Brittany, John, BA & Aaron T. Beck, MD

Self-esteem has been central to psychological and philosophical work since 1890 when the concept was coined by William James and it has maintained popularity ever since. As indicated by James and followed by other theorists, self-esteem is the subjective evaluation of one’s own worth and importance, involving positive or negative beliefs about the self and subsequent emotional states (Rosenburg, 1965). 

This is best seen in Alfred Adler’s inferiority complex (Adler, 1917), which suggests that every person has an innate feeling of inferiority. According to Adler, inferiority is natural in children and promotes development, but as one ages, it can become harmful when people continually look for places to excel to make up for their deficit in self-esteem. As one attempts to overcompensate for feelings of inadequacy, the inferiority complex develops, and severe neurosis may occur.

 Maslow, Horney, and Rogers were inspired by Adler. They shared ideas of self-evaluation in the structure of the self. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (Maslow, 1943) introduced esteem and self-actualization to the model of human needs. Maslow includes a need for both self-esteem and esteem from others; when these are fulfilled the individual feels confident and valuable–but when they are not, they feel vulnerable, helpless, and of little value. Once esteem is attained, then individuals may find their full potential via activating their last stage of growth: self-actualization.

Karen Horney shared the view of self-actualization with Maslow. She believed that to be healthy, one must have an accurate view of the self. She described this “real self” as “that central inner force, common to all human beings and yet unique in each which is the deep source of growth. . . .The belief in an inherent urge to grow” (Horney, 1991, pg. 17). The “real self” contains the potential to grow and succeed while the “ideal self” guides the self towards reaching one’s full potential–and thus self-actualization. The discrepancies between the real and ideal self, however, can result in neurosis when the real self turns into the “despised self,” due to a lack of achieving the goals of the ideal self.

Carl Rogers likewise targeted the structure of the self in his work, looking at how relationships between others created an evaluative idea of the self. In a review of 151 juvenile research files, he found that self-insight (i.e., self-evaluation) positively predicted an individual’s later adjustment, followed by social experience (Rogers, 1948).         

In more recent years, the self-esteem movement was kept alive by Nathaniel Branden and his book, The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem. Branden describes self-esteem as the “immune system of consciousness” (Branden, 1994) and posits its necessity for living a full life. After a review of the preceding theories of self-esteem, Leary and Baumeister developed the sociometer theory, which related that self-esteem was not only the subjective value of one’s worth, but a sociometer—”an internal monitor of the degree to which one is valued or devalued as a relational partner” (2000).

Cognitive bias is a natural component of human development. In fact, it is well-reported that people have a bias toward believing they perform much better than others at simple tasks, and far worse than others at difficult tasks. This is due to the discrepancy of knowledge between one’s own capabilities and others’ capabilities (Moore and Small, 2007). Previous authors have also supported the idea that a healthy self-esteem is an important protective factor against neuroses (Dumont and Provost, 1999; Fiorilli et al., 2019), but when there is a strong negative or positive bias to self-esteem, this may become a triggering factor for maladaptive behavior or even neurosis. It has been previously asserted that positive cognitive bias related to self-esteem, control, and optimism aid in the maintenance of perceived well-being. Cummins and Nistico relate that those with low positive cognitive bias tend to have higher levels of dysthymia and depression while those with excessively high positive cognitive bias overestimate their abilities and may even become delusional (Cummins and Nistico, 2001).           

Citation:

John, B., Beck, A. T. (2021, June 24). Application of Self-Esteem to the Theory of Modes: A Summary. Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy.