Counseling To Enhance Self-Esteem
ERIC Identifier: ED328827
Publication Date: 1991-01-31
Author: Walz, Garry R.
Source: ERIC Clearinghouse on Counseling & Personnel Services Ann Arbor MI.
Reading the newspapers, reviewing professional association conference programs or
even watching TV sitcoms will quickly convey the impression that a person's self-esteem
is a major determinant of what a person accomplishes and how fulfilled and
rewarding a life he or she lives. As one teenager said, "You ain't nothin if you ain't got
high self-esteem." This belief in the potency of self-esteem to affect how rewarding our
life is, and how productive we are, has clearly been bought into by the public at large,
and is a major target of new product development by commercial vendors. An
educational publisher's recent catalogue offered twice the number of resources on
self-esteem over any other topic. A recent ERIC database search identified over 5,000
journal articles where self-esteem was a major focus of the article.
A person motivated to reach a clear understanding of what self-esteem is and how it
can be increased may be puzzled by various definitions and prescriptions for raising it.
This digest, therefore, is written with the intention of helping counselors to be a force for
positive change in the self-esteem of their clients.
WHAT IS SELF-ESTEEM?
Definitions of self-esteem vary considerably in both their breadth and psychological
sophistication. From an intuitive sense we know that high self-esteem means that we
appreciate ourselves and our inherent worth. More specifically, it means we have a
positive attitude, we evaluate ourselves highly, we are convinced of our own abilities
and we see ourselves as competent and powerful-in control of our own lives and able to
do what we want. In addition, we compare ourselves favorably with others. We also
know what it means to experience diminished self-esteem--self-depreciation,
helplessness, powerlessness and depression (Mecca, Smelser & Vasconcellos, 1989).
It also may help us in better understanding self-esteem to differentiate self-concept from
Another approach to defining self-esteem is to identify the almost universally accepted components of self-esteem. They are:
- Self-concept is the totality of a complex, organized and dynamic system of
learned beliefs, attitudes and opinions that each person holds to be true about his or her
personal existence (Purkey, 1988).
- Self-esteem is focused upon feelings of personal worth and the level of satisfaction regarding one's self.
Nathaniel Branden provides a particularly compelling view of self-esteem (Branden,
1990). He sees it as having two interrelated aspects:
- a cognitive element, or the characterizing of self in descriptive terms, e.g.,
- an affective element or a degree of positiveness or negativeness, e.g., high or low self-esteem; and
- an evaluative element related to some ideal standard, e.g., what a high school graduate should be able to do (Mecca,
Smelser & Vasconcellos, 1989).
In the most succinct terms, self-esteem is the disposition to experience oneself as competent to cope with the challenges of life and to be deserving of happiness.
- a sense of personal efficacy (self-efficacy) or confidence in a person's ability to think and act; and
- a sense of personal worth (self-respect) or an affirmative attitude towards a person's right to live and to be happy.
WHY IS SELF-ESTEEM IMPORTANT?
The importance of self-esteem can be considered from several perspectives.
- First, it is important to normal, psychological development.
To adequately cope with the challenges of growing and developing, persons need to believe that they have the
capacity to achieve what they need and want to and that they are deserving of
happiness and joy in life. Lacking a belief in either of the above, they may be productive
in an external sense, but are probably less effective and creative than they would be if
they possessed high self-esteem.
The effects of self-esteem may also be seen in career planning and decision making.
For a person to make a nontraditional career choice,
e.g., a female entering engineering, or to go against family desires or pressures
requires someone to have a belief in their ability to make appropriate plans and
decisions even though important others in their lifespace disagree with them.
Registering for advanced placement classes or applying to a highly competitive college
may also challenge the self-esteem of an individual. Most people can attest to having
experienced times when they were on top, when they were at their "peak performance."
These "peaks" in our performance curve illustrate that when people believe in
themselves (have high self-efficacy) and believe they can accomplish almost anything,
they are expressing a self-esteem which motivates, excites and empowers them. It is
this expression of strong self-esteem at a critical juncture in their lives which can help a
person to become more of what they are capable of becoming.
- It has also been suggested that high self-esteem imparts to a person an immunity to the
downturns in the roller coaster of life.
Rejections, disappointments and failure are a part
of daily life. Life is not always fair or equitable and even our best efforts are not always
successful. But high esteem can assist a person in "weathering the storm," to look
beyond immediate downward dips.
- High self-esteem is needed to function well in our "information" society.
The current management literature is filled with descriptions of the type of people who
will function well in our "information" society. Descriptions of these people are replete
with statements regarding the need in an information age for workers who can make
independent decisions, take risks, vigorously pursue new ideas and untried approaches,
and act on their own initiative. These traits are characteristic of persons with high
self-esteem, of those who are confident of their abilities and gain pleasure from acting
on them. These traits also assume an economic importance because they lead to more
effective and productive employees. Organizations with productive employees are
successful in the competitive marketplace and earn greater profits.
