High and low self-esteem of the individual. Self-esteem, level of aspirations and frustration

Man is a social being and cannot develop normally outside of society. Throughout life, a person, interacting with society, develops and learns new boundaries of himself. What an individual will be like in this society largely depends on the environment itself. People change under the influence of the rules and norms set by society, and this changes their attitude towards themselves. What a person’s environment will be like, what his role will be in this society and how the individual will position himself in front of society mainly depends on the internal characteristics of the person. Temperament, character, and self-esteem of an individual set the pace of our movement along the path of life.

Self-esteem of personality

A person’s self-esteem influences his attitude towards himself; it is how he evaluates his capabilities, strengths and skills. It is the center of personality development and has a huge impact on a person’s adaptation to a new society or group. This is not a constant - it develops and changes depending on the events occurring in a person’s life. Basically, self-awareness and self-esteem are ingrained in a person from childhood and gradually develop into the self-concept. Its presence is present in any behavioral act of an individual. How a person will behave in a critical situation, how he will resolve important issues, and whether he will decide to complete certain tasks will directly depend on the person’s level of self-esteem at the time of making the decision.

3 types of self-esteem in psychology

Self-esteem is divided into three types: underestimated, overestimated and average (adequate). People with different levels of self-esteem will behave differently in the same situation.

Low self-esteem is the result of an incorrect, perhaps domineering or overprotective upbringing. Such upbringing leads to lack of confidence in oneself and one’s strengths and, as a consequence, to a low assessment of oneself. People with low self-esteem are very vulnerable and often withdrawn, not sociable, and lack initiative. This behavior leads to an inferiority complex and the development of depressive states. As a rule, such people tend to belittle their role in society, trying in no way to stand out. The clients of modern psychologists are increasingly people with low self-esteem. This problem can and should be solved. You can work on it.

A high self-evaluation

Inflated self-esteem of a person is evidenced by a person’s reluctance to look at his mistakes, analyze them and admit them. A person with high self-esteem tends to idealize himself and exaggerate his importance to those around him. Such people are characterized by dominant feelings and self-demonstration. Sometimes it can be difficult for a person to live with high self-esteem. Understanding and realizing this will be the first step towards correcting the situation, i.e. you can make your self-esteem adequate. But in general, this type of self-esteem gives the individual self-confidence, which is a good driving force. Such people live under the motto “I can”, “I can”, “I want”. They are dominated by qualities such as perseverance and desire.

People with adequate self-esteem realistically assess their strengths and capabilities in relation to the task in front of them. Such individuals set clear goals that they achieve and look at things soberly. Also, adequate self-esteem indicates the maturity of the individual. The more mature a person is, the more adequate his self-esteem is.

Conclusion

The kind of self-esteem of an individual formed at the end of development will influence the level and quality of life of the individual in society. Being aware of himself, understanding and accepting in a certain way, a person makes life plans, creates his environment and lives in this world. Being an important link in the development of individuality, a person’s self-esteem determines the level of self-confidence and satisfaction with one’s life.

Self-esteem as a component of self-awareness, it represents how a person evaluates himself, his capabilities and his place among other people. A person is not born with ready-made self-esteem; it is formed in the process of socialization thanks to the mechanisms of internalization (incorporating other people’s assessments of one’s own personality into the internal plan, using them as self-esteem) and identification (putting oneself in the place of another person, assessing one’s personality from the position of this person).

Self-esteem can be highly adequate; average; overpriced; understated; low. The level of self-esteem of a child depends on the conditions of family upbringing. Formation conditions low self-esteem a child in the family: unfriendly relationship between father and son; the requirement from the child of unconditional obedience and constant accuracy, conflict-free relationship with peers; lack of independence of the child. High adequate self-esteem is formed in the child, if the father serves as the head of the family; there is a democratic style of communication in the family; parents are successful people and children know about their achievements; parents have high expectations for their children (R. Burns, 1986).

