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

Self-Esteem and Positive Psychology 247well as facilitating the kinds of social processes and institutions that fosterthem (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000).In both cases, positivistic positive psychology aims at fostering thedevelopment of psychological well-being, which is defined as reflecting“engagement with and full participation in the challenges and opportunitiesof life” (Linley & Joseph, 2004, p. 5). Although subjective wellbeing,or what is usually known as “happiness,” is a part of psychologicalwell-being, the latter goes far beyond hedonistically positive affectivefeelings and states. The ultimate goal of this psychology is to facilitate theliving of the “good life,” which is largely seen in an Aristotelian sense:one that involves striving to live a rich and full, but dignified and balanced,life. Recently, finding ways of dealing with problems and living lifein such a positive way have come together in what is called applied positivepsychology. The branch of the emerging field that is defined as “theapplication of positive psychology research to the facilitation of optimalfunctioning” (Linley & Joseph, 2004, p. 4). To this end, the new positivepsychology has developed the beginnings of a classification system ofpositive characteristics (Peterson & Seligman, 2004) and urges furtherwork on identifying and understanding them in the hope of helpingpeople move toward psychological well-being and the good life. Let usconclude our work by considering how the psychology of self-esteem fitsin with this practical aspect of positivistic positive psychology.One dimension of this area of convergence between the two fields ismore clinically oriented. For example, we have seen that there is considerableevidence in work on self-esteem to show that it plays an importantrole in helping people deal with stress. In this sense, self-esteem acts as abuffer (Pyszczynski et al., 2004a) and serves as a “stock of positive feelingsthat can be a valuable resource under some conditions” (Baumeister,Campbell, Krueger & Vohs, 2003, p. 37). In addition, it was alreadyshown that self-esteem may be seen as a pivotal variable (Rosenberg,1965), particularly when people face and deal with various problems andchallenges of living (Epstein, 1979; Jackson, 1984; Kernis, 2003a; Mruk,1983). Finally, evidence indicates that self-esteem is related to healthyhuman functioning. For example, self-esteem is hedonically positive inthat it is characterized by positive affect and “feels good” (Baumeister,Campbell, Krueger & Vohs, 2003). However, self-esteem is positive interms of eudaimonia as well because it is connected to optimal functioningand the good life by virtue of the relationship between authenticityand self-esteem (Kernis, 2003a, b). All things considered, it stands toreason that work on increasing self-esteem should be of considerableinterest to any form of positive psychology in terms of treatment andprevention.