Implications of Low Self Esteem

As soon as we become aware of ourselves, and our surroundings, self-esteem begins to develop. In an ideal world, our self-esteem would highlight and reflect each of our successes. However even while it’s vital for psychological survival, our perception of our own value can be harmful if it doesn’t satisfy some basic needs. The article “The Feeling of Self-Esteem” defines self-esteem as the feelings, both good and bad, that we have about ourselves. How well we think of our own appearance and performance, as well as how content we are with social interactions, can all be indicators of self-esteem. Mood swings, trouble communicating with people, and interpersonal conflict are just a few of the many repercussions of low self-esteem.

Even while feelings of self-worth can fluctuate quickly, it appears that everyone has a baseline amount of self-worth that determines whether they are generally happy or unhappy with who they are. The sociometer theory focuses on the relationship between general self-esteem and social interactions. In the sociometer theory, one’s sense of acceptance by others is measured by their own self-esteem. Individuals who suffer from low self-esteem think they are less attractive, caring, and they also think they are less worthy of good things coming to them. It seems counterintuitive that people with negative self-views prefer negative evaluations, while discrediting positive ones, but they cannot escape their baseline of harshness. Authors McKay and Fanning of “A Proven Program of Cognitive Techniques for Assessing, Improving, and Maintaining Your Self-Esteem” explain how a person’s self-evaluations are greatly influenced by the particular circumstances they face in life. 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.

Despite the fact that feelings of self-worth fluctuate rapidly, it appears that everyone has a baseline amount of self-worth that determines whether they are generally happy or unhappy with who they are. The sociometer theory focuses on the relationship between general self-esteem and social interactions. In the sociometer theory, one’s sense of acceptance by others is measured by their own self-esteem. Individuals who suffer from low self-esteem think they are less attractive, caring, and they also think they are less worthy of good things coming to them. It seems counterintuitive that people with negative self-views prefer negative evaluations, while discrediting positive ones, but they cannot escape their baseline of harshness. Authors McKay and Fanning of “A Proven Program of Cognitive Techniques for Assessing, Improving, and Maintaining Your Self-Esteem” explain how a person’s self-evaluations are greatly influenced by the particular circumstances they face in life. 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. In “Mechanisms Underlying Self-Esteem Differences in Motivation to Repair Sad Moods,” authors Joanne Wood and colleagues describe how the Sociometer theory clarifies the contextual factors influencing feelings of unworthiness and how recent research suggests recalling a previous rejection reduces mood, undermines self-worth, and casts doubt on one’s sense of personal deservingness. This causes people with low self-worth to decrease productivity and get themselves out of depressive states. Their true self-perception is depressed by their incapacity to improve positivity in their life while attempting to preserve cognitive balance.

People who have low self-esteem will discover that self-verification and self-enhancement work against each other. Author Olivia Evans describes how people look for evidence to support their beliefs about themselves, whether they are favorable or negative, in her article “Self-Verification Theory.” Even when others give them positive feedback, people still tend to hold onto the same assumptions about themselves. The self-verification theory states that even in situations where acceptance is offered, feelings of rejection endure. As a result, if one was reared in a setting where accomplishment is valued highly, even top performers may struggle with self-doubt. Having been taught from infancy to cultivate self-assurance and self-worth, they interpret any setback as a personal failure. Helping someone’s self-worth reflect their successes might have the unintended consequence of making them always feel unfulfilled and on the hunt for wholeness, as author Alison Berman points out in her article titled “The Dangers of Basing Self-worth on Achievement.”

Cognitive distortions are the cause of these anxiety-inducing events and low opinions about oneself. This article, “15 Cognitive Distortions to Blame for Negative Thinking,” describes cognitive distortions as the ways in which our thoughts can trick us into believing less of ourselves in comparison to the outside world. These deeply rooted mental filters or stereotypes, according to a Harvard Health report, make people feel less confidence in themselves and raise their anxiety levels. One’s feelings and opinions regarding a circumstance become the actual perspective of the issue, regardless of any contradicting information. Prescott Lecky’s thesis, as presented in “The Handbook of Social Psychology,” holds that people are compelled to cling to persistent self-views because they provide their beliefs with a strong sense of coherence. Everyone experiences cognitive distortions from time to time. Numerous more cognitive filters, such as catastrophizing and excluding the good, are frequently used in emotional thinking, as discussed in “15 Cognitive Distortions to Blame for Negative Thinking.” It is a part of the human experience, although people who become angry or depressed easily tend to feel it more than others.

When unpleasant events occur, people with low self-esteem often react emotionally with greater negativity. Negative self-evaluations come from the critical, judgmental inner voice that lives in our minds and seems normal and familiar. It could be harder for those who lack assurance and confidence to control their inner critic. In the book “A Proven Program of Cognitive Techniques for Assessing, Improving, and Maintaining Your Self-Esteem,” author Matthew McKay explains that although the internal critic appears to have a free will and autonomy, it is all a delusion. The critic is a psychological jackal who preys on people’s optimistic views of themselves, undermining and demolishing their self-assurance.

