Self Esteem - Assignment Example

?SELF-ESTEEM Module Module ID: Self-Esteem The present paper aims to explore my personality traits with special concentration upon the self-esteem I possess in the light of Cognitive Dissonance, Self-Evaluation Maintenance, Self-Affirmation, Rationalization Trap and Self-Discrepancy Theoretical frameworks. I have also sought support from the article Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments by Kruger & Dunning (1999), which elaborates various aspects of the topic under analysis in a forceful manner. The paper describes the significance of self-esteem in the achievements of goals and objectives one has established in life. The paper also describes the disadvantages appear due to absence or lack of self-esteem, as well as the problems created because of the individuals’ observing redundant level of self-esteem, which could turn out to be harmful for the people’s reputation as well as an impediment on their way to progress at large. Introduction: Self-esteem refers to the level of confidence, worth, value and appeal one maintains about his self. Since the Nature has created humans with the most sublime qualities of head and heart, everyone has been blessed with one or more characteristics that not only distinguish him from the fellow-humans, but can also be supportive in respect of making accomplishments by applying the same in an effective and powerful way. On the other hand, lack of self-esteem creates hurdles in reacting to the circumstances in an adequate way, and thus leads to meet failures in life subsequently. “Several lines of research are consistent with the notion that incompetent individuals lack the meta-cognitive skills necessary for accurate self-assessment. Work on the nature of expertise, for instance, has revealed that novices possess poorer meta-cognitive skills than do experts.” (Kruger & Dunning, 1999:3) In addition, people’s overestimation of their abilities and proficiencies also pay the way towards making mistakes and undergoing humiliation and degradation in the eyes of others along with dragging them from the road to success. “Some individuals have”, Robins & Beer assert, “highly inflated views of themselves, while others have fairly realistic self-appraisals.” (2001:340) However, the researches reveal the very fact that observing of positive illusions about oneself invites more joys and triumphs in life, though it should not exceed the apposite perimeters, as excess of the same may turn the positive into negative and destructive one in its wake. While evaluating my positive traits, I submit to state that Nature has gifted me with profound creative abilities, and I examine the social and natural phenomena in a creative manner. It is therefore, I have developed my interest in poetry, writing and paintings, with the help of which I can elaborate the beauties of life natural and social environment offer to man. In addition, my creative abilities help me out in respect of applying my positive thinking in creating the products beneficial for the individual and collective life of the people. I am determined to make scientific inventions by introducing more positive alterations in the fields of navigation, communications and information technology. Being a hardworking and dedicated person, I do not make any compromise on the very principles of honesty, integrity, loyalty and steadfastness. I do not leave the family, friends and companions in the lurch. On the contrary, I stand by the others at the hour of need. Being a regular and punctual person in my routine activities, I am in a position to complete my tasks and assignments on time. Moreover, I have developed unabated aptitude for reading and learning; consequently, I had studied several chapters of the Scripture, the Shakespearean tragedies and comedies, and philosophical thoughtfulness of renowned intellectuals including Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hobbes, Nietzsche, Marx and others. Furthermore, my personal activities are not confined to reading and writing; rather, I have also been fond of playing various sports and games in order to keep myself healthy, fit and vigorous. My vast knowledge of spiritualism and philosophy, and cavernous interest in sports has kept me away from drug addiction, sexual perversion, delinquencies, and disobedience of my elders. Thus, I evaluate myself as an obedient son, loving brother, complying student, committed companion and dedicated sportsman. I also possess the quality of looking into the activities and events with a critical viewpoint. Hence, I do not develop belief in anything without making its critical analysis. For instance, I was informed the murder of a woman by her husband in my street, and the murderer was at large because of the fear of being tried. Although, the majority of the people were convinced by the apparent clashes between the spouses, I personally visited the spot, and detected the presence of few individuals in the victim’s house. Thus, I suspected the possibility of enmity or robbery, which turned out to be true after the police examined the mishap and collected evidence. Somehow, my habit of demonstrating rejection to every happening in my surroundings and taking everything as suspicious also invites the displeasure of others, which call me unnecessarily curious and fond of suspecting even the rising of the sun. Festinger’s Cognitive Dissonance Theory also depicts the presence of both positive and negative qualities in one and the same personality or article. Articulated in 1957, Dissonance Theory describes “the feeling of uncomfortable tension which comes from holding two conflicting thoughts in the mind at the same time.” (Festinger, 1957: quoted in changingmind.org) For instance, I know smoking is injurious to health, and I personally do not allow my younger brothers to smoke. However, personally I smoke casually while creating poetry or paintings. Thus, conflict certainly arises between what I believe and what I practice. Taking the example of the former US president Bill Clinton, he was very popular among the masses; somehow, they did not like his illicit relationships with the White House female employee Monica Lewinsky. The theory also seeks three possible relationships among cognitions including consonance, dissonance, and irrelevance. Consonance seeks positive qualities in one person; for instance, I admire my commitment to my family and friends; similarly, I am popular in my educational institution because of my command over curriculum. In the same way, dissonance applauds one quality, though it censures the other in the same person. For instance, people appreciate my vast knowledge about theology, history and philosophy, though they dislike my habit of smoking. However, I seek pleasure while smoking, as the smoke rings portray imaginative ideas in my mind, and