Each person is inclined to constantly evaluate himself, his behavior and actions. This is necessary for the harmonious development of personality and building relationships with people around. The ability to give yourself the right assessment has a huge impact on how society perceives a person, and on his life as a whole.
The concept of self-esteem in psychology
All people from time to time analyze their character, look for the pros and cons in themselves. The concept of self-esteem in psychology is the ability of a person’s consciousness to form an idea of himself and his actions, as well as to judge his skills, abilities, personal qualities, advantages and disadvantages. Self-esteem allows people to be critical of themselves, to set different goals and achieve them, to measure their capabilities with the requirements in various life spheres, to think over actions and make informed decisions.
The ability to introspect has a great influence on the formation of human behavior. Such personality traits as uncertainty and decisiveness, activity and restraint, sociability and isolation are directly dependent on self-esteem. The opinion of a person about himself determines the attitude of others around him.
Types of self-esteem in psychology
What types exist? Depending on how correctly a person evaluates himself, the following main types of self-esteem in psychology can be distinguished: adequate and inadequate.
If a person’s opinion of himself coincides with what he really is, then it is considered adequate. It should be common to all adults. Adequate self-esteem in psychology is the ability of an individual to more or less objectively form an opinion about his person.
In people with inadequate self-esteem, self-image sharply diverges from what others think of them. Moreover, this opinion may be overstated or underestimated.
Depending on exposure to external factors, a stable and floating self-esteem is distinguished. Stable self-esteem in psychology is a person’s constant opinion of himself in any situation. In those cases when the self-image changes depending on the mood, success or failure, approval or condemnation of others, it is floating.
What affects the formation of self-esteem
Each person is inclined to compare himself with a certain ideal image, with what he would like to be. The coincidence of the real self-image with the desired plays a huge role in the formation of self-esteem. The farther the true image from the perfect, the lower the person’s opinion of himself.
A significant influence on the formation of self-esteem is provided by the attitude towards the individual surrounding. Of particular importance are the opinions of the closest people: parents, relatives and friends.
Real achievements of a person in a particular field of activity also affect self-esteem. The higher the personal success, the better the person thinks of himself.
How to instill a positive self-esteem in a child?
All parents want to see their child prosperous and happy. How much greater results a person can achieve in life depends on self-esteem. In order to instill a positive self-esteem in the child, it is necessary to adhere to the recommendations that psychology gives. Self-esteem of a person begins to form in early childhood. For the baby, approval and encouragement from adults and their peers is important. If there is none, the child develops a low self-esteem.
Children very clearly capture attention from adults. If a child notices that they are ignoring him, he has the impression that he is not interested in others. In turn, this negatively affects his self-esteem. Thus, in order to form a positive opinion of the child about himself, he must constantly feel security, significance and importance.
What problems does inadequate self-esteem lead to?
When people do not know how to properly evaluate themselves, adequately judge their strengths and weaknesses, they can have many problems. Both low and high self-esteem negatively affect a person’s life.
With low self-esteem, people tend to always make the choice for the worse, believing that they are not worthy of another. This applies to finding a partner, work and much more. As a result, people are constantly dissatisfied, but at the same time they are afraid to take decisive steps to somehow change the situation.
Overpriced self-esteem in psychology is when a person considers himself much better than he really is. This is also a big problem for a person. First of all, it affects relationships with others. It’s hard for people to communicate with those who constantly put themselves above others, boast and exalt their persona. As a rule, a person with too high self-esteem has very few friends.
Increased self-esteem: signs and causes
It is important for any person to feel self-confidence. However, a too high opinion of oneself is more harmful than good.
Calculating a person with high self-esteem is easy enough. These people are very selfish. They always put their interests above strangers. They like to talk about themselves, often interrupt and translate the topic of conversation, if it is not interesting to them. They do not want to know the opinions of other people, they consider their point of view on any issue the only true one. A person with an overestimated self-esteem takes pleasure in difficult, sometimes impossible work, and in cases of failure falls into despair and depression.
What leads to the formation of high self-esteem in people? First of all, this is a wrong upbringing. When parents indulge their child in everything, do not limit anything and are ready to fulfill all his wishes at the first request, the child has the opinion that he is the most important person in the world, and everyone should idolize and worship him.
How to learn to adequately evaluate yourself?
If you notice that your child has an overestimated self-esteem, it is urgent to take measures to ensure that he learns to form an adequate opinion of himself, otherwise it will be very difficult for him to build relationships with others later. First of all, it is worth limiting the baby’s praise, trying to explain in which situations success is his merit, and in which successfully established circumstances led to him.
It is much more difficult to correct the overstated self-esteem in an adult. Such people most often do not see or do not want to see the problem, and, accordingly, to fight it. To explain to a person that he has inadequate self-esteem is almost impossible.
If you realize that your self-image is overestimated, you need to make considerable efforts to learn how to evaluate yourself adequately. Most importantly, you need to understand that everyone has the right to their own opinion, and if it differs from yours, this does not mean at all that it is incorrect. Learn to hear others, to make concessions, to help people disinterestedly.
Low self-esteem and its symptoms
Low self-esteem in psychology is a condition in which a person thinks about himself much worse than he really is. It leads to such problems as self-doubt, isolation, constraint, jealousy, envy, resentment.
The problem with many individuals is low self-esteem. The psychology of such people is such that they, as a rule, tend to get a job requiring a minimum degree of responsibility. When choosing a partner, they unknowingly attract to themselves people who only strengthen their self-doubt. They are prone to excessive self-criticism, concentration on their shortcomings. Such people often complain, consider themselves unlucky and helpless.
How to increase your self-esteem?
According to statistics, men often overestimate their self-image. Women are more inclined to underestimate their merits, they are more often looking for flaws in themselves - such is their psychology. Increasing self-esteem is a very difficult problem for them.
As a rule, the reason for low self-esteem in women lies in dissatisfaction with their appearance or figure, as well as in hidden complexes caused by failures in personal relationships or careers.
How to increase self-esteem for a woman? Psychology advises, first of all, to start concentrating on one's virtues. Think about your positive qualities? Why are you worthy of a better life than you have? Every woman can find something good in herself. For example, someone cooks great, someone sings, dances, someone is endowed with analytical abilities. The list of your positive qualities must be repeated as often as possible so that they are deposited at the subconscious level.
To increase your self-esteem, try to communicate with people who respect and support you. Watch your appearance, dress in such a way that you feel comfortable and confident. It can be very difficult to increase your self-esteem, the main thing is not to give up and believe that you will succeed.