Category: Self-Esteem

Introduction

The point of self esteem is emphasized in many studies. This psychological norm is influential for individuals in the perception of the environmental peculiarities and circumstances of life. Moreover, this ability is helpful when communicating with people. The history shows numerous cases when self esteem in a man led to great achievements and discoveries. Examples of Caesar, Da Vinci, Napoleon, Tesla and others prove this idea. However, the reality provides an age-old question of whether self esteem leads to higher academic achievements? In this respect the reliability of the research props up against the analysis of what is known at the time. On the other hand, a mature researcher needs to consider a personal approach as of the problem evaluation.

This is why the research paper is divided into two sections. The first is dedicated toward the scientific approach toward self-esteem and its properties in academic achievements. The second part of the work represents a new research idea. It indicates a supporting opinion to the first section, but with minor assumptions and suggestions about it. In other words, it is a creative piece of work with points on logical reflections. Self esteem is the positive feature of character which should lead a person toward positive results.

Section 1

First of all, the research is intended to develop a rational idea about the relation between self esteem and education. For this purpose three academic sources on this problem are analyzed below. The statements, findings, and discussion in them represent the scientific observation of the problem. This is why the research needs applicable attention toward data analysis and its validity as well.

Stupnisky et al (2007) provide in their article a huge interest toward comparison of self esteem to perceived control for first-year students. The research of the authors touches upon the selective approach. Both constructs are observed in the study from the sides of their implementation to students. The role of self esteem in this respect seems to provide satisfaction and life adornment. Logically this opinion is rather strong and should help students in achieving high results. The researchers admit that the concept of self esteem can be colored positively or negatively. However, looking at the previous studies of eminent psychologists, this concept is “a fundamental human motive that we strive to protect and enhance” (Stupnisky, 2007, p. 305). Thereupon, the firm character of an individual’s urge for positive results is apparent in every sphere of peoples’ activities. People rely on their self esteem and this helps them to feel convenient. In education this performs particular inclinations of individuals toward higher results. In most cases students are trying to exaggerate their capabilities due to their self esteem. However, another question appears respectively: Is it a panacea for directing students in their academic achievements?

The authors intentionally attempted to work out this problem. For this purpose they illuminated another method for the goal underlined above. It is perceived control. Before examination of this feature in formation of a student intention toward positive results, the researchers fairly note some controversial opinions. First of all, self esteem became an instrument of manipulation at hands of educators and students. In other words, every first-year student goes through the process self-determination. This period includes several problems with student’s identification of himself/herself among the rest of peers. In this respects the researchers highlighted whether self esteem is helpful in attaining good marks. The analysis of previous studies at the very beginning of the research showed the

… this belief stems from the perception that people with higher, relative to lower, self esteem have greater aspirations, are more persistent in the face of failure, and are less likely to succumb to feelings of incompetence and self-doubt (Stupnisky et al, 2007, p. 305).

Thus, the study makes the assertion based on the experiment with first-year students that self esteem is a minor predictor for high results in education. Perceived control opposes to self esteem. Its significance is higher for the same goal.

On the other hand, Pullman & Allik (2008) research the phenomenon of self esteem, as a predictor of high academic results. However, in their research the authors came to a conclusion that lower level of self esteem, not high, develops in students more criticism of their work. The thing is that when a student is critically inclined to think about what he has done or did in the past, the self esteem becomes less significant. During the flow of the research the authors implemented appropriate methods, so that to define the paradox of lower general self esteem. The thing is that it is really the better predictor of high results compared to high self esteem. It can be explained due to the assumption that hyperbolizing personal abilities a student does not pay more attention on the practical side of assignments. On the other hand, high self esteem is the result of great efforts and current high achievements at large. This discussion is continued by the authors in their assumption about the problem. Hence, Pullman & Allik (2008) note that lower self esteem is not necessarily a bad mark for academic achievement. In this respect they outline two reasons, namely:

Firstly, it is possible that cognitively better developed and academically successful students have a more critical outlook on themselves. Secondly, students with more modest academic abilities compensate their academic deficiency by elevating their general self esteem (Pullman & Allik, 2008, p. 562).

Thus, the research showed a peculiarity about self esteem. It displayed that wise measure is in average approach for a student. In other words, the significance of lower general self esteem is more apparent in academic approach than of higher one.

Marsh & O’Mara (2008) illuminate in their approach a general outlook on the problem of positive self-concept. The argument of the researchers leads to the logical statement that positive beliefs promote positive results. Additionally the authors admit that there is a straightforward ratio between positive beliefs and positive achievements. However, the extent of such features matters in ascending character. Marsh & O’Mara (2008) approach two constructs from the points of psychology when noting that “both self-esteem and self-concepts involve cognitive and affective components” (543). This is why the points of protection and enhancement become more viable for the concept of self esteem in terms of the research. In fact, the results of the study indicated that self esteem had minimal effect on GPA in school dimension. On the contrary, the effect of academic self-concept was quite stronger (Marsh & O’Mara, 2008).

Section 2

The idea of self esteem is rather important when talking about the formation of personality. In this respect the features of personal attitude toward education are at a core of the discussion. The thing is that general outlook on the problem does not consider points of some nuances. The niche of exclusions is not outlined in the above mentioned researches. This is why it is important to examine the significance of high self esteem from the theoretical point of view. It is logical to admit that high level of self esteem leads to overestimation of personal participation in the educational process. However, one should not mix it with the concepts of hypocrisy and condemnation. On the other hand, higher standards are born due to higher approaches to actions. Actions were the result of rational thinking. Thinking over an issue is produced due to concernment of an individual about it. This logical chain demonstrates that being interested in higher achievements in GPA levels; a student should have no inner obstacle for that.

Continuing the discussion, it is necessary to admit that the above stated assertions are fair. They represent almost similar point of view. However, not all categories of students were admitted. First, the category of handicapped or physically disabled in some points children are outlined. The idea of such children’s more distinctive urge to be highly evaluated in education is rational, because they need to have high self esteem (Marschark, 2007). Being discarded in social dimension, these children in most cases are attempting to attain higher grades due to their applicable high self esteem.

On the other hand, contemporary researchers do not know the possible short-term changes in the mankind which are evaluated with the generation of Millennials. The hypothetic evaluation of probable leap forward in human development can be strengthened due to high self esteem. Especially on the initial stage of education such measures are better to be used. New circle in development of the human kind is inevitable due to the fast-growing technologies and cases of greater achievements of contemporary science. However, the points on logical intentions of researchers stated above are rational enough. Modesty and self-criticism are really vital for a student. In fact, these traits can be advanced with more ambitions for life (Weiten, 2008). It is known that ambitions of an individual determine his/her place under the sun. Hence, this fact gives a suggestion for making self esteem significant in academic achievements.

Conclusion

To sum up, high self esteem is believed to be a significant predictor of higher academic results. The studies on this problem develop an opposite opinion. The lower rate of self esteem correlates a student in his/her success in education with more distinction. The concepts of perceived control, modesty, and self-concept are indicated to be of stronger significance for higher results in education. This is why the research confronts the controversy of logical, from the first side, evaluation of self esteem with appropriate research stating the fallacy of such assertion. The independent outlook on the problem provides personal reflection of the problem. In this respect the additional suppositions were suggested for the purpose of deeper examination of the problem. The field of psychology has its continuation due to the idea that some reflections of a man’s consciousness are not examined from the side of a definite scientific point of view. Thus, high self esteem is considered today as a minor predictor for higher academic results, but this issue may give quite opposite results tomorrow.