There is evidence that self-esteem is higher, as a rule, in the first child in the family. Average self-esteem is formed with a liberal upbringing in the family. Strict demands placed on the child in the family, with respect for his personality, contribute to the early formation of his self-regulation skills and high adequate self-esteem (R. Burns, 1986).

Self-esteem can be optimal and suboptimal. The optimal one is high adequate self-esteem. Having such self-esteem, a person respects himself, is satisfied with himself, and strives for self-improvement. Such a person tries not to overestimate himself, but is also not very critical. If self-esteem inadequately inflated, then a person develops an idealized image of his own personality . When experiencing failure, he emotionally rejects objective assessments of results and fair comments, which violates his self-image in order to maintain high self-esteem. Self-esteem can be inadequately underestimated. In this case, the person shows uncertainty, does not set difficult goals for himself, and is too critical of himself. Too high or low self-esteem can lead to conflicts . With high self-esteem, they arise due to the fact that a person treats other people with disdain; with low self-esteem, - A person who is demanding of himself is even more demanding of those around him.

Self-esteem is related to the level of a person’s aspirations. Level of aspiration - This is the desired level of self-esteem of an individual, manifested in the degree of difficulty of the goals that the individual sets for himself. The level of aspirations is formed under the influence of successes and failures in a person’s life path. With an adequate level of aspirations a person sets goals that he can actually achieve. A high adequate level of aspiration is characterized by the fact that a person sets high goals, which with hard work are quite achievable. A moderate level of aspiration is characterized by the fact that a person successfully solves a range of tasks of average complexity and does not strive to improve his achievements. At he has an inflated level of aspirations takes on impossible tasks and fails. Understated and low level claims are characterized by the fact that a person chooses simple goals, which is explained by low self-esteem or “social cunning.” In the latter case, having high self-esteem, a person avoids responsibility.

From the moment a person comes into contact with society, a person’s self-esteem begins to form. As you know, each person is endowed with certain characteristics, which speak about his worldview, beliefs, and psychology in general. The main aspect of human self-awareness is self-esteem. Thanks to it, a person’s behavioral model is regulated, personal needs are satisfied, the search for one’s own, etc.

Personality self-esteem in psychology

In psychology, the self-esteem of each individual includes the ability to more or less objectively assess one’s own capabilities and strengths, and to be critical of oneself.

Personal self-esteem can be either adequate or inadequate. All this depends on the character of a person, which, in turn, influences the formation of certain qualities.

The study of personality self-esteem has shown that correct self-esteem is mainly characteristic of adults. The ability to flexibly assess one’s abilities and, if necessary, adjust one’s style of behavior under the influence of experience is a necessary quality that helps in rapid adaptation to life conditions.

Assessment and self-esteem of a person also depends on the approval and respectful attitude of the people around him. On this basis, self-respect arises, which is one of the most important personal needs.

Self-esteem and self-awareness of the individual

In human mental activity, self-awareness is nothing more than a complex process of knowing oneself. As a result of active interaction with the outside world, everyone gets to know themselves. This process never ends. Self-knowledge develops in parallel with the development of self-esteem.

Thanks to the knowledge of his own “I”, an individual is able to maintain the constancy of personal behavior, while feeling responsible for preserving the social values ​​that have been learned by him. Self-esteem is the main core of self-knowledge at all stages of its existence.

To determine the level of self-esteem of an individual, there is a specially developed diagnostic of personality self-esteem, carried out using test tasks posted in various psychological reference books.

Methodology for self-assessment of personality S.A. Budassi

Methodology for self-assessment of personality S.A. Budassi is one of the most common methods with which you can conduct a quantitative study of personal self-esteem, that is, measure it.

This technique is based primarily on the ranking method. You will be offered a list of 48 words that represent personality traits. You need to select only twenty qualities that most characterize your idea of ​​an ideal personality (“reference personality”). The list will contain both positive and negative qualities.

Further, the method of personality self-assessment offers you a “Research Protocol” in the first column, of which the most important properties for you must be placed in the first positions, and in the last position, therefore, negative, less desirable ones. Construct a series d1 from the selected qualities. In the first positions, place the most important, in your opinion, positive personality traits. And the negative ones are at the end. From these qualities, construct a series d2, in which to arrange the qualities as their severity decreases.

