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

Self-Esteem and Positive Psychology 241theme. For example, the fact that high-level professional journals such asPsychological Inquiry continue to devote entire issues to it is a testamentto the importance of self-esteem. Similarly, that the rate of publishingarticles on the topic remains extremely high compared with other subjectsalso indicates that self-esteem is alive and well in psychology today.Yet, the status of self-esteem in the new positive psychology is far lessclear. Often, for instance, when a positivistic positive psychologist discussesMaslow’s famous hierarchy in the context of understanding selfactualizationor when identifying fundamental human values, the conceptof self-esteem is omitted. Instead, the phrase “cognitive needs” is used.Although technically correct, this terminology stands in contrast to themore commonly used name for the fourth stage, which is self-esteem.Taken collectively, the three major handbooks on positive psychologymentioned earlier in this chapter present 110 chapters on topicsdeemed important to positivistic positive psychology such as well-being,positive affect, emotional intelligence, problem solving, adjustment,authenticity, moral virtue, and so on. However, only one chapter focuseson self-esteem. Even that section is primarily concerned with “deconstructing”self-esteem as a “new emotion” that arises in response to socialforces characteristic of modern Western societies (Hewitt, 2002, p. 144).Such an approach certainly reveals how culture affects whether competenceor worthiness is emphasized, and it is important to know how differentsocieties affect the ways in which members obtain competence orworthiness. However, this view is at serious odds with the body of workpresented earlier that sees self-esteem as a basic human concern. Forexample, such a culturally relativistic perspective does not address thecross-cultural research on the importance of self-esteem discussed inChapter 3. Similarly, reducing self-esteem to a mere cultural artifact failsto address the basic evolutionary significance of this phenomenon thatmany other theories endorse as seen in Chapter 4.It is unclear whether positivistic positive psychology is simply missingthe work on self-esteem, examining but dismissing it as insignificant,or systematically attempting to relegate self-esteem to that distant cornerof psychology mentioned at the beginning of this chapter. Perhaps onereason that self-esteem is in this situation stems from the quantitativefocus toward which positivistic positive psychology aspires. If self-esteemis understood in terms of worthiness, for instance, then interest in thephenomenon may lessen because much of that type of work on selfesteeminvolves weak statistical evidence for its vitality as a concept.Similarly, a worthiness-based definition of self-esteem is often associatedwith the “feel good” approach of the self-esteem movement, which thenew psychology clearly wishes to differentiate itself from by emphasizingits positivistic character.