Self-Esteem Research, Theory, and Practice Toward a Positive ...

150 SELF-ESTEEM RESEARCH, THEORY, AND PRACTICEWorthiness10Competence 1001010Figure 5.1A Two-Factor Self-Esteem Meaning Matrix.This diagram shows how competence and worthiness interact witheach other to create self-esteem. Like Tafarodi’s and Vu’s (1997) metaphorof a rectangle, the relationship is such that the two factors work togetherto create a matrix or source of self-esteem. Competence is placed on thehorizontal axis because this dimension of self-esteem usually involvessome form of behavior. Behavior, of course, is easier to observe than aninternal state such as worthiness and individual abilities are well disposedto being described in terms of a standard distribution. Thus, this aspectof self-esteem can be well represented with a horizontal line that runsfrom negative to positive with the midpoint acting as the central tendencyor norm. Such a line depicts the positive advantages of competence aswell as the negative implications of being deficient in any domain ofbehavior relevant to self-esteem. For instance, superior or good performanceat a particular task, skill, or activity is represented numerically witha positive value from 0 to 10, which is found on the right side of the line.Inferior performance is placed on the other side, starting with 0 andextending to −10, which represents the poorest performance possible.The result is a continuum of competence ranging from low, through average,to high. Global or general competence would be represented in thesame fashion.There is also good reason to represent the other factor, worthiness,with the vertical axis of the matrix. For example, we have seen that