Recent Attempts to Define Self-Esteem Another definition is provided in the book Self-Esteem: by Richard L. Bednar, M. Gawain Wells, and Scott R. Peterson. Clinical Theory and Practice Innovations and Paradoxes:
We use the parenthetical form to describe self-esteem as an endearing and subjective sense of realistic self-esteem. It shows how a person views and values themselves at the deepest levels of psychological experience... Therefore, based on an accurate self-perception, self-esteem is a lasting and affective sense of personal value.
What exactly is meant by "approval"? Everything about one's self, from how they act to how they think to how they look? We are not informed. Regards and values the self" — in terms of what factors or criteria? What exactly does "an enduring and affective sense of personal value" refer to? However, I like this formulation's observation that genuine self-esteem is grounded in reality.
In Toward A State of Esteem, one of the most widely discussed definitions of self-esteem is provided: The California Task Force to Promote Self and Personal and Social Responsibility's Final Report: Defining self-esteem means: recognizing my own value and significance, as well as the character to take responsibility for my actions and those of others.
Similar to the other definitions, this one lacks specificity: "worth and importance" with regard to what?
The Task Force's statement also has a problem: incorporating a fundamental component of healthy self-esteem (being accountable to oneself and acting responsibly toward others) into the definition. The purpose of a definition of a psychological state is to describe the state itself, not how someone gets there. Did the people who provided this definition want us to understand that we won't have healthy self-esteem if we don't behave responsibly toward others? If that is the case, they probably have the right idea, but does that fall under the definition or is it a different problem? To reassure people that advocates of self-esteem are not encouraging petty, irresponsible "selfishness," such a definition almost certainly is influenced by "political" rather than scientific considerations.
Last but not least, there are individuals who declare that "self-esteem means 'I am capable and lovable.'"
We must ask, "Capable of what?" once more. I'm a great skier, a good lawyer, and a great cook. However, I do not believe I am capable of independently evaluating the moral principles my mother instilled in me. Who am I to know, I think?
Am I "capable" in such a circumstance? Do I value myself?
Regarding "lovable," it is true that a healthy sense of self-esteem includes the ability to feel loved. Similarly, feeling worthy of success and happiness. Is it more desirable to feel loved? Evidently, given that neither of the other two items is mentioned. By what justification?
Do I mean to imply that the definition of self-esteem I provide is fixed and cannot be changed? No way at all. Contextual definitions are used; they pertain to a particular knowledge level; Definitions tend to become more precise as knowledge increases. During my lifetime, I may discover a better, more precise, and clearer method for conveying the concept's essence. Or else they might. However, I am unable to think of any other formulation that more precisely identifies the one-of-a-kind feature of the human experience that we refer to as self-esteem in the context of the information that we currently possess.
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