hence enhance my creativity to some extent. Irrelevance, on the other hand, discusses the statements of traits, which do not have relevance with one or more specific qualities. For instance, I find myself as a crazy soccer player, though I do not like the patterns of game adopted by the cricketers. Self-Evaluation Maintenance (SEM) Theory describes the influence of the comments and interference of others on our belief and aptitude. “Festinger (1954) introduced the idea that the performances of others influence one’s own self-evaluation. We attempt to integrate two theoretical perspectives that build on social comparison theory.” (Schmitt et al. 2002) Some beliefs and habits are so strong that cannot be influenced altogether, though few of them are flexible enough to be amended with the passage of time. Taking the example of my love to my Creator and the Holy Scripture, no atheist or the follower of any other faith can influence me to bring changes in the magnitude of my belief and love. People criticize my reading habit, as they view that books drag the people from realities of life, and man can learn better from society than from books. Somehow, the views of family, teachers and friends on some political party, leader or sportsman may influence my views. Thus, I can give up or reduce smoking, but cannot stop reciting the scripture and studying the books, even I am frequently declared to be bibliophile. Introduced by Claude Steele in 1988, Self-Affirmation Theory lays stress upon the defensive adaptations in support of the criticizing and suggestions made by others against some certain beliefs one has adopted as essential elements of his personalities and activities. Hence, it also challenges the consistency in the thinking and behavior of the people. “Psychological adaptations to threats include the various cognitive strategies and even distortions whereby people come to construe a situation in a manner that renders it less threatening to personal worth and well-being.” (Sherman, 2006: 2) Cultural values affect the self-esteem in the individuals, which are defended with the help of affirming one ideas and philosophy of life. For instance, the monks and nuns have belief in celibacy, which is sometimes criticizes by society. However, their faith in remaining single and keep themselves away from the sexual activities forces the society to remain them engaged in their spiritual performances by wearing unique dresses and leading a simple and recluse life. The same is also applied on me, where I spend many hours with classmates, peers, play mates and family; yet I prefer to spend some time in loneliness in my study room, to give vent to my ideas in the form of poetry and paintings. Rationalization Trap is a method of convincing the people to do or refrain from doing one act or the other. For instance, the famous Darwinian doctrine was really jeopardizing for the already existing religious and dogmatic opinions of the people; somehow, his Origin of Species (1859) wide opened the avenues of discussion and debate on the evolution process of humans. In the beginning, the people were not ready to listen to any word against their faith and scripture; somehow, with the passage of time, they started taking interest in the theoretical framework presented by Darwin and his successor biologist theorists; the same is also applied to me. Being a bookworm, I did not have the aptitude towards sports and games. My parents and friends carried on motivating me to participate in sports as it was essential for the maintenance of sound health and fitness. Consequently, I developed taste for soccer, and now I have become very fond of playing football almost daily. Like the previously discussed theories, Self-Discrepancy Theory also confronts with the aptitude, tastes, perception and dreams of the individuals by motivating them to bring changes in one’s thinking and behavior. For instance, I have been very fond of Coca-Cola beverage, and take it as a refreshing drink, which stimulates my energy level. Similarly, I also love Marlboro cigarettes. Somehow, studying the reports that cola beverages are harmful to liver, stomach and kidneys, may wane my romance with Coca-Cola; the same is applied to the tobacco I consume. Somehow, some perceptions are consistent, which cannot be discouraged by any motivation at all. For instance, I am deeply moved by the novels created by Oscar Wilde, and people’s criticizing him as homosexual and pervert cannot stop me from declaring him as my favorite author at large. Conclusion: To conclude, it becomes crystal clear that self-esteem is the power that infuses confidence, trust and self-reliance in the people about their perception, faith, customs, norms, values, traditions, conventions and taboos. Self-esteem turns individuals and bold, and makes their journey towards achievements and accomplishment easy and fast. In addition, self-esteem encourages man to take steps and make decisions regarding their personal and professional activities and keep his head above water in the face of hardships and failures. Moreover, self-esteem also motivates the humans to stick to their ideas, perceptions, imaginations and ideals without any hesitation and fear. Hence, self-esteem creates consistency in the thinking and behavior of the people, and brings maturity in their activities and thoughtfulness. Cognitive dissonance, self-evaluation maintenance, self-affirmation, rationalization trap and self-discrepancy theories describe the hurdles on the way to consistency and also provide the remedies for the same, which I have demonstrated in the light of my personal perception and beliefs in the paper. References Kruger, Justin & Dunning, David (1999) Unskilled and Unaware of It: How Difficulties in Recognizing One's Own Incompetence Lead to Inflated Self-Assessments Journal of Personality and Social Psychology American Psychological Association Vol. 77, No. 6, 1121-1134 Robins, Richard W. & Beer, Jennifer S. (2001) Positive Illusions about the Self: Short term benefits and Long term Costs Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Volume 80 No. 2 340-352 Schmitt, M. T., Silvia, P. J., & Branscombe, N. R. (2000) The intersection of self-evaluation maintenance and social identity theories: Intragroup judgment in interpersonal and intergroup contexts. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 26, 1598-1606. Sherman, David K. (2006) The Psychology of Self-Defense: Self-Affirmation Theory In M. P. Zanna (Ed.) Advances in Experimental Social Psychology Vol. 38, 183-242 San Diego, CA: Academic Press. Changing Mind Organization Self-Discrepancy Theory Retrieved from http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/self-discrepancy.htm Persuasion Cognitive Dissonance Theory Retrieved from http://www.cios.org/encyclopedia/persuasion/Dcognitive_dissonance_1theory.htm Read More