Self-Esteem in Psychology - Coursework Example

Table of Contents Table of Contents Self-esteem is often regarded as the person’s assessment of his own value. It makes or breaks success either suffer from the lack or excess of it (Adler & Stewart, 2004). High self-esteem is usually seen in relation to good leadership, though good leadership does not necessitate a horde of followers. As Plato once said, "The first and best victory is to conquer self" (cited in LeadershipNow, 1996-2009). A person who cannot lead himself cannot lead others. This would deal his credibility and social contribution a hard blow. Self-leadership should come first before attempts to lead others. Its main point is to enhance the quality of life human persons (Leadership With You, n.d.). Individuals are therefore challenged to employ strategies that can boost their self-awareness and self-esteem. By such means, they can establish meaningful lives, become better agents of change and better represent the lowly. Accordingly, this essay attempts to identify self-esteem strategies helpful to self-leadership, but is limited to psychological, management, and social paradigms. This essay also evaluates the effectiveness of the aforesaid strategies and scrutinizes strategy implications on human resource practices. 2 So, T., 2008. 4th ECPP (Part 2/3): Three distinct lessons I’ve learnt. Positive Psychology News Daily, [internet] 16 July. 10 Available at: http://positivepsychologynews.com/news/timothy-so/20080716855 10 [Accessed 23 December 2009]. 10 2 Self-esteem in Psychology………………………………………………………………………. 2 2.1 Positive Psychology…………………………………………………………………...3 2.2 Cognitive Therapy…………………………………………………………………….5 3 Self-leadership in Management…………………………………………………………………..5 3.1 Feedback Analysis…………………………………………………………………….5 3.2 Self-Portrait…………………………………………………………………………...6 4 Self-determination………………………………………………………………………………..6 5 Implications for Contemporary Human Resource Practice………………………………………7 6 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………..7 7 References………………………………………………………………………………………...9 1 Introduction Self-esteem is often regarded as the person’s assessment of his own value. It makes or breaks success either suffer from the lack or excess of it (Adler & Stewart, 2004). High self-esteem is usually seen in relation to good leadership, though good leadership does not necessitate a horde of followers. As Plato once said, "The first and best victory is to conquer self" (cited in LeadershipNow, 1996-2009). A person who cannot lead himself cannot lead others. This would deal his credibility and social contribution a hard blow. Self-leadership should come first before attempts to lead others. Its main point is to enhance the quality of life human persons (Leadership With You, n.d.). Individuals are therefore challenged to employ strategies that can boost their self-awareness and self-esteem. By such means, they can establish meaningful lives, become better agents of change and better represent the lowly. Accordingly, this essay attempts to identify self-esteem strategies helpful to self-leadership, but is limited to psychological, management, and social paradigms. This essay also evaluates the effectiveness of the aforesaid strategies and scrutinizes strategy implications on human resource practices. 2 Self-esteem in Psychology Self-esteem is no different from other mentally programmed conditions that are cultivated along with self-awareness. It is not a given condition, but is related to other psychological domains on behavior, cognitive processes, personality and clinical aspects on negative feelings like depression. Psychologists acknowledge the central role that self-esteem plays in the lives of men, what lowers or heightens it, conditions for its full realization, as well as its impact on men’s interpersonal and intrapersonal relationships (Mecca, et al., 1989, pp.xi-xxi; Branden, 1982, pp.109-144). 2.1 Positive Psychology A foremost psychological movement to uplift self-esteem is positive psychology, which Gable and Haidt (2006) defined as “the study of the conditions and processes that contribute to the flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups, and institutions” (p.104). This branch aims to alleviate human suffering, pain or distress, often caused by the lack of self-esteem. A key strategy advocated by Martin Seligman (1992), one of positive psychology’s forerunners, is “learned optimism,” a method for exorcising bad thinking habits, or “learned helplessness,” through further exposure to pain, which will later cultivate resiliency to negative behavior. For Seligman, “Habits of thinking need not be forever… individuals can choose the way they