Reference

Marsh, H. W. & O’Mara, A. (2008). “Reciprocal Effects Between Academic Self-Concept, Self-Esteem, Achievement, and Attainment Over Seven Adolescent Years: Unidimensional and Multidimensional Perspectives of Self-Concept.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 34: 542.

Marschark, M. (2007). Raising and educating a deaf child: a comprehensive guide to the choices, controversies, and decisions faced by parents and educators. Ed. 2. Oxford: Oxford University Press US.

Pullmann, H. & Allik, J. (2008). “Relations of academic and general self-esteem to school achievement.” Personality and Individual Differences 45: 559–564.

Stupnisky, R. H., Renaud, R. D., Perry, R. P., Ruthig J. C., Haynes T. L. & Clifton, R. A. (2007). “Comparing self-esteem and perceived control as predictors of first-year college students’ academic achievement.” Social Psychology of Education 10: 303–330.

Weiten, W. (2008). Psychology: Themes and Variations. Ed. 8. Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Introduction

• Require interrelating with peers and adults.
• A new environment that has regulations.
• Concerns the way children accomplish tasks.
• Stresses at home, for instance, violence (Magro et al., 2019).
• Parents and teachers should help children.

A crucial point in the development of self-esteem arises when children begin schooling, particularly during middle childhood. The self-esteem of most children falls the moment that they require interrelating with peers and adults in a new environment that has regulations that could appear unpleasant and unfamiliar. During the early school-age period, self-esteem concerns the way children accomplish set academic tasks and their performance in extracurricular activities. Stresses at home, for instance, family violence, and challenges at school such as being bullied have negative effects on children’s self-esteem (Magro et al., 2019). Parents and teachers should help children to build an internal sense of self-control, which helps in promoting or managing self-esteem.

How the Level of Self-esteem Changes During Middle Childhood

• Level of self-esteem plays fundamental role.
• Promotion of peer relations, and resilience.
• Handling the challenges and achievements encountered (Chung et al., 2017).
• Looks and improved performance increase self-esteem.
• Varies depending on the present experience.
• To improve performance or evade failure.

The level of self-esteem plays a fundamental role in the promotion of children’s physical and academic capabilities, peer relations, and resilience. The degree of self-esteem characteristically varies during middle childhood as children go through different challenges and achievements (Chung et al., 2017). Attractiveness and improved performance increase self-esteem while failure and inability to make friends decrease it. In middle childhood, self-esteem has a high likelihood of varying from time to time depending on the present experience. Changing self-esteem is vital in enabling children to improve their performance or evade failure.

Factors that Contribute to this Change

• Emotional and physical changes.
• Boys’ early occurrence of growth spurt.
• Identify as masculine, athletic, and self-assured.
• Early maturation lowers self-esteem for girls.
• Fitting in with peers is significant (Magro et al., 2019).
• Basis of confidence, security, and self-esteem.

The emotional and physical changes in middle childhood present ups and downs that contribute to the variation of self-esteem. In boys, the early occurrence of growth spurt increases self-esteem because it makes them identify themselves as masculine, athletic, and self-assured. On the contrary, early maturation lowers self-esteem because it seems embarrassing for girls as they feel awkward. In middle childhood, the ability to fit in with peers is a significant aspect in determining the level of self-esteem (Magro et al., 2019). A good relationship with peers and the ability to make friends is a basis of confidence, security, and high self-esteem.

Influences on School-Age Children’s Self-Esteem

• Peer acceptance and connections are vital.
• Plays a critical role in self-esteem.
• Encompass companionship, recreation, and social abilities.
• Factor that influences self-esteem is age (Chung et al., 2017).
• Rises gradually up to middle childhood.
• Keeps growing or starts to decline.
• Girls have a likelihood of vulnerability.
• Is attributable to enhanced social pressure.
• Underscores physical looks (beauty) than intelligence.
• Socioeconomic status strongly influences children’s self-esteem.
• Body image is immense for children (Magro et al., 2019).
• Negative comparison against socially set standards.

Acceptance of peers and connections are vital in children’s emotional and social development. Such occurrences either increase or decrease self-esteem depending on the pleasure or displeasure of the present situation. The major influences on school-age children’s self-esteem encompass companionship, recreation, and social abilities (Chung et al., 2017). Another influencing aspect of school-age children’s self-esteem is age. Companionship and social abilities sway school-age children’s self-esteem by making it rise gradually up to middle childhood where the transition from a familiar school environment to a new one generates taxing demands. It is at this point where self-esteem either keeps growing or starts to decline.

With respect to gender, girls are more vulnerable to low self-esteem than boys. This is attributable to enhanced social pressure in girls, which underscores physical looks (beauty) more than intelligence or school-related activities. Additionally, socioeconomic status strongly influences school-age children’s self-esteem. The impact of body image is strong in school-age children because they evaluate their appearance within the context of models on the television (Magro et al., 2019). Overweight girls and slim or short boys usually develop low self-esteem attributable to their negative comparison against the socially set standards.

Effects of Very High Self-esteem on Children’s Adjustment

• Perceive themselves as skilled problem solvers.
• Does not always have positive effects (Thomson et al., 2018).
• By verbal defensiveness or physical violence.
• Conviction that others’ efforts are insignificant.
• Make a person miss good opportunities.
• Renders them blind to own mistakes.

Children with high self-esteem believe in their ability and perceive themselves as skilled problem solvers, which often results in their excellent performance. Nevertheless, extremely high self-esteem does not always have positive effects on children’s adjustment (Thomson et al., 2018). This is because in such occurrences self-esteem may be followed by verbal defensiveness or physical violence when one’s views are not valued. Excessively high self-esteem results in the conviction that the efforts of others are insignificant. It generates pride that makes a person miss numerous good opportunities. This has a negative effect on children’s adjustment because it renders them blind to their own mistakes and hinders their learning.

Typical Consequences of Low Self-Esteem

• Generates negative feelings of being worthless.
• Shame, embarrassment, guilt, sadness, and anger.
• Poor academic performance and violent behavior.
• Victims of bullying and teen pregnancies (Fiorilli et al., 2019).
• May start smoking or using drugs.
• Low self-esteem creates physical health problems.

Low self-esteem in middle childhood generates negative feelings of one being worthless. This results in shame, embarrassment, guilt, sadness, and anger about oneself. Such feelings cause other problems in the lives of children encompassing poor academic performance, involvement in crime, and the development of violent behavior. In most cases, children with low self-esteem become victims of bullying and teen pregnancies and may drop out of school (Fiorilli et al., 2019). If their problems are not addressed in time, they may start smoking or using alcohol and other drugs, develop suicidal ideations, suffer depression, and even commit suicide. Furthermore, low self-esteem in middle childhood creates physical health problems.

Strategies that Parents and Teachers Can Use to Promote Children’s Self-esteem

• Progress from dependence and develop independence.
• Learn new skills and make friends (Thomson et al., 2018).
• Environment has love, safety, and stability.
• Prepare well-supervised play activities for children.
• Encouraging moral, emotional, and cognitive development.
• Carefully assess children to recognize difficulty.

To promote children’s self-esteem, parents and teachers should help them progress from dependence on family members or caregivers to independence. This may include helping them to learn new skills regularly and make friends at school (Thomson et al., 2018). Parents should ensure that the home environment generates love, safety, and stability. Parents and teachers should prepare well-supervised play activities for children at home and at school. This promotes children’s self-esteem by encouraging moral, emotional, social, and cognitive development, which enhances the acceptance of peers. Moreover, parents and teachers should carefully assess their children as a way of recognizing any difficulty and helping them overcome arising challenges.

