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

The Crucial Issue of Defining Self-Esteem 13This definition presents a number of things worth our consideration.First and foremost is that James defined self-esteem in terms of action, inparticular, action that is successful or competent. In this case, we see thatself-esteem depends on two things: an individual’s hopes, desires, or aspirations,which are termed “pretensions,” and his or her ability to realizethem, which in turn requires competence. Thus, work that stems fromJames’ definition tends to focus on behavioral outcomes and the degreeof discrepancy between one’s “ideal” self and “real” self.However, James went on to considerable length to make sure weunderstand that general success or overall competence is not what constitutesself-esteem. Rather, it is competence in areas that matter to the individualas a unique and particular human being that determines whethersuccess (or failure) in them has meaning for one’s self-esteem. In his wordsI, who for the time have staked my all on being a psychologist, ammortified if others know much more psychology than I. But I am contentedto wallow in the grossest ignorance of Greek. My deficienciesthere give me no sense of personal humiliation at all. Had I ‘pretensions’to be a linguist, it would have been just the reverse. (James,1890/1983, p. 296)Thus, when we say that a definition of self-esteem is a competencebaseddefinition, we also automatically maintain that it is a certain typeof competence, namely, competence in areas that matter to an individualgiven his or her developmental history, personality characteristics, values,and so forth. By contrast, general competence or even high degrees ofsuccess in areas that are not important to a particular individual are notnecessarily related to self-esteem when it is defined this way. Finally, inpresenting self-esteem as a ratio, James (1890/1983, p. 292) defines selfesteemin a way that means it tends to be fairly stable as a trait may be,which is referred to as “a certain average tone of self-feeling.” However,like all ratios, the number of successes or failures one has can change aswell, which means that self-esteem is also a dynamic phenomenon andmust be maintained, especially during times of challenge or threat.After the beginning of the twentieth century, self-esteem became animportant psychological theme again, but this time it was carried by thepsychodynamic tradition. For example, Alfred Adler (1927) emphasizedthe importance of success for building a positive sense of self, particularlyin terms of overcoming feelings of “basic inferiority” that are seen as playinga large role in determining human behavior. Karen Horney (1937)focused on the difference between real and idealized selves as the centralvariable in developing and maintaining self-esteem. However, RobertWhite’s (1959, 1963) work is probably the most articulate psychodynamicexpression of self-esteem, and it is clearly tied to competence.