In general, we exist on a continuum that some would consider successful, and others would perceive as failure, sometimes tragically even ourselves. We are neither who we think we are nor who other people think we are. Our thoughts, which are impacted by our concerns of being exposed and being inauthentic, have a significant impact on our moods and behaviors. In the article, “Why Low Self-Esteem may be Resistant to Change,” author Robert Joseph claims that inclusionary status has no direct bearing on an individual’s success or failure. People who have poor self-esteem could therefore be less aware of their own successes and failures.

A low sense of self-worth might be characterized by a lack of confidence in one’s own skills. For instance, a quarterback with low self-esteem can be more fixated on the interception he threw than the 20 receptions he made after winning a championship game. His confident running back, meanwhile, can only recall his one-yard touchdown and has already forgotten about his two fumbles. The article on counseling and mental health published in the “Texas Division of Student Affairs” states that self-esteem is more significant than the normal ups and downs brought on by situational changes. Neither person’s faith in their own convictions can be undermined by external evidence, nor by receiving a great deal of positive or negative feedback. Over the course of our lives, as we form an identity through interactions with other people and activities, our self-esteem changes. Having low self-esteem can stem from external forces, such as early childhood trauma and past experiences. Early childhood experiences are very important in forming one’s sense of self and allows for feelings of safety and love. Children having a positive emotional development is crucial since it will affect how well they manage their own emotions as well as their capacity to form positive interactions with peers. The article “Self Esteem and Mental Health” discusses how our upbringing—including the treatment we received from our peers, teachers, coaches, parents, and religious leaders—built our self-esteem.

People with poor self-esteem have deeply held self-beliefs that cause them to think negatively all the time because of prior trauma. Traumatic events have the power to undermine a person’s sense of self and have an impact on their self-esteem. Trauma frequently causes individuals to believe that things are hectic, and we have no control of our circumstances. In the article “How Trauma Affects Your Self Esteem”, Trauma shatters trust in ourselves, others, and the world around. It gets harder to believe we should have good experiences and to feel protected. Rebuilding confidence can be difficult when there is a lack of trust because it might lower our self-esteem. Identity disruption can also result from early trauma. It can be difficult to feel confident in who we are, which can cause uncertainty and loss of identity when memories or triggers from the past come back to torment us. These obstacles prohibit us from moving forward with more beneficial thought patterns and make us feel stuck.

Trauma affects, challenges, and modifies our self-perception. It also tests our relationship with our own life and emotions. Childhood experiences such as lying to oneself, fear, bullying, and disapproving parents can all contribute to poor self-esteem. A few factors that might make someone feel horrible include not fitting in at school, finding it difficult to live up to parent standards, and being abused or neglected, according to the article “Self-Esteem and Mental Health.” Any early events might result in identity loss if we let ourselves get consumed and obsessed on the worst parts of life. Whether we like to admit it or not, the events of the past—especially the ones that made us lack confidence—continue to shape the way we live our daily lives as we get older. We can identify situations that made us sensitive and link those behaviors to unproductive actions.

Low self-esteem people believe they are unimportant and that nothing they do will change, while high self-esteem people believe they can accomplish anything they set their minds to. Trauma’s detrimental effects on one’s sense of self-worth can contribute to harshness and self-hatred. In “The Toxic Effects of Negative Self-Talk” Author Elizabeth Scott states, self-talk that is critical prevents you from realizing your own potential and from having faith in your own talents. It’s any thinking that undermines your confidence and your capacity to change your life for the better. Therefore, having negative self-talk can seriously hinder your success in addition to being unpleasant. The article “Good Therapy” supports this idea by stating that trauma harms the mind by generating false thoughts and conclusions that don’t make sense. These ideas chip away at your self-worth and fuel negative perceptions to the point where the resulting crippling self-loathing makes you want to run away, hide, and always apologize for being alive. 

 Unresolved childhood trauma, according to the “Emotional and Psychological Trauma” document, leads to severe trauma and a decline in self-esteem as well as a sense of fear and helplessness that lasts into adulthood. When questioned about their life choices or successes, children whose egos have been bruised by neglect, abuse, or simple apathy as a child internalize their inner critic as a cruel parent; they frequently respond, “I always hear my father’s voice telling me I’ll never amount to anything.” He’s always criticizing me in my brain, even when I’ve accomplished something to be proud of. “According to a study cited in the article “Trauma and Self Esteem,” the development of PTSD results in a reduction of memory and attentional function. This interferes with daily living and encourages self-denial, hence lowering one’s sense of self-worth. This “inner voice” constantly reminds your subconscious mind of the unpleasant feelings you’ve had in the past and reminds yourself of the negative lessons associated with those bad childhood events.

Low self-esteem can have devastating consequences. According to the “Texas Division of Student Affairs” article on counseling and mental health, low self-esteem can cause several problems, including difficulty managing one’s emotions, an inability to make educated choices, impaired cognitive functioning, increased sensitivity to stressors as an adult, and an increased risk for mental health disorders like depression and anxiety. These devastating effects could hinder someone’s career and academic success, as well as creating more negative feelings. One may enter a downward spiral of self-destructive behavior because of low self-esteem.