think” (pp.6-9). Yet lately, Seligman (2002) focuses on a new strategy, which changes focus from mental illness to discovering and fostering inherent though sadly neglected traits, like creativity, humor, kindness, confidence, and leadership, then cultivating them as “signature strengths” to buffer misfortunes. Leadership, in particular, promotes traits that facilitate other signature strengths, including “humility, fairness, vision, and perseverance” (pp.3-16; Simon & Baumeister, 2006, p.101). Later advocates of positive psychology tried to work on more specific “signature strengths” recently outlined by Seligman. Carver, et al. (2005), for instance, zooms in on the merits of optimism, which is “expecting good things to occur in one’s life.” Though optimism also has negative effects, compared to pessimisms, they are “sparse” (p.303). Peterson and Steen (2005) support this claim by retaining the premise of “acquired knowledge” in learned helplessness. They say optimism is neither a “denial” of the negative nor an indication of “naiveté,” but a “fostered and nurtured [trait] through a series of confidence-building experiences” (pp.313-318). A specific area of optimism is self-efficacy, which Maddux (2005) defines as a simple but important recipe to success, anchored on the idea that people who believe in their abilities can “produce the desired effects” of their actions. Self-efficacy is not self-esteem, however. While self-esteem refers to a person’s satisfaction of himself, self-efficacy pertains to the belief in one’s ability to achieve certain goals. Self-efficacy is making the best out of given talents and directing one’s life amidst negative vibes, which may contribute to self-esteem and form leadership skills (pp.335-337; Bandura, 1994, p.71). Maximizing self-efficacy, according to flow research, can be achieved through optimal experience or living for the present (Nakamura & Csikszentmihalyi, 2005, p.195). The positive psychology movement, however, does not thoroughly understand the dividing line and factors behind the concepts of strength, resiliency, positive experiences, and positive relationships. People’s reactions to negative experiences are more varied than what positive psychologists summarized. “Wellbeing” for one is too multidimensional a word that requires a proper road map to self-esteem (So, 2008). Positive psychology is hence having an identity crisis – an imbalance; researchers wallow on mental illness as the key to promoting self-esteem, while practitioners want to bank on positive traits to achieve mental wellbeing. The movement also sensationalized happiness as “a major, thriving intellectual problem.” Many fear that the purpose of establishing a positive psychology will be defeated, and may hinder improvements on psychological theory and “the quality of life in the modern world,” if the imbalance continues (Simonton & Baumeister, 2006, pp.99-102). 2.2 Cognitive Therapy Positive psychology is not the only solution to a victorious self. There are equally, if not more, adept alternatives. Cognitive therapy has been a breakthrough in the Applied and Preventive Psychology field. Popularized by David Burns (1999), this psychotherapy method aims to help patients conquer depression by finding and modifying dysfunctional thoughts, conduct, and emotional responses. The method teaches patients some practical and self-applicable mood-control techniques to correct and change their mood disorders. Burns’ cognitive therapy is rooted on the belief that our moods are all in the mind, the same way a hypochondriac imagines an illness he does not have. Shifting to a positive mental outlook will also have a positive bearing on the person’s behavior towards others and most of all, towards himself (pp.1-24). 3 Self-leadership in Management Unlike the psychological field, managers treat self-esteem the way they treat their businesses. In management context, self-esteem would mean “competence,” not to mention productivity and revenue generation. Spencer and Spencer (cited in Abraham, et al., 2001) defines competency as “an underlying characteristic of an individual that is casually related to criterion-referenced effective and/or superior performance in a job or situation” (p.843). Individuals must therefore be as competent as the company they represent and guarantee that they build the strength of their work performance based on specific competencies required by the institution. 3.1 Feedback Analysis Peter Drucker (1999) suggests feedback analysis as a way of managing oneself in a competitive institution. According to him, feedback analysis outlines a person’s strength and weaknesses and allows him to develop on the former. This entails initiative and a thirst for knowledge and skills so people will discover for themselves what they can and cannot do. Drucker added that individuals must set expectations and compare them with the results. The rate of met and unmet expectations will serve as reference for what and what not to avoid in future plans and targets (pp.1-3). This way a person will be able to deliver his task on time and can work on tasks where he needs more practice. 3.2 Self-Portrait Management and psychology are linked through Dutton, et al. (2005), who established the correlation between maximum performance in the organization and an individual’s “interpretations of experiences and interactions in the social world.” They theorize that individuals construct a self-portrait of their strengths and contributions within the organization, and then view themselves based on how the social organization views them in turn (pp.712-736). They usually undergo “reflected best-self” (RBS) exercises, where colleagues would identify and rate each other’s best qualities from past social interactions. This will prompt individuals to view themselves similarly and behave according to RBS forecasts (Quinn, et al., 2004, pp.1-23). However, the RBS sometimes demeans personal interests, since individuals always have to adjust themselves according to social perceptions. 4 Self-determination Some researchers believe that social conditions as responsible for the development of human proactiveness, passiveness and alienation. Their research on self-determination theory centers on the social-contextual conditions that assists and hinders natural self-motivation and proper psychological growth. Autonomy, competence and relatedness are apparently vital psychological needs that produce enhanced self-motivation and mental health if satisfied, but reduce motivation and well-being when frustrated. Healthcare, education, work, sport, religion, and psychotherapy are also included in self-determination discussion, so clients will know where to lead themselves on those areas (Ryan and Deci, 2000, pp.68-78; University of Rochester, n.d.). 5 Implications for Contemporary Human Resource Practice Since 1990s, organizations nowadays have been operating from the idea that innovation is a must in this “global and turbulent environment” especially in “developing and managing human resources along humanistic lines.” Many human resource management practices still adhere to traditional control and power paradigms, emphasizing the need to shift from “competence” to “capability” and draw out not the power of individuals, but their creativity and high self-efficacy. Human resource practices should be able to apply the psychology of self-esteem into institutions by encouraging a capability-based framework “for better human resource development and management that is easily understood, and may enable people to overcome resistance to change” or any self-directed problem (Hase & Davis, 1999, p.2). 6 Conclusion Studying self-esteem requires extensive investigation in relevant fields to better understand human nature. The aforementioned strategies related to psychological, management, and social paradigms are helpful to individual journeys to self-leadership. The psychological dimension uplifts and gives the individual insights into his own behavior, where as the management and social paradigms help him relate better with others in the workplace, in any affiliated social institution, and in society in general. These three paradigms are also areas in which human resource practices should work on, so as to bring out the best capabilities of workers. Idealistically, this will also bring out capable institutions, and a society of empowered individuals. 7 References Abraham, S.T., Karns, L.A., Shaw, K., & Mena, M.A., 2001. Managerial competencies and managerial performance appraisal process. Journal of Management Development, 20 (10), 842-852. Adler, N. & Stewart, J., 2004. Self-esteem. [Online] MacArthur Foundation Network on Socioeconomic Status and Health. Available at: http://www.macses.ucsf.edu/Research/Psychosocial/notebook/selfesteem. html [Accessed 21 December 2009]. Bandura, A., 1994. Self-efficacy. In: V. S. Ramachaudran, ed. 1994. Vol. 4: Encyclopedia of human behavior. New York: Academic Press, pp. 71-81. Branden, N., 1982. The psychology of self-esteem. New York: Bantam Books. Burns, D.D., 1999. Feeling good: the new mood therapy. 2nd ed. New York: Avon Books. Carver, C.S. & Scheier, M.F., 2005. Optimism. In C.R. Snyder and S.J. Lopez, eds. 2005. Handbook of positive psychology. 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Available at: http://www.psych.rochester.edu/SDT/ [Accessed 28 December 2009]. Read More