Behaviors that Adults Should Avoid

• Affect sense of love or ability.
• Negative criticism from parents and adults.
• Point of engaging in substance abuse.
• Pressurizing children to attain impractical goals.
• Avoid domestic violence or verbal attacks (Fiorilli et al., 2019).
• Negatively interfere with their daily activities.

Adults should ensure that they always promote self-esteem in their children by avoiding behaviors that negatively affect the sense of love or their ability. Negative criticism from parents and other adults can result in children who have low self-esteem feeling worse even to a point of engaging in substance abuse. Adults should avoid pressurizing children to attain impractical goals since this may lead to low self-esteem. Parents should refrain from domestic violence or verbal attacks in front of their children (Fiorilli et al., 2019). Adults should evade behaviors that create low self-esteem in children, negatively interfere with their daily activities, or cause depression.

Conclusion

• Self-esteem relies on their physical appearance.
• Build an inner sense of self-control.
• Chances for development in school-age children.
• From high-income families have increased self-esteem.
• Carefully evaluate children to identify problems.
• Influence emotions of love or capability.

As children in middle childhood proceed to higher grades, self-esteem relies on their physical appearance and capacity to make friends with their peers. Parents and educators should support children to build an inner sense of self-control. Increased self-esteem, attributable to good relationships with peers offers a broad scope of learning and chances for development in school-age children. Minors from high-income families often have an increased sense of self-esteem than their counterparts from underprivileged backgrounds. Adults should carefully evaluate their children to identify any problems. Adults should enhance self-esteem in their children by evading behaviors that negatively influence the emotions of love or their capability.

References

Chung, J. M., Hutteman, R., van Aken, M. A., & Denissen, J. J. (2017). High, low, and in between: Self-esteem development from middle childhood to young adulthood. Journal of Research in Personality, 70, 122-133. Web.

Fiorilli, C., Capitello, T., Barni, D., Buonomo, I., & Gentile, S. (2019). Predicting adolescent depression: The interrelated roles of self-esteem and interpersonal stressors. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 565-570. Web.

Magro, S. W., Utesch, T., Dreiskämper, D., & Wagner, J. (2019). Self-esteem development in middle childhood: Support for sociometer theory. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 43(2), 118-127. Web.

Thomson, K. C., Oberle, E., Gadermann, A. M., Guhn, M., Rowcliffe, P., & Schonert-Reichl, K. A. (2018). Measuring social-emotional development in middle childhood: The middle years development instrument. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 55, 107-118. Web.

Introduction

Taking things personally is problematic for many reasons, one of which is the bias connected to the perception of a situation. In some cases, people tend to misjudge an event based on their previous experiences. Moreover, it is natural for people, such as classmates or coworkers, to see us in a way that differs from our perception. This essay aims to explore the issue of taking things personally, including an individual’s behavior in stressful situations using the perspectives of postmodernity and in the global context.

Why People Take Things Personally

Taking things personally means reacting to the comments from others and judging oneself based on these statements. Usually, this results in feeling bad about oneself, but when objectively evaluating the case, one can conclude that other people cannot have a good understanding of an individual’s personality (Amodeo). That is why the advice not to take things personally exists. However, according to Amodeo, this is not always possible. As people, we live in a society, and we are affected by the actions or words of others as much as they are affected by what we do. Hence, arguably, it is difficult to be sufficiently distanced from other people’s opinions. The main idea behind a healthy perception of oneself and other people’s views is the ability to no take everything personally and aim to evaluate facts instead of making judgments based on emotions.

Understanding why taking things personally may be harmful when approaching any situation is necessary. It is natural for humans to form an opinion about something or someone, for example, a friend, acquaintance, or an event that happened at work (Savage 45). A simple glance at the people’s preferences, for example, a favorite song or a movie, can reveal the differences that exist between different individuals. Therefore, one should accept the fact that others are entitled to having their own opinion and that each person’s view may differ.

Firstly, this habit is both a sign of low self-esteem and a factor that can adversely affect it. The perception of ourselves as personalities is a complicated matter. From the perspective of psychology, self-esteem is often associated with poor life choices (Gans). It is because low self-esteem implies an inadequate understanding of a person’s character and worth. Hence, when facing difficulties, low self-esteem contributes to a bad outlook on the situation and the inability to find a resolution — in such a scenario, not taking things as personal becomes difficult. According to Gans, ideally, a combination of realist perception and positivity is ideal in regards to self-esteem. This approach allows one to understand that others may have a different opinion and can perceive events using their vision. Also, it is vital to know how to manage situations in a way that will help improve self-esteem and not take things personally.

Global and Postmodern Context

In general, people perceive events differently, based on their knowledge, character traits, and views. In the global context, this can be seen by examining the differences between the cultures. Most notably, the Eastern and Western traditions that differ significantly, since people from the East use collectivism as their main outlook of the society (Wang 3). In the West, most notably in the United States, individualism is more prevalent, with people emphasizing personal comfort and benefit, instead of prioritizing the community’s well-being. This distinction does not mean that one culture is good or bad. By seeing these differences, one can understand how centuries of independent development have shaped the beliefs, cultural and social traditions of people, and how these elements affect their perception.

Based on the evidence about the East and West differences, one can argue than when faced with an opinion on a person from different culture, an individual can be subjected to criticism. For example, an Eastern person would have difficulty understanding the Westerner’s idea of friendship, family, or community and commitment to the three, which may lead to criticism (Wang 5). An important note here that will allow one to face the criticism is the understanding of the differences in perception that exist in the global context. Hence, learning about different people’s perspectives and learning to make conclusions based on unbiased information is essential in contemporary society.

Furthermore, globalization and new technology affected the ways in which people communicate and interact with the world. A notable example is social media, which is often blamed for indulging anxiety and dissatisfaction in people. The hateful messages that can be encountered online are also prevalent, and perceiving these aspects of modern life too seriously can impair a person’s mental health. The New York Times even published an article discussing 11,696 forms of hate that exist on social media. The journalist Frenkel stated that “the repercussions of the social media companies’ inability to handle disinformation and hate speech have manifested themselves abundantly in the recent day” (para. 5). However, the truth is that no one can be fully protected from hate or unjust treatment, or difficulties, and the only way to deal with these issues is to build resilience and not take everything personally.

Hateful opinions and comments that do not reflect the actual personality of an individual are more common in modern society due to globalization. This requires people to pay more attention to the differences in perception and backgrounds that can affect their opinions. Moreover, it requires one to have a healthy outlook on the ideas expressed through social media and other forms of contemporary communication. A postmodern view of knowledge can be an appropriate model for this task.

In the context of postmodernity, the psychologists and social scientists aimed to examine the issue of reacting to difficulties. According to the postmodern theory, the ultimate truth does not exist (Mchale 9). Therefore, in most cases, the black or white vision of a situation is not applicable since people and events can be evaluated from multiple perspectives. The reality of the everyday lives that people have is complex, and as we encounter different situations are the view of the world changes. Therefore, even if a person has an unfavorable view of someone’s actions, it does not mean that this person is correct in his or her judgments.

Accepting that every person has a right to have an opinion or make a judgment is crucial. In fact, rationality is among the primary characteristics of postmodernity (Mchale 10). The rational view allows people to judge others or their actions based on facts and not feelings, which can often be misleading. Another characteristic of this era is focused on progress (Mchale 12). This implies a continuous change and adoption of new viewpoints and ideas. In the context of taking things personally, the two characteristics of postmodern culture suggest that when facing difficulties using the rational mind and seeing an opportunity for personal growth is essential. For example, if a superior at work sees us as someone else, it can be used as a chance to evaluate the preconditions that caused such an opinion. Hence, the postmodernist way of thinking implies a unique outlook on the concept of knowledge. The flexibility of mind, essential in the modern era, is the key to a healthy attitude and adequate management of difficulties.