The main purpose of processing the results is to determine the existence of a connection between ranking assessments of personal properties that are included in the ideas “Real Self” and “Ideal Self.” The interpretation of the results represents the relationship between the “ideal self” and the “real self.” The self-assessment process is carried out in two ways:

1. Comparing yourself with other people.
2. Or by comparing the degree of one’s own with more objective indicators of personal activity.

Using a special table, a person can interpret his own results. And finally, I would like to add that it is always worth remembering that you need to constantly work on yourself and your self-esteem tirelessly.

Self-esteem of personality is part of those processes that form human self-awareness. With self-esteem, a person tries to evaluate his qualities, properties and capabilities. This is done through introspection, introspection, self-report, and also through continuous comparison of oneself with other people with whom a person has to be in direct contact.

Personal self-esteem is not a simple satisfaction of genetically determined curiosity, so characteristic of our distant ancestor (according to Darwin). The driving motive here is the motive of self-improvement, a healthy sense of self-esteem and the desire for success. Self-esteem not only makes it possible to see the present “I”, but also to link it with your past and future. After all, on the one hand, the formation of self-esteem takes place in the early years. On the other hand, self-esteem belongs to the most stable personality characteristics. Therefore, it allows a person to consider the roots of his weaknesses and strengths, make sure of their objectivity and find more adequate models of his behavior in various everyday situations. According to T. Mann, a person who knows himself becomes a different person.

The structure of self-esteem has two components:
- cognitive, reflecting everything that an individual has learned about himself from various sources of information;
- emotional, expressing one’s own attitude towards various aspects of one’s personality (character traits, behavior, habits, etc.).

American psychologist W. James (1842 - 1910) proposed a formula for self-esteem:

Self-esteem = Success / Level of aspiration

Level of aspiration- the level that an individual strives to achieve in various spheres of life (career, status, well-being, etc.), the ideal goal of his future actions. Success is the fact of achieving certain results, fulfilling a certain program of actions that reflect the level of aspirations. The formula shows that self-esteem can be increased either by reducing the level of aspirations or by increasing the effectiveness of one’s actions.

Personal self-esteem can be adequate, overestimated or underestimated. With strong deviations from adequate self-esteem, a person may experience psychological discomfort and internal conflicts. The saddest thing is that the person himself often does not realize the true causes of these phenomena and looks for reasons outside himself.

With clearly inflated self-esteem, a person:
- acquires a superiority complex (“I’m the most correct”), or a complex of two-year-old children (“I’m the best”);
- has an idealized idea of ​​himself, of his abilities and capabilities, of his significance for the cause and for the people around him (trying to live according to this ideal “I”, he often creates unjustified friction with other people; after all, as F. La Rochefoucauld said, no there is no better way to get into trouble in life than to consider yourself better than others);
- ignores personal failures for the sake of maintaining his psychological comfort, maintaining his usual high self-esteem; pushes away everything that interferes with the existing image of oneself;
- interprets his weaknesses as strengths, passing off ordinary aggressiveness and stubbornness as will and determination;
- becomes inaccessible to others, “mentally deaf”, loses feedback from others, does not listen to other people’s opinions;
- external, connects his failure with external factors, other people's machinations, intrigues, circumstances - with anything, but not with his own mistakes;
- treats critical assessment of oneself by others with obvious distrust, attributing all this to nit-picking and envy;
- as a rule, sets impossible goals for himself;
- has a level of aspirations that exceeds his real capabilities;
- easily acquires such traits as arrogance, arrogance, striving for superiority, rudeness, aggressiveness, rigidity, quarrelsomeness;
- behaves in an emphatically independent manner, which is perceived by others as arrogance and disdain (hence the hidden or obvious negative attitude towards him);
- subject to the persecution of neurotic and even hysterical manifestations (“I am more capable, smarter, more practical, more beautiful, kinder than most people, but I am the most unfortunate and unlucky”);
- we predict, has stable standards of his behavior;
- has a characteristic appearance: straight posture, high head position, direct and steady gaze, commanding notes in the voice.

