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

CHAPTER 7Self-Esteem and PositivePsychologyAlthough most of the chapters in this book have been heavily revised toremain current, this chapter is a completely new addition because therewas no need for it until now. For more than a century, self-esteem has helda significant place in psychology and related disciplines that few otherconcepts or phenomena have found: It figures prominently in personality,clinical, and social psychology, whether viewed from the psychodynamic,social learning, cognitive, evolutionary, or humanistic perspectives.However, two recent developments challenge the stature of self-esteem insocial science today. One is that the limits of defining self-esteem in termsof competence or worthiness alone finally have been reached. This developmentchallenges the value of the concept in various ways. For example,there are those such as Baumeister, Smart, and Boden (1996); Baumeister,Campbell, Krueger, and Vohs (2003); Emler (2001); Damon (1995); andSeligman (1995b) who criticize the importance of self-esteem when it isdefined primarily in terms of worth or worthiness which, we have seen, itmost often is. Similarly, there are those who take issue with the phenomenonwhen it is defined in a way that makes self-esteem contingent on anyexternal standard of competence or success (Crocker & Nuer, 2003,2004; Crocker & Park, 2003, 2004). Questioning any self-esteem studythat is based on a lopsided or incomplete definition is certainly welcomein a two-factor approach. However, the criticism has become so greatthat we may have reached the point where the entire concept of selfesteemis in danger of being discarded.If that situation does not represent a significant challenge to thefield, then another one certainly does. This issue concerns the questionof what kind of intellectual and clinical space self-esteem occupies inthe positive psychology of human behavior that is becoming popular227