Personal Statement

In general, it is evident for me that no one has the power to control other people’s views of him or her, and the best approach to preserve adequate self-esteem is to focus on self-regulation and not on emotional reactions. Learning how to deal with difficulties, rejection, or criticism of others is something that every person should learn to be able to overcome these issues and feel good. Amodeo argues that although not taking things personally seems to be an easy task, it is, in fact, an art. As was described, the physiological specifics of human behavior make it difficult to accept the valuable advice of not taking things personally. However, learning about different cultures and viewpoints can be the first step towards this goal.

The unhealthy approach of accepting that someone else’s opinion defines you is counterproductive. In the book Don’t Take Things Personally: The Art of Dealing with Rejection, the author Elayne Savage argues that this notion implies seeing information as if it is directed at a specific person, even though in most cases this is not true (50). A more productive way of using this personality trait and habit is to perceive it as feedback and not criticism. Savage describes people who often take things personally as those who have inner critics that obstruct one from living a healthy life and enjoying it (51). The issue of taking things personally is often associated with rejection, which is among the primary psychological fears of people. In essence, when faced with rejection, people often engage with destructive thoughts that target their personality and flaws, instead of objectively evaluating the situation.

One can argue that an essential thing in a person’s life is his or her ability to maintain good mental health, which helps face varied difficulties and overcome issues that are inevitable. The primary strategy for doing so is focusing on the psychological implications of taking things personally, which implies the need to accept the viewpoint of others without having to agree with it. Not taking things personally means accepting that others can have their own view of things that is not necessarily the reflection of reality, which allows people to deal with difficulties more easily.

Conclusion

Overall, this paper focused on the problem of taking things as personal.

From the perspective of postmodernity, the theoretical knowledge suggests that it is impossible to have definite knowledge about something, meaning that someone else’s opinion does not reflect the actual state of things. From a global viewpoint, the differences between different cultures suggest that there are unique features that can define people’s view of life and events. Hence, the perception of individuals may be different, depending on their background. Understanding and acknowledging this may be beneficial for people since taking things personally can result in issues with self-esteem.

Works Cited

Amodeo, John. “What It Means to Not Take Things Personally.”PsychCentral, 2018, Web.

Frenckel, Sheera. “On Instagram, 11,696 Examples of How Hate Thrives on Social Media.”The New York Times, 2018, Web.

Gans, Steven. “Signs of Healthy and Low Self-Esteem.”Very Well Mind. 2019, Web.

Mchale, Brian. The Cambridge Introduction to Postmodernism. Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Savage, Elayne. Don’t Take It Personally: The Art of Dealing with Rejection. Open Road Distribution, 2016.

Wang, Mendy. “Eastern vs. Western Culture.” FCU, Web.

Currently, success is considered an essential aspect of a person’s self-determination in society. However, one can restrain one’s potential, finding excuses for one’s possible failure. Therefore, the fear of failure can hinder the successful advancement of a person in any field. Furthermore, the issue is directly related to the internal limitations of a person. The fear of failure leads to the person launching a self-destruction mode, achieved by self-abasement. Sometimes, a sense of insecurity can cause self-deprecation; it acts as a type of self-defense mechanism to protect one’s self-esteem from the possible consequences of failure.

The research of this particular problem is crucial as it allows to investigate the methods to tackle self-handicapping. As stated, such a form of low self-esteem is harmful to a person in terms of self-development, success achievement, and motivation. Self-handicapping is a critical decrease in self-esteem, manifested in the humiliation of a person, one’s virtues, and physical qualities. Overall, self-handicapping tends to correlate with low self-esteem, procrastination, false living, and anxiety-sensitive behavior, possibly leading to self-destruction and narcissistic tendencies.

The Prediction of Distress Tolerance Based on Feeling of Loneliness and Self-handicapping in Student (Karami et al., 2020)

College is a stage of an adolescent’s life that tends to bring anxiety and stress. In other words, as teenagers leave their parents to live in other cities, sometimes countries, independently, students might experience new opportunities or risks in a new environment. Karami et al. (2020) claim that human behavior in stressful situations depends mainly on personal tolerance to stress. The higher the level of stress tolerance, the more successfully a person copes with anxiety, and, on the contrary, the lower the level, the more challenging it is for one to handle an unusual situation. Karami et al.’s (2020) study hypothesis is based on the fact that “feeling of loneliness and self-handicapping would have significant influences in the prediction of distress tolerance in university students” The research itself was conducted using both descriptive and correlative methods (Karami et al., 2020). The analysis included 360 students from Sistan and Baluchestan University who completed the surveys regarding loneliness, self-handicapping, and distress tolerance (Karami et al., 2020). As a result, it was concluded that there was a “significant negative correlation between loneliness and self-handicapping with distress tolerance” (Karami et al., 2020). Overall, the hypothesis was confirmed through surveys of adolescents who just moved from their families to study at Sistan and Baluchestan University.

Moreover, the weakness of this study is that it included only students from one university, which results in the production of not necessarily reliable outcomes in general. However, as for achieving more particular conclusions, the high number of students who completed questionnaires is a strength for the specific scope of the investigation on only one educational establishment. The results reached in this particular study are beneficial for supporting the paper’s thesis statement, as Karami et al. (2020) have drawn similar conclusions. To be more particular, the negative relation between loneliness and self-handicapping was proved, and the influence of loneliness on the second notion was confirmed.

Internal and External Aspects of Self-handicapping Reflect the Distinction between Motivations and Behaviours: Evidence from the Self-handicapping Scale (Clarke & MacCann, 2016)

Self-handicapping tends to yield vital educational consequences to students who experience it. Clarke and MacCan (2016) state that most empirical studies are directly based on the Self-handicapping Scale to assess the influence of the notion on adolescents. However, this particular study questions the effectiveness of this method and tests the productivity of multifactorial solutions to the Self-handicapping Scale (Clarke & MacCan, 2016). In other words, the study was focused on creating a more effective method of academic achievement evaluation.

In addition, the investigation further suggested two additional factors to the Self-handicapping Scale. Clarke and MacCan (2016) implemented both parallel and exploratory factor analysis to test the hypothesis. Moreover, throughout the study, 484 students were surveyed, and the responses of the adolescents resulted in Clarke and MacCan (2016) presenting two elements that were named “Self-handicapping Internal” and “Self-handicapping External”. To be more exact, both factors’ relation proved the significant difference between “cognitive/affective and behavioral components of the self-handicapping phenomenon” (Clarke & MacCan, 2016). Furthermore, the factors displayed the distinctive correlation with the following aspects with the Self-handicapping Scale: self-esteem, emotional stability, procrastination, and conscientiousness (Clarke & MacCan, 2016). “Self-handicapping Internal” and “Self-handicapping External” together presented a more efficient and fruitful method of predicting academic performance compared to a single score of the Self-handicapping Scale alone (Clarke & MacCan, 2016). Overall, the results of the surveys suggested the separation of measures from the Self-handicapping Scale into multiple components.

The critical weakness of the research is that the reached outcomes must be further researched to prove their reliability in general implementation, considering that such a method had never been presented before. However, Clarke and MacCan still enforced a strong and throughout analysis that enabled the possibility to draw satisfactory conclusions from the investigation. Overall, the study presented the need to evaluate the relation between self-handicapping and the aspects that are proved to provoke it through multiple scales. Furthermore, it still proved the existence of a correlation between the development of self-handicapping through self-esteem, procrastination, and emotional stability, as stated in the paper’s thesis statement.

