Low Self-Esteem

In an ideal world, self-esteem is a measurement of one’s individual achievements and accomplishments. A measure of self-worth, while necessary for psychological survival, can be damaging if it fails to meet fundamental requirements. This idea refers to the positive or negative feelings individuals perceive about themselves (Jhangiani & Tarry, 2022). As soon as a person becomes aware of themselves, and their surroundings, self-esteem begins to develop. Self-esteem can be determined by how well people think of their own performance and appearance, as well as how happy they are with social interactions. Mood swings, trouble communicating with people, and interpersonal conflict are just a few of the many repercussions of low self-esteem. Self-esteem is an emotion-changing state that can occur quickly. For instance, a person’s low performance on an exam for which they had studied for can lead to conflicting, contradictory results. A poor score tells the student that they didn’t do well, which develops self-doubt and unfavorable feelings. One’s self-evaluations are significantly influenced by personal circumstances in life (McKay & Fanning, 2016). It is more likely that people may self-verify the negative aspects of their own self-concept in situations where they are insecure about their flaws. It seems counterintuitive that people with negative self-views prefer negative evaluations, while discrediting positive ones. The inability to enhance positivity in one’s lifetime while trying to maintain cognitive balance depresses one’s actual self-perception.

            The sociometer theory focuses on how social interactions affect overall self-esteem. Self-esteem is a gauge of acceptance among others, according to the sociometer theory. People who struggle with low self-esteem perceive themselves as less appealing and loving than those who are confident, and they also believe that they are less deserving of favorable outcomes. The Sociometer theory sheds light on the contextual elements that influence sentiments of worthiness as well as the reasons why different dispositions are associated with different levels of such feelings (Wood et al., 2009). According to current research, remembering a past rejection lowers mood, weakens one’s feeling of self-worth, challenges one’s sense of personal deservingness, and makes individuals who have low self-esteem lose motivation to bring themselves out of a depressed mood.

People who have low self-esteem will discover that self-verification and self-enhancement work against each other. In accordance with the self-verification theory, these feelings of rejection exist. The self-verification theory demonstrates people look for evidence to support either their positive or negative self-concepts. Even when others have unfavorable opinions of them, people are nonetheless inclined to keep these opinions consistent (Self-Verification Theory, 2022).

People can experience such high achievements and accomplishments within their lifetime, however, can still be riddled with self-doubt. Individuals are advised to develop self-confidence and self-esteem early on due to living in an environment that is obsessed with achievement. The issue with teaching one’s self-worth to reflect one’s accomplishments is that it causes that person to feel continually unfulfilled and to be on the lookout for wholeness (Berman, 2015). These experiences of anxiety and negative self-evaluations are due to cognitive distortions. Cognitive distortions refer to the way a person’s mind can trick itself into thinking negatively, regarding themself and the outside world (15 Cognitive Distortions to Blame for Your Negative Thinking, 2016). These internal mental biases or filters make people feel worse about themselves and contribute to higher rates of anxiety (MD, 2022). Cognitive distortions occur occasionally in everyone. Regardless of any contradictory knowledge, one’s emotions and sentiments about a situation become the true view of the scenario. According to Prescott Lecky’s theory, people are driven to uphold chronic self-beliefs because it gives a great sense of coherence (Van Lange et al., 2011). Many other cognitive filters, like catastrophizing and eliminating the positive, are frequently used in emotional thinking. It is an aspect of the human experience. People specifically experience this when they are depressed or easily frustrated (15 Cognitive Distortions to Blame for Your Negative Thinking, 2016).

People with low self-esteem tend to credit negative thoughts, while rejecting positive ones. In the book “Fearless Heart”, author Thupten Jinpa states “we’re afraid that if we were to be too gentle and kind with ourselves, to relax our grip, we might not accomplish anything at all. So we keep cracking our internal whip” (Berman, 2015). It is believed that negative emotions can affect motivation and cognition, which can lead to disruptions in positive self-regulation. It would seem reasonable that if unpleasant emotions affect one’s ability to control their self, it may also affect how well those negative feelings are handled (Heimpel et al., 2002). Individuals may reject the complement if they believe the source of self-relevant feedback to be dishonest or inaccurate. Another example that supports this claim is people cling to “nonexistent” negative data if their past experiences prevent them from receiving accurate assessments of their own performance (Van Lange et al., 2011).  The majority of self-verification studies show that people who have poor opinions of themselves favor critical assessments. People with low self-esteem may not pay much attention to their own feedback in general since they are more concerned with how others perceive them (Josephs et al., 2003).

People who have a low self-esteem frequently have stronger negative emotional responses to unfortunate occurrences. The judgmental, self-critical inner voice that seems natural and comfortable in your brain is where negative self-evaluations originate. Those with confidence and security issues may find it more difficult to rein in their inner critic. The internal critic appears to have a will of its own and a sense of independence, but this is all an illusion. The critic, is a psychological jackal who, with each attack, erodes and destroys any positive thoughts people may have about themselves (McKay & Fanning, 2016). People’s feelings and behaviors are greatly influenced by their thinking. Since success and failure feelings are not directly related to inclusionary status, people with poor self-esteem may be less aware of their own experiences of success or failure (Josephs et al., 2003). People often perceive themselves differently and behave in ways based on incorrect assumptions when they treat these negative beliefs as truths(15 Cognitive Distortions to Blame for Your Negative Thinking, 2016).

References

https://psychcentral.com/lib/cognitive-distortions-negative-thinking. 15 Cognitive Distortions to Blame for Your Negative Thinking. (2016, May 17). Psych Central.

https://medium.com/personal-growth/the-dangers-of-basing-self-worth-on-achievement-54d125633b33. Berman, A. E. (2015, November 7). The Dangers of Basing Self-worth on Achievement. Personal Growth.

https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.82.1.128. Heimpel, S. A., Wood, J. V., Marshall, M. A., & Brown, J. D. (2002). Do people with low self-esteem really want to feel better? Self-esteem differences in motivation to repair negative moods. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 82(1), 128–147.

https://opentextbc.ca/socialpsychology/chapter/the-feeling-self-self-esteem/. Jhangiani, D. R., & Tarry, D. H. (2022). 3.2 The Feeling Self: Self-Esteem.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203029007010. Josephs, R., Bosson, J., & Jacobs, C. (2003). Self-Esteem Maintenance Processes: Why Low Self-Esteem may be Resistant to Change. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 920–933.

McKay, M., & Fanning, P. (2016). Self-Esteem: A Proven Program of Cognitive Techniques for Assessing, Improving, and Maintaining Your Self-Esteem. New Harbinger  Publications.

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-to-recognize-and-tame-your-cognitive-distortions-202205042738. MD, P. G. (2022, May 4). How to recognize and tame your cognitive distortions. Harvard Health.

https://www.simplypsychology.org/self-verification-theory.html. Self-Verification Theory. (2022, November 3).

http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/rowan/detail.action?docID=1023907. Van Lange, P. A. M., Kruglanski, A. W., & Higgins, E. T. (2011). Handbook of Theories of Social Psychology: Volume Two. SAGE Publications, Limited.

https://doi.org/10.1037/a0012881. Wood, J. V., Heimpel, S. A., Manwell, L. A., Link to external site,  this link will open in a new tab, & Whittington, E. J. (2009). This mood is familiar and I don’t deserve to feel better anyway: Mechanisms underlying self-esteem differences in motivation to repair sad moods. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(2), 363–380.