With clearly low self-esteem, a person:
- has a predominantly anxious, stuck, pedantic type of character accentuation, which constitutes the psychological basis of such self-esteem;
- as a rule, unsure of himself, shy, indecisive, overly cautious;
- urgently needs the support and approval of others, depends on them;
- conformist, easily influenced by other people, thoughtlessly following their lead;
- suffering from an inferiority complex, he strives to assert himself, to realize himself (sometimes at any cost, which leads him to indiscriminate means of achieving his goals), feverishly to make up for lost time, to prove to everyone and, above all, to himself, his importance, that he is worth something;
- sets lower goals than he can achieve;
- often “disappears” into his troubles and failures, exaggerating their role in his life;
- is too demanding of himself and others, excessively self-critical, which often leads to isolation, envy, suspicion, vindictiveness and even cruelty;
- often becomes boring, annoying others with little things, causing conflicts both in the family and at work;
- has a characteristic appearance: the head is slightly pulled into the shoulders, the gait is hesitant, as if insinuating, and when speaking, the eyes often look away to the side.
The adequacy of self-esteem is determined by the relationship between two opposing mental processes in a person:
- cognitive, promoting adequacy;
- protective, acting in the opposite direction to reality.

Self-esteem is also related to self-esteem. You can’t run away from yourself and you can’t hide, so each of us must see ourselves from the outside: who am I; what others expect from me; where our interests coincide and diverge. Self-respecting people also have their own line of behavior: they are balanced, non-aggressive, independent.

Every person tends to constantly evaluate himself, his behavior and actions. This is necessary for the harmonious development of personality and building relationships with other people. The ability to evaluate oneself correctly has a huge impact on how society perceives a person and on his life in general.

The concept of self-esteem in psychology

All people analyze their character from time to time, looking for pros and cons in themselves. The concept of self-esteem in psychology is the ability of a person’s consciousness to form an idea of ​​himself and his actions, as well as to judge his skills, abilities, personal qualities, strengths and weaknesses. Self-esteem allows people to think critically about themselves, set various goals and achieve them, compare their capabilities with the requirements in certain areas of life, think about actions and make informed decisions.

The ability to self-analysis has a great influence on shaping people's behavior. Personal qualities such as uncertainty and determination, activity and restraint, sociability and isolation directly depend on self-esteem. A person’s opinion of himself determines the attitude of others towards him.

Types of self-esteem in psychology

What types are there? Depending on how correctly a person evaluates himself, the following main types of self-esteem in psychology can be distinguished: adequate and inadequate.

If a person’s opinion about himself coincides with what he really is, then it is considered adequate. It should be common to all adults. Adequate self-esteem in psychology is the ability of an individual to more or less objectively form an opinion about his or her person.

People with inadequate self-esteem have a self-image that is sharply at odds with what others think about them. Moreover, such an opinion may be overestimated or underestimated.

Depending on exposure to external factors, stable and floating self-esteem are distinguished. Stable self-esteem in psychology is a person’s unchanging opinion about himself in any situation. In cases where self-image changes depending on mood, success or defeat, approval or condemnation of others, it is floating.

What influences the formation of self-esteem

Every person tends to compare himself with a certain ideal image, with who he would like to be. The coincidence of the real self-image with the desired one plays a huge role in the formation of self-esteem. The further the true image is from the perfect one, the lower a person’s opinion of himself.

The attitude of others towards an individual has a significant influence on the formation of self-esteem. Of particular importance are the opinions of those closest to you: parents, relatives and friends.

A person’s actual achievements in a particular field of activity also affect self-esteem. The higher the personal success, the better the person’s opinion of himself.

How to instill positive self-esteem in a child?

All parents want to see their child succeed and be happy. How much results a person can achieve in life directly depends on self-esteem. To instill in a child a positive self-esteem, it is necessary to adhere to the recommendations given by psychology. A person’s self-esteem begins to form in early childhood. Approval and encouragement from adults and their peers is important for a child. If there is none, the child develops low self-esteem.