Perception of Self-handicapping Behavior in the Workplace: Not that Great (Shin & Park, 2018)

Sometimes the evaluation of self-handicapping behavior may differ with current people’s environments. For instance, the examinations of self-handicapping in terms of impression management strategy have reached disparate outcomes between employees and students (Shin & Park, 2018). The primary purpose of this particular study was to achieve the generalization of results among workers (Shin & Park, 2018). Throughout the analysis, Shin and Park (2018) aimed to replicate the previous study of Park and Brown and managed to extend it to workers in South Korea. The study included the surveys of 252 workers that were to choose the aspect that had a more significant influence on their behavior between the following “self-handicapping vs control” and “success vs failure” (Shin & Park, 2018). Furthermore, the participants evaluated each aspect to acknowledge “ability, effort, external factors, and luck” and their eagerness to collude with these components (Shin & Park, 2018). Overall, the employees were more inclined to positively evaluate control and success aspects (Shin & Park, 2018). Another critical point is that the conclusions were drawn through assessing the self-handicapping and control targets separately.

The study’s principal strength is its dependence on already researched notions, which leads to more reliable conclusions. However, Shin & Park still faced inconsistencies in their research when the participants’ answers did not correspond to their condition. To be more exact, 33 workers were excluded from the examination due to the failure of the study’s model (Shin & Park, 2018). Overall, this study is strongly related to the correlation of self-handicapping with defeat in the working environment. Once again, the thesis statement is supported by the outcomes that prove notions’ direct dependence on each other.

Achievement Goals, Fear of Failure and Self-Handicapping in Young Elite Athletes with and without Chronic Pain (Molenaar et al., 2021)

It is fair to claim that elite athletes are exposed to pain in their daily training and practice. Thus, the goal orientation in the sports sector is directly dependant on fear of failure, self-handicapping, and pain complaints among young sportspeople (Molenaar et al., 2021). This study mainly focuses on examining the association between self-handicapping and pain, goal orientations, and fear of failure (Molenaar et al., 2021). Molenaar et al. (2021) analyzed the influence of self-handicapping on sports achievement and performance among young people. Overall, the investigation included the following type of analysis: correlation and multivariate regression (Molenaar et al., 2021). Throughout the study, 126 young athletes’ data were examined, focusing on the influence of chronic pain on the development of both self-handicapping and fear of failure (Molenaar et al., 2021). The research concluded that 47% of participants who endured pain regularly were more likely to experience self-handicapping and conditions strongly related to the notion (Molenaar et al., 2021). In other words, self-handicapping is directly dependant on the intensity of pain among young athletes.

The outcomes of this study might be considered unreliable since athletes’ pain was evaluated only through questionnaires and surveys. However, it seems apparent that young people did not necessarily provide accurate information regarding their overall conditions. Still, this research serves as a solid basis to further in-depth analysis in this field to investigate the relation between pain suffering and self-handicapping development. Overall, the study presents the direct influence of the self-handicapping notion on fear of failure and goal orientation. The outcomes of the research support the main idea displayed in this academic paper considerably.

Self-Handicapping Among University Students: The Role of Procrastination, Test Anxiety, Self-Esteem, and Self-Compassion (Barutçu Yıldırım & Demir, 2019)

Self-handicapping is frequently used among students as an excuse for poor performance in evaluative situations. In other words, young people opt for claiming obstacles in the way of achieving fruitful academic results to protect their self-competence. Thus, this study’s primary purpose was to investigate the correlation between self-handicapping and procrastination, anxiety, self-comparison, and self-esteem (Barutçu Yıldırım & Demir, 2019). Throughout the research, Barutçu Yıldırım and Demir (2019) employed the following methods of evaluating mentioned factors: “the Self-Handicapping Scale, Tuckman Procrastination Scale, Anxiety Subscale of Academic Emotions Questionnaire, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and Self-Compassion Scale”. Consequently, data was collected through the stated practices from 801 undergraduate students, 404 women, and 397 men (Barutçu Yıldırım & Demir, 2019). 59% of university students showed satisfactory results to support the principal hypothesis of this particular study (Barutçu Yıldırım & Demir, 2019). Nevertheless, the semi-partial analysis of self-handicapping dependence on self-esteem, test anxiety, self-comparison, and procrastination concluded the following correlation results: 2%, 4%, 2%, and 17%, respectively (Barutçu Yıldırım & Demir, 2019). Overall, the examination of statistics presented that procrastination, anxiety, self-comparison, and self-esteem directly impact the development of self-handicapping.

The properly conducted study produced reliable conclusions since it had a strong basis from previous research. Barutçu Yıldırım and Demir (2019) employed various methods for evaluating the correlation between self-handicapping and self-esteem, test anxiety, self-comparison, and procrastination. Thus, the two-factor analysis also contributed to yielding reliable outcomes that can be used for further investigations on the topic. Overall, the study proves the direct influence of self-esteem, anxiety, and procrastination on self-handicapping, strongly supporting the thesis statement of this paper.

References

Barutçu Yıldırım, F., & Demir, A. (2019). Self-Handicapping Among University Students: The Role of Procrastination, Test Anxiety, Self-Esteem, and Self-Compassion. Psychological Reports, 123(3), 825–843. doi:10.1177/0033294118825099

Clarke, I. E., & MacCann, C. (2016). Internal and external aspects of self-handicapping reflect the distinction between motivations and behaviours: Evidence from the Self-handicapping Scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 100, 6–11. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.03.080

Karami, A., Khodarahimi, S., Ghazanfari, F., Mirdrikvand, F., & Barigh, M. (2020). The prediction of distress tolerance based on the feeling of loneliness and self-handicapping in students. Personality and Individual Differences, 161. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2020.109994

Molenaar, B., Willems, C., Verbunt, J., & Goossens, M. (2021). Achievement Goals, Fear of Failure and Self-Handicapping in Young Elite Athletes with and without Chronic Pain. Children, 8(7), 591. doi:10.3390/children8070591

Shin, H., & Park, S. W. (2018). Perception of self-handicapping behavior in the workplace: Not that great. Current Psychology, 40(2), 910–918. doi:10.1007/s12144-018-0013-6

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate if there was any difference in mean self-esteem scores for boys and girls. Self-esteem has been recognized for its influences on the quality of life and perceptions about the world. The study design was a quantitative study involving 30 participants selected randomly. An independent-samples t-test was conducted for the two variables (gender and total scores for self-esteem). The result indicated that there was no statistically significant variance between mean self-esteem scores for boys and girls. It was therefore concluded that there was no significant variance between mean self-esteem scores for boys and girls, but further studies should explore other variables other than gender.

Introduction

It is generally acknowledged that having high self-esteem is clearly advantageous to people (Heatherton & Wyland, 2003). High self-esteem makes individuals feel better about themselves. In addition, they can handle challenges effectively while minimizing the impacts of negative outcomes. Further, individuals with high self-esteem believe that they live in a favorable social world in which other people respect them. While Heatherton and Wyland (2003) had observed that some forms of negative outcomes were associated with exceptionally high-levels of self-esteem, it was generally concluded that many people who had high self-esteem had positive attitudes toward life and led productive lives.

On the other hand, people who have low self-esteem have a negative perception of their lives and the world. Such persons have a general dislike for self, which ultimately impaired their overall view of the world. Much evidence has linked cases of depression, loneliness, wariness, and exclusion and self-esteem. These relationships show that low self-esteem adversely affects people who have it. Therefore, self-esteem significantly influences the quality of life.

