Blog – Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy

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.
The post Application of Self-Esteem to the Theory of Modes: A Summary (Introduction) appeared first on Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy.
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June 28, 2021 – 6:02 pm /Max Hayes
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