Children very clearly perceive attention to them from adults. If a child notices that he is being ignored, he gets the impression that he is uninteresting to others. In turn, this negatively affects his self-esteem. Thus, in order for a child to form a positive opinion about himself, he must constantly feel protected, significant and important.

What problems does inadequate self-esteem lead to?

When people do not know how to correctly evaluate themselves, to adequately judge their strengths and weaknesses, they can have many problems. Both low and high self-esteem negatively affect a person’s life.

When people tend to always make choices for the worse, believing that they are not worthy of anything else. This applies to finding a partner, work and much more. As a result, people feel constant dissatisfaction, but at the same time they are afraid to take decisive steps to somehow change the situation.

In psychology, this is when a person considers himself much better than he really is. This is also a big problem for humans. First of all, it affects relationships with others. It is difficult for people to communicate with those who constantly put themselves above others, brag and extol their person. As a rule, a person with overly high self-esteem has very few friends.

signs and causes

It is important for any person to feel confident. However, thinking too highly of yourself often does more harm than good.

It is quite easy to identify a person with high self-esteem. These people are very selfish. They always put their own interests above those of others. They love to talk about themselves, often interrupt and change the topic of conversation if it is not interesting to them. They do not want to know the opinions of other people; they consider their point of view on any issue to be the only correct one. A person with high self-esteem gladly takes on difficult, sometimes impossible work, and in cases of failure falls into despair and depression.

What leads to the formation of high self-esteem in people? First of all, this is incorrect upbringing. When parents indulge their child in everything, do not limit anything and are ready to fulfill all his desires at the first request, the child develops the opinion that he is the most important person in the world, and everyone should idolize and worship him.

How to learn to adequately evaluate yourself?

If you notice that your child has high self-esteem, it is urgent to take measures to ensure that he learns to form an adequate opinion about himself, otherwise it will be very difficult for him to build relationships with others. First of all, it is worth limiting the child’s praise, trying to explain in which situations success is his merit, and in which successful circumstances led to it.

Correcting high self-esteem in an adult is much more difficult. Such people most often do not see or do not want to see the problem, and, accordingly, fight it. It is almost impossible to explain to a person that he has inadequate self-esteem.

If you realize that your self-image is inflated, you need to make considerable efforts to learn to evaluate yourself adequately. The most important thing is to understand that every person has the right to their own opinion, and if it differs from yours, this does not mean at all that it is wrong. Learn to hear others, make concessions, and selflessly help people.

and its signs

Low self-esteem in psychology is a condition in which a person thinks of himself much worse than he really is. It leads to problems such as isolation, stiffness, jealousy, envy, and resentment.

The problem of many individuals is low self-esteem. The psychology of such people is such that they, as a rule, strive to get a position that requires a minimum degree of responsibility. When choosing a partner, they unconsciously attract people who only strengthen their self-doubt. They are prone to excessive self-criticism and concentration on their shortcomings. Such people often complain, consider themselves unlucky and helpless.

How to increase your self-esteem?

According to statistics, men are more likely to inflate their self-image. Women are more prone to underestimating their merits; they often look for shortcomings in themselves - this is their psychology. is a very difficult problem for them.

As a rule, the reason for low self-esteem in women lies in dissatisfaction with their appearance or figure, as well as hidden complexes caused by failures in personal relationships or careers.

How to increase a woman's self-esteem? Psychology advises first of all to start concentrating on your strengths. Think about what your positive qualities are? Why do you deserve better in life than you have? Every woman can find something good in herself. For example, someone is an excellent cook, someone sings and dances beautifully, someone is blessed with a list of your positive qualities that must be repeated as often as possible so that they are deposited at the subconscious level.

To increase your self-esteem, try to communicate with people who respect and support you. Take care of your appearance, dress in a way that makes you feel comfortable and confident. It can be very difficult to increase your self-esteem, the main thing is not to give up and believe that you will succeed.