For achievement and productivity, a study showed that “high self-esteem is an important factor, and it strengthens the prediction of academic achievement in students” (Aryana, 2010, p. 2474). This was the case of pre-university students and their related academic achievements. Consequently, self-esteem is an extremely important factor for determining productivity and outcomes, and perhaps it could influence career outcomes or other vital life choices, even if the influence is marginal.

Self-esteem is critical for psychological well-being (Heatherton & Wyland, 2003). In fact, educators and other interested parties have taken a keen interest in it to assess its influences on individual levels (Aryana, 2010). In fact, some educators have a curriculum to advance self-esteem among students. Some recommendations to instill high-level of self-esteem have included promotion to higher grades even if learners have not attained the minimum required scores.

These forms of promotions are driven by the notion that positive self-esteem is vital, and that most societal adverse outcomes, such as violence, drug abuse, and crime among others are related to low self-esteem (Heatherton & Wyland, 2003). In this case, the negative impacts of low self-esteem are linked to societal negative outcomes. This evidence explains why self-esteem is important for consideration.

In fact, individuals who feel rejected suffer diverse conditions, including emotional challenges and other negative conditions. Social support is critical for such individuals. It helps to alleviate the effects of dislike. Overall, even if people who are passionate about high self-esteem have exaggerated their experiences, there is limited doubt that people who have low self-esteem, irrespective of gender, lead a challenging life. Hence, it is important to measure self-esteem using some standard tools, such as the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale.

The aim of the Study

The aim of this study was to determine if there was any difference in mean self-esteem scores for boys and girls. The study was based on the view that individuals who have a positive view of themselves were generally considered as psychologically fit and healthy. Conversely, other persons who had low self-esteem were viewed as experiencing psychological challenges and perhaps could be depressed.

Research Design

A quantitative research design was to compare the mean scores between two different groups of people – men and women. The study used pre-test and post-test design to understand whether there was a significant difference in the mean self-esteem scores for men and women. The research design was adopted to ensure that the study was based on a suitable statistical test for analysis (Bennett, Briggs, & Triola, 2014). Thirty participants were recruited randomly for the study designed to understand variations in self-esteem between genders.

A questionnaire containing a ten-item self-esteem scale was administered to participants and their total scores were recorded. Participants were informed that the questionnaire was designed to assess their self-esteem. Of course, there was no correct or incorrect response. In addition, they were also instructed that the best response was what they would indicate about their self-esteem, as they perceived it during the study. They were encouraged to recognize that the best response was what they thought about themselves when answering the study questions. Further, they were told to answer all the questions listed on the questionnaire even if they were not sure about the best response. After the questionnaire was administered, the quality of the questionnaire instruction was evaluated to determine if participants followed them to protect the reliability and validity of the data collected.

SPSS (Statistical software package) was used to analyze the collected data.

Research Hypothesis

• H₀: there is a significant difference in the mean self-esteem scores for boys and girls.
• H₁: there is no significant difference in the mean self-esteem scores for boys and girls.

Study Variables

Only two study variables were of interest to the researcher in assessing the difference in mean self-esteem scores for boys and girls. These variables included sex for boys and girls and the total self-esteem scores.

Table 1: Frequency.

The sex variable represented boys and girls who participated in the study to determine if there is a significance mean self-esteem score between the genders.

The total self-esteem score reflected the total score for a study participant who answered the ten-question questionnaire administered.

While other variables, such as education, socio-economic status, health, and marital status were important for the study, they were not included in the analysis. It is imperative to recognize that factors such as health could have critical impacts on the self-esteem of an individual.

Statistics

Table 2: Statistics for scores.

There were no missing values in the study.

Table 1 indicated that 14 boys and 16 girls took part in the study, which represented 46.7 percent and 53.3 percent respectively.

Table 2 showed that there were 30 valid results for both boys and girls who took part in the study. In addition, the table also showed that there were 30 valid results for total scores for self-esteem for participants.

Table 3 showed all the frequencies for total scores for self-esteem among participants who took part in the study.

Table 3: frequencies for total scores for self-esteem (see appendix)

A measure of central tendency

A mean was used to measure the central tendency of the collected data. The following table indicates the results.

Table 4: A measure of central tendency – the mean.

The mean for boys and girls was determined as 1.53 while the mean for total scores for self-esteem was determined as 29.63. These figures reflected the sum of the numbers divided by the number of numbers used in the study. The mean scores in this study presented the represented values for the study variables. As such, the sum of the groups were converted into a single value to demonstrate the measure of central tendency or average scores for variables. Thus, it was important for condensing all the figures using averages.

Table 5: descriptive statistics (see appendix)

A measure of dispersion

The standard deviation was used to explain the measure of dispersion for gender and total scores for self-esteem. These figures indicated how variable the data were. The standard deviation for boys and girls was 0.507 while the standard deviation for total scores for self-esteem was 7.209. These figures indicated that the spreads for the data were not large or low and, therefore, data were not far away from the mean values.

Statistical Test

According to Pallant (2005), an independent-samples t-test is used when comparing the mean score, on some continuous variable, for two different groups of subjects (Pallant, 2005, p. 206).

In this study, the research hypothesis concentrated on determining if there was a significant variation in the mean self-esteem scores for boys and girls who participated in the research. The two variables chosen were categorical (an independent variable – boys and girls) and continuous (a dependent variable – total scores for self-esteem).

The purpose of the independent-samples t-test was to indicate whether there was a statistically significant variation in the mean scores for the two groups. That is, the t-test was used to determine if boys and girls differed significantly based on their self-esteem levels as indicated by their respective scores.

Justification for Using the Test

The independent-samples t-test was therefore the best test for this study because of the two variables for a comparison of mean scores on quantitative results between boys and girls.

Table 6: Table for t-test.

Based on the group statistics, these values seemed right, and there were no missing values and wrong codes entered for boys and girls (Pallant, 2005).

The results of Levene’s test for equality of variances showed that the variance (variation) scores for the two groups (boys and girls) are the same. In this result, the Sig. value was larger than.05 (it was.85). The figure indicated that the assumption of equal variances was not violated in the study. Hence, the Equal Variance Assumed score was used to report and interpret the results.

Sig. value (2 – tailed) was used to determine if the two groups had a significant variance based on the outcome of the Levene’s test for equality of variances (Pallant, 2005).

In this study, Sig. value was above.05 (it was.083). The value was above the recommended cut-off of.05. This implied that there was no significant variation between boys and girls. It was therefore concluded that there was no statistically significant variance in the mean self-esteem scores for boys and girls.

Interpreting the result

An independent-samples t-test was performed to compare the self-esteem scores for boys and girls. There was no significant variation in scores for boys (M=32.07, SD=6.833) and girls

[M = 27.50 SD = 7.043; t (28) = 1.798, p=.083].

Table 7: Independent Samples Test (see appendix)

Discussion

The study was conducted to determine if there was a statistically significant variance in the mean self-esteem scores for boy and girls. The study results indicated that there was no significant variation in scores for boys and girls. As such, the null hypothesis (H₀) was rejected.

This study result supports findings of past studies that have demonstrated that there is not significant variance in the mean self-esteem scores for boys and girls. For instance, a study conducted by Aryana (2010) noted similar results in gender and self-esteem scores. Further analysis of other variables that could influence self-esteem, such as academic performance, revealed significant relationships.

The author argued that academic motivation could have been responsible for the variance in levels of academic scores. There were instances in which effects of gender difference were important, specifically in academic achievements. Such achievement could in turn influence one’s level of self-esteem. This implies that the self-esteem among individuals of both sexes in not a function of gender alone. From the findings of Aryana (2010), it was observed that self-esteem was an essential factor in academic performance among students. However, it was also observed that such differences in academic scores could also be traced to the level motivation rather than self-esteem.