An analysis of the research and scholarly literature suggests a number of significant
findings and generalizations about the importance and the effects of self-esteem upon
youth and adults. Overall it would appear that self-esteem can be envisaged as a "social
vaccine," a dimension of personality that empowers people and inoculates them against
a wide spectrum of self-defeating and socially undesirable behavior (California Task
Force to Promote Self-Esteem, 1990). Among the more compelling generalizations to
be made are the following:
ACTION STEPS FOR COUNSELORS
- The family is a strong force in the development of self-esteem. The early years are
particularly important in establishing an "authentic and abiding self-esteem" in a person.
- High parental self-esteem is crucial to the ability to nurture high self-esteem and
personal effectiveness in children.
- School climate plays an important role in the development of the self-esteem of
students. Schools that target self-esteem as a major school goal appear to be "more
successful academically as well as in developing healthy self-esteem among their
students" (California Task Force to Promote Self-Esteem, 1990, p. 5).
- Self-esteem and achievement may be either the cause or the effect of each other,
depending upon the person and the particular situation in which they function.
- Young girls who possess positive self-esteem are less likely to become pregnant as
- Persons who hold themselves in high esteem are less likely to engage in destructive
and self-destructive behavior including child abuse, alcohol and drug abuse, violence
- Exclusive attention to just self-esteem or personal achievement may well result in
less favorable outcomes in either or both areas than when an approach is used which
attends to both self-esteem and achievement. Walz and Bleuer (in press) in postulating
the presence of an "esteem-achievement connection" emphasize the importance of
presenting students with challenging experiences that enable the student to "earn" high
esteem by successfully coping with difficult tasks.
- The choice to esteem oneself or not is ultimately the responsibility of the individual no
matter what the background and prior experiences of the individual may be. High
self-esteem can never be given to a person by another person or society. It must be
sought, "earned" by the individual for him or herself.
- Self-esteem may be expressed as an overall generic characteristic, i.e., "she exhibits
a high self-esteem" or as a more specific behavioral attribute, i.e., "he certainly has a
high sense of self-esteem in tackling a difficult writing task, but he has absolutely no
belief in his competence to do anything numerical." The experience of many counselors
would favor a counseling intervention that explores a client's overall self-esteem
(enhancing his/her generic self-esteem), but also focuses upon blockages which retard
the expression of high self-esteem in specific areas.
- Writers and researchers show general although by no means complete agreement
on the preconditions necessary for someone to demonstrate high self-esteem. Among
the commonly used terms are: security, connectedness, uniqueness, assertiveness,
competence, and spirituality.
Gaining greater knowledge and understanding of self-esteem can be beneficial to a
counselor. However, to specifically impact upon a client's self-esteem requires greater
focus and effort upon the part of the counselor. Six action steps are suggested as
guides for how a counselor can intervene to assist clients in enhancing their own
- Acknowledge that the self-esteem of a client is a vital determinant in his/her behavior
and should be a major focus of the counseling relationship.
- Explore with the client the meaning of self-esteem and how his/her self-esteem has
impacted upon past behaviors and actions (and can influence present and future plans
- Assist the client in assessing the internal and external forces contributing to or
retarding their self-esteem. Develop a personally meaningful profile of esteem builders
- Recognize that the self-esteem of the counselor has a stimulating or depressing effect
upon the esteem of a client and that each needs to be aware of his/her self-esteem and
its effect upon others.
- Assist the client in designing a self-esteem enhancement program that is customized to
her/his learning style and desired goals.
- Above all else, act upon the conviction that self-esteem is a disposition to know oneself
as someone who is competent to cope with the realities and demands of life and as
personally worthy of experiencing joy and happiness.
Acting upon this conviction a
counselor will then know that she/he can neither bestow nor induce self-esteem in
another person. Through their efforts, however, counselors can assist a person to learn
the processes by which they can examine the antecedents of their self-esteem, and
take responsibility for thinking and acting in ways which will heighten their own
self-esteem and hence their capacity to experience life confidently and joyously.
Garry R. Walz, Ph.D., N.C.C., is Professor of Education and Director of the ERIC
Counseling and Personnel Services Clearinghouse at The University of Michigan.
This publication was prepared with funding from the Office of Educational Research and
Improvement, U.S. Department of Education under contract number RI88062011. The
opinions expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the position or policies of
OERI or the Department of Education.
Branden, N. (1990, August). What is self-esteem? Paper presented at the first
International Conference on Self-Esteem, Oslo, Norway. (ERIC Document Reproduction
Service No. CG 022 939)
California Task Force to Promote Self-esteem and Personal and Social Responsibility.
(1990). Toward a state of self-esteem. Sacramento: California State Department of
Mecca, A. M., Smelser, N. J., & Vasconcellos, J. (Eds.). (1989). The social importance
of self-esteem. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Purkey, W. W. (1988). An overview of self-concept theory for counselors. An
ERIC/CAPS Digest. Ann Arbor, MI: ERIC Counseling and Personnel Services
Clearinghouse, The University of Michigan.
Walz, G. R., & Bleuer, J. (in press). The esteem-achievement connection. Ann Arbor,
MI: Counseling and Personnel Services Clearinghouse.
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