Self-assessment is a critical part of everyone’s cognitive process because it quantifies self-worth and rewards success. However, self-performance cannot be measured accurately due to our low self-image sabotaging our success. The source “Self-Assessment: Why Evaluating One’s Own Competence Is an Intrinsically Difficult Task” claims that we internally believe external feedback is frequently imprecise, deceptive, and absent. As a result, we often do not correct the false beliefs we have about ourselves. Using inaccurate data to quantify ourselves, our actions, and our true levels of ability often differ from what we internalize. When we think less of ourselves, we often feel undeserving and fall short of our objectives.

If we are strong enough, we can stop doubts and negativity from affecting our own sense of self-worth due to other people’s opinions and biased labels. In “The Social Self: the Role of Social Situation,” it is stated that self-stigmatizing—the process of consciously incorporating labels from others into one’s own self-concept—can result from internalizing the labels others apply to us. Other people’s opinions of us have a stronger integrating effect on our oneself than our own self-evaluations. Any chance of retaining a high sense of self-worth can be undermined by racial or ethnic stereotypes if they are accepted by the people they target. Internalized prejudice, according to Rajiv and Hammond, is more detrimental than an individual’s self-evaluation. We tend to trust the negative opinions of others more than the opinions of ourselves. Minorities may develop prejudice against themselves after enduring prejudice their entire lives.

This first claim highlights the disparity between performance and assessment. Students tend to perform poorly when they believe they will perform well and well when they believe they will perform poorly. Performance and assessment have a negative correlation. Research by Leon, Vallejo, and others demonstrates that while students who anticipate performing poorly actually over perform, those who anticipate performing well actually underperform. Everybody has a biased opinion of themselves; some people overestimate, and some undervalue their cognitive capacities. Over estimators are just people who have illusions about their own abilities. However, those who underestimate their own abilities have internalized what they perceive to be others’ low opinions of them. They consequently undervalue their own worth and their own abilities. However, because of internalizing the inflated criticisms of others, they end up performing better than they anticipated.

By contrasting ourselves with others, we develop our self-concepts. We evaluate ourselves in relation to others, our opinions, and our skills on a social scale. According to Rajiv and Hammond, we rank ourselves against people we think are important rather than against everyone else. Peer comparisons are the most significant kind of comparisons. Though they can undermine our self-worth, upward comparisons may motivate us on to pursue professional growth.

Another example to describe Low Self-Esteem and High Self-Esteem individuals is introverts and extroverts. Due to their sense of accomplishment, extroverts are self-assured and cheerful. Since introverts don’t think highly of themselves, they are doubtful and negative. Self-monitors who adhere to “The Social Self” have faith in their own moral and social sense. High self-monitors, on the other hand, are transactional; they will change their actions to obtain an advantage or favor. When low self-monitors act on their conscience, their self-esteem rises. When low self-monitors don’t act on their conscience, they feel guilty. If we could be more honest with ourselves instead of wishfully thinking, if we could more effectively assess the frequently inaccurate information we receive about ourselves in relation to others, and if we could cognitively ignore prejudice instead of internalizing it, we would be able to make more accurate assessments of ourselves.

Resources

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CMHC Self Esteem. https://cmhc.utexas.edu/selfesteem.html

Emotional and Psychological Trauma – HelpGuide.org. https://www.helpguide.org. Retrieved Nov 1, 2023, from https://www.helpguide.org/articles/ptsd-trauma/coping-with-emotional-and-psychological-trauma.htm

How to Reduce Negative Self-Talk for a Better Life. Verywell Mind. Retrieved Nov 1, 2023, from https://www.verywellmind.com/negative-self-talk-and-how-it-affects-us-4161304

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.

Wood, J. V., Heimpel, S. A., Manwell, L. A, & 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.

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).

Jhangiani, D. R., & Tarry, D. H. (2022). 3.3 The Social Self: The Role of the Social Situation. Principles of Social Psychology – 1st International H5P Edition (). BCcampus.

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

Mental Health: How Unresolved Childhood Trauma Impacts Adult Decision Making? Retrieved Nov 1, 2023, from https://www.india.com/health/mental-health-how-unresolved-childhood-trauma-impacts-adult-decision-making-6436317/

Samuel Parra León, Antonio Pantoja Vallejo, & James Byron Nelson.Variability In The Accuracy Of Self-Assessments Among Low, Moderate, And High Performing Students In University Education. https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1430&context=pare

Susanne M. Dillmann.GoodTherapy | How Trauma Impacts Your Sense of Self: Part I. https://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/identity-trauma/

Travis J. Carter, D. D.Faulty Self Assessment: Why Evaluating One’s Own Competence Is an Intrinsically Difficult Task. https://compass-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.rowan.edu/doi/full/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2007.00031.x