Gender is considered a factor that significantly influences self-esteem (Aryana, 2010; Heatherton & Wyland, 2003; Mcmullin & Cairney, 2003). Contrary to results of this study, multiple researchers have noted statistically significant variance between the level of self-esteem between boys and girls or men and women (Aryana, 2010; Mcmullin & Cairney, 2003). Several variations have been noted between men and women based on their scores of self-esteem based on recommended measures.

These differences have been associated with various gender stereotype adopted (Aryana, 2010). It is believed that goals related to independence and autonomy tend to influence self-esteem of men while the level of self-esteem among women is linked to goals associated with sensitivity and interdependence.

Further, Mcmullin and Cairney (2003) also found out that women had lower levels of self-esteem relatively to men (p. 75). In fact, the authors focused on different age groups. The authors also observed that other past studies done by Josephs, Markus, and Tafarodi (1992) also indicated stronger and constant variation in gender and self-esteem – men had higher levels of self-esteem relative to women. The authors however noted that boys and girls started with extremely the same levels of self-esteem when they aged between 11 years and 13 years, but they slowly developed different self-esteem levels during teenage years through to adulthood.

Boys were noted to acquire a favorable sense of self-worth, which girls lost over the years. Further, evidence suggests that lower levels of self-esteem in woman and girls are used to explain possibly higher rates of anxiety and depression among women and girls relative to men and boys (Mcmullin & Cairney, 2003). In psychological health, multiple explanations could be explored to explain variations between men and women. Social structural experiences among men and women are different perhaps from early childhood, and these experiences are reflected in positions and power men have in society. Such power and positions, in turn, affect self-worth and appraisals.

Consequently, based on such power, positions, responsibilities, support, and worth placed on men, they largely tend to have high self-esteem relative to women (noted in Rosenfield, 1999). While this point of view generally leans toward gender difference, it is observed that it can also be used to explain the variance in self-esteem noted between men and women. It is also imperative to note that self-esteem variation can also be observed among men. For instance, lower class men, for example, tend to have less influence compared to upper class men. This variation is noted as age increases, and the possibilities for men to pursue treasured masculine pursuits wane significantly (Mcmullin & Cairney, 2003).

One major limitation of the study was that it was only restricted to two variables. Other confounding variables, such as age, health, and social status among others, were not explored in this study. In addition, the study sample was restricted to 30 participants, which could restrict its generalization.

The aim of this study was to determine if there was any difference in mean self-esteem scores for boys and girls. It was concluded that there was no statistically significant variance between boys and girls based on mean self-esteem scores. Further, studies should be conducted to determine other factors that could influence self-esteem mean scores between boys and girls.

Appendix

Table 3

Table 5

Table 7

References

Aryana, M. (2010). Relationship Between Self-esteem and Academic Achievement Amongst Pre-University Students. Journal of Applied Sciences, 10, 2474-2477. Web.

Bennett, J. O., Briggs, W. L., & Triola, M. F. (2014). Statistical Reasoning for Everyday Life (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Addison Wesley.

Heatherton, T. F., & Wyland, C. L. (2003). Assessing Self-esteem. In S. J. Lopez, & C. R. Snyder, Positive Psychological Assessment: A Handbook of Models and Measures (pp. 219-233). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

Mcmullin, J. A., & Cairney, J. (2003). Self-Esteem and the Intersection of Age, Class, and Gender. Journal of Aging Studies, 18(1), 75-90. Web.

Pallant, J. (2005). SPSS Survival Manual. Australia: Allen & Unwin.

self-esteem is often considered an important part of personality and individuality. The self-actualizing process, with its creative transformations, not uncommonly leads to a moment of peak experiencing, experiencing that in a powerful, time-free moment reveals life’s unitary substrata, the ocean of the individual waves. These transformative experiences transpose one’s ethical consciousness accordingly. self-esteem can be increased with the help of motivation, effective communication with colleagues and friends, and ethical behavior. Researchers admit that persons are compassionately concerned with humanity and life as a whole. Yet they have a strong sense of themselves, their autonomy, and their special need for privacy.

Berger;s ideas (2010) — proposing a motivational ground beyond deficiency and a new understanding of psychological health — served to spark self-esteem and to give a new value centering to educational psychology. McKey and Fanning (2000)admit that such terms as “consciousness,” which for years under behaviorism had been ruled out of order, plays a crucial role in increasing self-esteem. The concept of self-esteem offers conceptual support for the emergence of many forms of cognitive behaviors. In general, personal needs and values involve achievements and personal improvement, a desire to prove professional skills and knowledge. The willingness of members of a community to contribute their services toward achieving the group’s purpose is another element which research has shown to be important to the work that has to be accomplished. Positive thinking should support dialogue and activities in a wide range of areas.

While building self-esteem, beyond this establishment of special ends (happiness, self-actualization, and so on), which we have called fulfillment, the path of fulfillment is itself existential. That is, one’s self, one’s understanding, and one’s sense of ethics are all transformed in this process. McKey and Fanning (2000) bring into the fulfillment debate virtually all contemporary psychology insights (creativity, developmental, physiological, and so on). As to the spiritual, other “esoteric” traditions took up the issues we now consider spiritual and even mystical. Indeed, An individual following an spiritual path comes to recognize more than one’s own interest in others’ interests, indeed comes to actually see one as other. This is part of a consciousness process in which one goes beyond what comes to be recognized as the illusion of separate selfhood. As regards the values-ethics crisis and the unique contribution Maslow could make, on the one hand, The whole range of human need and value states and does so from vantage points that include the bio-physiological, sociological, anthropological, and, of course, psychological as well as spiritual. Moreover, having deconstructed most modern institutional supports, including the very rationalistic moorings underpinning modern ethics, deconstructionists have left a void that seems best potentially filled by a philosophy (Berger, 2010).

In sum, in order to increase self-esteem a person should pay special attention to relations and communication with friends and other people, create positive behavior patterns and follow moral rules in all actions. The issues of authenticity, alienation, and identity, which were originally raised in another time and context by existentialists, along with issues of values, ethics, and spirituality, now reemerge to relevance as reality becomes increasingly an imitation simulacrum of itself. The self is not something fixed, but is in transformation, and its self image passes through all the ambiguity, diversity, and irony that have come to characterize postmodern thought itself.

References

Berger, K. S. (2010). Invitation to the Life Span. New York: Worth Publishers.

McKey, M., Fanning, P. (2000). Self-Esteem: A Proven Program of Cognitive Techniques for Assessing, Improving, and Maintaining Your Self-Esteem. New Harbinger Publications; 3 edition.

Self-esteem has been a topic of heated debate throughout decades. It has been acknowledged that it affects people’s lives. It is also known that numerous factors contribute to development of low or high self-esteem towards self-image. One of the major factors is biological as people are born with certain traits of character which help them be more competitive and more confident (Myers, Willse & Villalba, 2011).

People’s appearance also plays an important role in development of their self-image and self-esteem. Furthermore, socioeconomic factors have to be taken into account as they tend to affect the way people see themselves. Notably, race and age often have certain influence on development of individual’s self-esteem.

Thus, Hispanic and Blacks tend to have higher self-esteem in their adulthood whereas Whites and Blacks have higher self-esteem in their adolescence (Erol & Orth, 2011). Notably, gender plays quite insignificant role in self-esteem development. Hence, there are a variety of factors contributing to development of high or low self-esteem towards self-image.

