Self-Esteem and Self-Concept and Myths About Self-Esteem

Self-Esteem An Argument for Competency-Based Self-Esteem In the study of human development, it is vital to understand one's self by determining an individual's self-concept of his or her self. Self-concept, defined as one's awareness of personal characteristics, attributes, and limitations, is also directly linked to the development of self-esteem. Self-esteem takes the idea of self-concept to a higher level in understanding human development: it is the evaluative component of self-concept. It has two kinds: the "loved and worthy" kind of self-esteem and competency-based self-esteem.

The first kind, which is often referred to as "feel-good" self-esteem, provides a positive view of an individual's self-concept primarily because the individual "feels good" about himself or herself. Competency-based self-esteem, meanwhile, develops positively when an individual feels s/he has performed or behaved well in a particular task or endeavor; otherwise, negative self-esteem develops. While in the present paradigm that American culture and society stands on concerning the issue of self-esteem, it is evident that what dominates contemporary society today is feel-good self-esteem.

Viewed from the competency-based self-esteem perspective, it is apparent that never has a generation had more self-esteem for less reason than the contemporary society. This paper argues that feel-good self-esteem creates a false impression of an individual realizing his/her fullest potential in the society, and that competency-based is the healthiest and most effective means by which children and even adults can develop their personalities based on actual behavior than perceived self-concepts that are mainly based from other people's judgment.

Competency-based self-esteem allows room for improvement and realization of an individual's limitations and capabilities as an individual, and knowing these shall help him/her create a healthier and more honest perception of his/her self-concept. Feel-good self-esteem, as stated earlier, is not constructive for personality development because it does not give room for competition among individuals and learn by themselves their capabilities and limitations.

Moreover, studies have shown that far from influencing and cultivating positive behavior towards self and others, there have been little support from research attesting to the truth of this claim. Researches found out that causal relationship between self-esteem and achievement is still unfounded, or for some studies, "consistently low." Another critique of feel-good self-esteem is the claim that it is through others that we get to know our real selves -- the truth about our self-concepts. Studies have once again shown that this is not the case.

Studies on children's academic achievement illustrate that self-esteem-based educational models have been ineffective in increasing students' academic.