Self-Esteem Myth Busted: Everyone Has It

[alkemical]

Self-Esteem Myth Busted: Everyone Has It

No matter how meek they might appear, most people are endowed with the same self-confidence, new research reveals. For some, however, that confidence is buried deep inside.

Within the United States as well as across cultures—and stereotypes—all individuals hold a positive inner confidence.
“A given person with high implicit [or inner] self-esteem may be outwardly self-promoting or may be outwardly very modest,” said study team member Anthony Greenwald, a psychologist at the University of Washington.
The results are detailed in the June issue of the journal Psychological Science.

Unreasonable?

The finding that a self-effacing woman (for instance one who is quick to negate any compliment sent her way) could hold a deep assuredness seems at odds with reason.

But the scientists suggest that cross-culturally similar practices of child-rearing, which include adoration and nurturing of youth, create the foundation for well-poised adults. Whether the grown-ups express their inner attitudes outwardly is partly based on cultural norms.

Previously, psychologists have used these outward expressions to gauge a person’s self-esteem.

To dig beneath arrogant or self-loathing veneers, Greenwald and Susumu Yamaguchi of Tokyo University, along with other colleagues, measured so-called implicit self-esteem with the Implicit Association Test (IAT) in more than 500 university students from the United States, Japan and China.

The students were asked to respond to various pleasant words paired with words that referred to themselves (I, my, me, mine), while being timed. The idea is that the longer it takes, the more difficult it must be to associate certain words with oneself, resulting in a measure of a person’s implicit self-esteem and attitudes about himself or herself.

Students from all three countries showed highly positive implicit self-esteem, with the Japanese students scoring the highest among the cultures.

“It does not make much sense to argue that Japanese have lower or negative self-esteem,” Yamaguchi told LiveScience, “because at the implicit level Japanese hold comparable or higher self-esteem than Americans.”

Everyone's on a pedestal

Similar child-rearing practices across cultures could explain the similarly positive self-esteem, suggest the researchers.

“It may be that parents in all societies, especially mothers, adore their children and put them on a pedestal, so that children worldwide absorb a highly positive self-concept,” said Greenwald, a co-developer of the IAT.

As for the grandiose boasting of Americans relative to East Asians, the authors suggest social norms, particularly modesty norms, are the culprit.

“Ordinary East Asians are aware that they hold strongly positive self-views,” Yamaguchi said. “But the prevalent modesty norm prevents them from expressing it publicly.”

Psychologists actively debate how self-esteem affects a person’s behavior. However, the debate surrounds explicit self-esteem, and Greenwald suggests the implicit variety could have a more significant impact in everyday living.

[The Lone Bolt]

While I would have to look closer at their methods, I did my thesis on self-esteem and I am inclined to disagree that high self-esteem is universal.

And self-confidence is not the same as self-esteem. They may be measuring a different construct.

[Rascal]

Everyone is just a pawn in my life to be manipulated as I see fit, and it's my duty to remind them of that.

[bendog]

Interesting thread. NPR had a report on the Millenium Generation beginning to enter the market place and how they were as employees. We boomer parents have insisted they all have self-esteem - every kid on every swim or soccer team gets a trophy and every racer gets a ribbon, are self-motivators and self-sufficient because more have been raised by single parents than any other generation, don't automatically respect authority because look who their parents were, need to be part of the team with knowledge of where the project is going and need to feel their input is important.

I can't wait to get one of these kids. I'll destroy him. He'll know he's meaningless and his fate is that his life will suck for the next fifty years.

[Hotrod]

Originally Posted by bendog

Interesting thread. NPR had a report on the Millenium Generation beginning to enter the market place and how they were as employees. We boomer parents have insisted they all have self-esteem - every kid on every swim or soccer team gets a trophy and every racer gets a ribbon, are self-motivators and self-sufficient because more have been raised by single parents than any other generation, don't automatically respect authority because look who their parents were, need to be part of the team with knowledge of where the project is going and need to feel their input is important.

I can't wait to get one of these kids. I'll destroy him. He'll know he's meaningless and his fate is that his life will suck for the next fifty years.

As for the new awards for everyone and everyone gets to play that makes me madder then well a mad person. Its BS you can either hit a baseball or you cant. If you suck take up something else or get freaking better.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by bendog

Interesting thread. NPR had a report on the Millenium Generation beginning to enter the market place and how they were as employees. We boomer parents have insisted they all have self-esteem - every kid on every swim or soccer team gets a trophy and every racer gets a ribbon, are self-motivators and self-sufficient because more have been raised by single parents than any other generation, don't automatically respect authority because look who their parents were, need to be part of the team with knowledge of where the project is going and need to feel their input is important.

I can't wait to get one of these kids. I'll destroy him. He'll know he's meaningless and his fate is that his life will suck for the next fifty years.

The problem is that those trophies and ribbons are forms of "other esteem" - not self-esteem. That is, they reinforce the idea that esteem comes from outside of oneself. In other words, they confuse self-esteem with approval or acceptance by others instead of teaching kids to value themselves (i.e., teaching them that their value inheres in who they are - not what they do.)

[bendog]

ummm, yes and no. 1. They are supposed to teach the kids who got blue that not getting blue is ok, too. Of course we all know blue is best. But, it's tied to the diversity thing. Being fat is ok. Being short is ok. Everybody has a place on the planet.

2. They are supposed to show the kids who come in last, that their effort is valued by society. With the war, I'm contastantly reminded of the Springstein lyric, 'you end up like a dog who's been kicked too much, when you spend half your life just covering up.' I was 19 years old before I found out I wasn't a large dumb ugly person whose intrinsic value came from being able to lift heavy things, and aside from my mother and grandmother, the world viewed me as that. It's pretty hard to value yourself as more than the world values you. Similarly, the girls giving bj's on Colfax. There are still a lot of ****ty parents out there, and all of us have issues and give our kid's baggage, but those of us boomers who try don't want that to be one of them.

But, still, first one of these kid's I get, gets an assignment to buy into that management **** cans the minute it's done, and management **** cans it because it's one they decided was simply flawed in concept, and never should have been done. I want to see the dull desperation clouding over his young eyes.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

Originally Posted by bendog

It's pretty hard to value yourself as more than the world values you.

Yes, it's hard to do - especially when so many of us have little or no help and/or inadequate role models - but it's essential to the process of reaching adulthood (in the psychological sense) and reaching one's full human potential.

People who define themselves according to the perceptions, expectations, or approval of others can only feel good about themselves when they are engaged in the act of pleasing others, getting approval, playing a circumscribed role, etc.

This isn't to say that we're not social creatures or that we can ever completely do without some acceptance or positive regard from our fellow humans - it's just an observation that such acceptance/regard is inadequate as the primary or sole basis for one's self-worth.