In order to develop a high self-esteem towards self-image, a number of factors should be present. Researchers note that self-esteem is forming in adolescence and, partially, in early adulthood. This is the most important period and it is crucial for a person to be exposed to certain factors to develop high self-esteem.

First of all, wellness of an individual plays an essential role in the process of his/her self-esteem development (Myers et al., 2011). People’s health and appearance have to be satisfactory and correspond to people’s idea of ‘a norm’ as it has been proven that the better a person’s health is the higher self-esteem he/she has (Erol & Orth, 2011).

Apart from this, a person excelling in some sphere of life tends to have higher self-esteem (Erol & Orth, 2011). Socioeconomic characteristics of a family affect development of a person’s self-image.

Besides, atmosphere in the family plays central role in the process and it is necessary to remember that a person should be criticized and praised properly as excessive criticism can negatively affect the way the person will see him/herself. The good news is that it is possible to help a person develop higher self-esteem through a variety of interventions.

It is important to stress that having high or low self-esteem significantly affects a person. One of the major ways it affects people’s life is that it interfere with person’s inclusion in the society. People tend to desire to be a part of certain group of people (team, community and so on) and higher self-esteem helps them to join this group more easily.

Furthermore, the way people see themselves often influences their academic performance or performance at work (Erol & Orth, 2011). People with lower self-esteem are reluctant to take on new responsibilities and challenges as they think they will fail. Admittedly, such people are unlikely to get promotion or even become an active member of a group.

Low performance at work or at school, in its turn, contributes to development of low self-esteem and people see themselves as unsuccessful. Notably, low self-esteem can also affect people’s personal life as they can fail to develop proper relationship to create a family.

These people can be vulnerable and often remain single. On the contrary, people with higher self-esteem are likely to have strong families and can become good models for their children.

Reference List

Erol, R.Y., & Orth, U. (2011). Self-esteem development from age 14 to 30 years: A longitudinal study. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 101(3), 607-619.

Myers, J.E., Willse, J.T., & Villalba, J.A. (2011). Promoting self-esteem in adolescents: The influence of wellness factors. Journal of Counseling & Development, 89(1), 28-36.

Self-esteem and confidence levels are deeply intertwined with many factors in a person’s life, including their health, standard of living, and even success at work. This is a logical conclusion, as confident people act more decisively, are not afraid of difficulties, and attract the favorable attention of others. A confident person will give the impression of a competent and reliable employee. A high level of trust and a positive reputation always influence career advancement.

There are many reasons why employees lose confidence, such as lack of skills, bad relationship with the boss, highly competitive work environment, and fear of losing their job. These reasons should be addressed separately, but there are some general work skills and areas to improve confidence. First, you must build direct, honest, competent communication with the boss and colleagues and develop Emotional Intelligence (Portolese, 2011). When people understand and see how the process is going and what difficulties or tasks are, they feel calmer. Secondly, gradual learning and improvement of job skills will help to feel more confident and show management that the employee is ready to learn and develop. Thirdly, identifying your strengths helps develop and offer your skills at the right time. In addition, some psychologists suggest writing down your deeds and achievements not to devalue the work done and see your growth.

Such advice and many others are common in psychological literature, but in reality often people struggle with following it. The biggest obstacle for me is overcoming previous negative experiences and complexes. For general well-being, I need to work on them with a psychologist or find free support groups. Another limiting factor is laziness and lack of time management skills. Acquiring actual competencies requires daily work, that can be turned into game, especially using different applications for time management, concentration and building willpower.

Reference

Portolese, L. (2011). Human Resource Management. Version 1.0. FlatWorld.

Self-assessment

What are the learning points of the articles?

According to the textbook, various techniques of business excellence complement each other. This calls for a systematic passage to excellence. In this regard, the book recommends the application of the excellence maturity model in a business’s journey to success. In essence, the book states that a business cannot start self-assessment at an early stage of its development, rather it should pursue stability through a systematic development model like the one given, (excellence maturity model) before they focus on self-assessment. Van der Wiel and Williams share the same sentiment in their article for business excellence. They believe that before reaching the self-assessment stage, a business must undergo several processes. In their case, the path starts with ISO 9000 certification series than to Total Quality Management (TQM) through the excellence model.

The learning points from these articles are that self-assessment is only possible in the latter stages of business development and not the beginning, all businesses must go through ISO 9000 certification series and excellence models to achieve the level of self-assessment. The article goes on to state that achieving ISO 9000 is not an automatic ticket to business excellence, the business needs total quality management philosophy and maturity to keep rising through these levels. The article further gives the six levels of Total Quality Management (TQM) in which stages of businesses pursuing excellence are provided. They include the uncommitted group, drifters, tool pushers, improvers, award winners as well as a world-class group. In essence, an organization that has attained ISO 9000 certification series will have to pass through the first three named stages before it starts self-assessment in the last three of the stages. Other learning points include the need for self-assessment, which is to maintain continuous and sustained business excellence. This is what makes a company, world-class. Companies that start self-assessment at an early stage are highly likely to be discouraged and even lose focus. It is therefore important to follow the levels of excellence.

What is the link between Figure 1.3 on page 15 of the textbook and the model presented in the article (use bullet points)

The figure in the textbook provides a graphical description of the journey to the excellence of a business. It starts with the control level, in which such activities as survival, rules, and procedures, ISO 9000 are practiced to attain performance improvement and excellence maturity. It then moves to the Best practice level in which the business prospers, and thus internal self-assessment is allowed, to attain benchmarking. In the final stage, which is world-class, external self-assessment can be accommodated. The article also provides for the journey to excellence and starts with ISO 9000 process control, then to Total Quality Management levels before it moves to self-assessment levels (through excellence model). The two models have several links, which are as shown below.

• The two models start at the control phase in which they both require ISO 9000 certification series.
• They both allow self-assessment at the latter stages of business excellence.
• Although the model in the article is much more detailed, they both recommend passage through the excellence model at the latter stages of development.
• The two models discourage starting self-assessment at an early stage of the business.
• The focus for both models, as shown in the figures, is to attain a world-class level of business excellence. World-class is the final level of the journey to success. It is at this level that domination and sustainability are expected to be achieved.
• The two models are practically linked to each other since they profess the same general guidelines and journey to business maturity and excellence.

What are the difficulties and advantages related to Self-assessment?

Advantages of Self-assessment

Self-assessment is important in evaluating the overall performance of an organization in its organizational framework. It spots and trails all results that are of importance to the organization as well as analyzes and provide feedback on the results along with the capability of the organization, to the planning and strategy process. Self-assessment is ideal for measurement of the progress, improvement, and potentials of a company, this gives an organization the motivation to surge forward and better their class. Also, self-assessment has over the years brought together, several companies as they compare their excellence models and in turn help improve their status.

Disadvantages of Self-assessment

Self-assessment requires teamwork and therefore is not suitable for small businesses. Furthermore, the level of skills required to provide this service is extensive and in-depth, something impossible to handle by one person. This extends its complexity with cost, as it requires training of the assessment team and employment of quality assessment managers who are tasked with the responsibility of sustaining such levels of organizational framework. Another disadvantage is the fact that it relies on people’s capacity to come up with an objective assessment. Naturally, people have different perceptions of excellence, and objectives, therefore, when an assessment team is formed, it has to take a team-based approach, which is quite complex, time-consuming, and extensive. This makes it a factor of time and if an extensive assessment is required then more time would be needed. To crown it all, having considered its complexities and extensiveness, self-assessment is very expensive. That is why it weeds out and discourages businesses at a starting level of organization to utilize it.