuals with an average level of self-esteem do not take on more than they can handle in a particular activity, but they will not lower the bar of achievements either.
Low level self-esteem is the result of a person's lack of confidence, evidence of an unconditional focus on previous failures or inadequate comparisons with other, more successful people.

stable/floating

This type of self-assessment indicates the level of personality formation:

stable self-esteem is inherent in persons with a stable position regarding their personality and its capabilities; it displays the general level of satisfaction with themselves and their qualities. Such an assessment is not subject to rapid momentary changes and corrections.
floating self-assessment reflects the assessment of the current situation - actions, behavioral manifestations, reactions, actions, etc. It serves as a hint for correcting one's own behavior as a result of self-control.

General / private / specific situational

General(global) self-assessment covers the whole personality and its meaning, concerns the emotional and value level.
Private. Separate aspects of the individual are called upon to give a private self-assessment.
Operational self-assessments (specifically situational) are manifested when a person evaluates circumstances that change depending on the specific situation.

How to educate in a person an adequate perception of himself

The individual's self-esteem, which is formed from childhood, must have a certain direction in order to create conditions for its optimal development. It all starts with family relationships: from adequate perception of their child by parents to successful scenarios of family interaction.

Basic conditions:

mutual respect(as parents to children and among themselves, and vice versa);
trusting relationship- they need to be consciously and consistently formed;
exactingness within reasonable and optimal limits;
love as an unconditional and non-judgmental feeling.

Self-esteem is one of the central categories of personality psychology of an individual. Although it is essentially a subjective phenomenon, it has a direct impact on the human psyche and the laws of its functioning: relationships with others, success in activities, guidelines in life, etc.

Video: Self-Esteem

Good day dear blog readers!
“In order to be appreciated, you need to appreciate yourself.” If you don't treat yourself with respect, you shouldn't expect the same from others. People subconsciously read what kind of relationship we expect. And they don't disappoint us.

Therefore, if you do not value yourself, then others will do the same. Therefore, today we will deal with what self-esteem is and what it gives a person.

Self-esteem: what is it?
Do you need to evaluate yourself?
What is self-esteem

Self-esteem: what is it?

Roughly speaking, self-esteem is how a person evaluates his abilities and personal qualities.

Three criteria are most often used to determine self-esteem:

What does the person think of himself?
How does the person feel about himself? (is proud or more often feels humiliated, worthless);
How does the person behave? (you can be timid, intimidated, confident, impudent, etc.).

By answering all three questions, you can rate yourself. The result obtained will reflect the attitude of a person towards himself.

But do not think that such a procedure occurs once in a lifetime, and then the result is saved. We value ourselves every second. This is especially evident in women.

Admit it, who did not look at himself in every window, each time making sure that today he looks at 100. And vice versa, if the stars did not converge and the woman overslept, did not have time to put on makeup, just in a bad mood (underline as necessary), then she is unlikely to catch your reflection.

So self-esteem is a process, it lasts all our conscious life.

However, it happens that the “assessment” depends not only on our feeling, but also on what others tell us. This especially affects children.

If the baby is praised (for the cause, of course), then he will treat himself better in adulthood.

And if a child is constantly shown that he is not worthy of a good relationship, then as an adult, he will spend most of his life proving to others that he is no worse. And another question is whether this process will bring him pleasure.

Do you need to evaluate yourself?

You need to evaluate yourself. However, as you already understood, self-esteem is a complex thing. If something worked out today, then you are on a horse. And tomorrow, things may not be so rosy.

The need for self-assessment:

Gives an idea of what is happening in your life right now. Are you moving in the right direction or what you are doing makes you feel miserable;
Helps to find the strengths of your character;
It makes it possible to detect and eliminate negative aspects of character;

Attention! When evaluating, do not compare yourself to others. Believe me, there will always be someone who is taller, smarter, stronger and generally well done in life. Such an assessment-comparison will sooner or later lead to a decrease in self-confidence, disappointment in your life, or even depression.

Therefore, if you really need to compare yourself with someone, then remember yourself a couple of years younger and conduct a comparative analysis. Note in what aspects you have become stronger and smarter. And in what direction it is necessary to work a little more.

How is self-esteem formed?

We learn to value ourselves from childhood. And since the child does not have critical thinking and all the information received is perceived as pure one hundred percent truth, an adult continues to evaluate himself in the same way as he was told in childhood.

Therefore, if you have children, then you should not overpraise them or force them to strive for the ideal. Praise or punishment should always be appropriate. By the way, if you punish children, be sure to explain why.

Note! If you do not help the child in time (and the mechanisms for the formation of self-esteem are instilled from childhood to adolescence inclusive), then in adulthood a person has difficulty finding his place in the world and establishing social contacts.

What is self-esteem

In the psychological literature there are a huge number of classifications.

The most commonly used types:

Low

In this case, the person is too critical of himself. Constantly striving for the ideal. In childhood, a person often heard from his parents that he was clumsy and good for nothing.

This upbringing develops self-doubt. In adult life, with low self-esteem, it is difficult to make decisions, take initiative or take responsibility.

Treating yourself pejoratively, you can not realize yourself in life (both personal and professional) and get an inferiority complex;

Normal (adequate)

It is characterized by a person's ability to realistically assess their potential and capabilities. At the same time, there is an optimal level of self-criticism, which helps to develop and achieve new goals.

Adequate assessment of one's own strengths is complemented by such qualities as readiness for change, the ability to maintain internal balance, initiative;

Overpriced

Such people are distinguished by arrogance, they can often be compared with Narcissus from the myth well known to us. The opinion of such a person often diverges from the opinions of others, while he always remains confident that he is right.

How to determine the level of self-esteem

Determining the level of self-esteem is quite simple. To do this, it is enough to pass a psychological test.

Attention! Do not use popular tests, they are hardly compiled according to all the rules, which means that no one can vouch for the reliability of the result.

As one of the professional tests, I propose the method of M. Rosenberg. You do not need to spend a lot of time to fill it out, since it consists of 10 questions.

Note! Without exception, all psychological tests have one feature: the result obtained after a while may no longer be relevant.

For example, today you fill out the M. Rosenberg test and it turns out that your level of self-esteem (self-esteem) is low. But the day after tomorrow you will find out that your boss liked your work so much that he wrote you a huge bonus.

What do you think, if you pass the test immediately after this news, will your self-esteem remain at the same level? I think it will definitely go up!

Also, don't forget that we all have bad days when we feel like we're good for nothing. This, of course, is unpleasant, but most often this is how our brain signals us about fatigue (physical or psychological). Therefore, in this case, after a few days of rest, you will feel normal again.

And one more thing: if you have low self-esteem and you can’t raise it in any way, then I recommend contacting a specialist. Remember that if you stay in this state for a long time, you can ruin your whole life. Do you need it?

So, that's all I have for today. I sincerely hope that you are doing well with the level of self-esteem. If not, then remember that everything is fixable.

The main thing is to work on yourself. In the following articles, we will discuss the features of working with self-esteem, so subscribe to blog updates. And do not forget to share interesting materials with your friends on social networks.

See you!

Practicing psychologist Maria Dubynina was with you.)