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

196 SELF-ESTEEM RESEARCH, THEORY, AND PRACTICEshare some of what they experienced or discovered helps those who mightbe having a hard time with this exercise, or with understanding self-esteemin terms of competence and worthiness instead of either one alone. Third,this activity makes people think about self-esteem and self-esteem momentsin their own lives. Finally, this process of identifying, describing, and thinkingabout self-esteem is important because it prepares the group to write aself-esteem journal. As a matter of academic honesty, I also let them knowthat there are other ways of defining self-esteem.Now we have shown participants that they can identify, describe,and learn from experiences of competence and worthiness in their ownlives. We have also helped them to see that these experiences are connectedto self-esteem and to various challenges of living. The group isnow ready for its first homework assignment, which is starting the selfesteemjournal as mentioned in part II of the handout. There is usuallysome resistance to this activity at first, probably because it requires workand people do not often write regularly. Once again, I find it helpful togive the group members a blank notebook or at least an attractivelybound packet of papers for the journal. This courtesy facilitates takingthe journal seriously and adds a professional touch to the program. I alsopoint out that the group has just shown they can do this kind of workbecause they have already described two relevant experiences. They aretold that the journal is to be written in the same way and that they shouldwrite about any positive experiences with competence and worthinessthey have during the next week. It is more helpful to focus on positiveexperiences than on negative ones because positive reinforcement is usuallymore effective and because people with self-esteem problems oftendon’t receive much of it. However, the rule is not hard and fast because“forbidding” people to write or talk about certain experiences is probablynot a good idea. The importance of the journal is emphasized byadding that although they are keeping one for all the sessions, it is notgraded or collected, so it can be done informally. In total, this step usuallytakes about 40 minutes.Step 3: Administering the MSEI. Now we are at the end of our firstmeeting. Sometimes, depending on how large the group is and who is init, participants either want to continue discussing their experiences orend the session, feeling that they have worked hard enough for the firstmeeting. Either way, I tell them about the research findings concerningthe need to assess self-esteem. At this point, O’Brien’s and Epstein’s MSEI(1983, 1988) is administered but not scored. The form can be filled outin about 20 minutes, but some people take longer, which is why it is goodto give the test at the end of the session when such differences do notrequire group members to wait for others to finish.