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

14 SELF-ESTEEM RESEARCH, THEORY, AND PRACTICEHis approach went far beyond Freud’s (1914/1957) original discussionof self-regard as a function of narcissism and the meeting of egoideals. White began by noting that both traditional behavioral and classicalpsychodynamic psychologists suffer a central contradiction when itcomes to their theories of motivation. In one way or another, both modelsof human behavior are based on drive reduction theory. In this case, whena need is not met, it disturbs homeostasis, which generates a negative tensionor affective state. That stress, in turn, motivates behavior in a waythat seeks to discharge the tension, which is done through acting in waysthat aim at restoring homeostasis. White pointed out that the problem withhomeostatic theories of motivation is that they have great difficulty accountingfor a set of behaviors that seems to do just the opposite. Even in animals,play, curiosity, and exploration all involve disturbing homeostasis. Yet,instead of creating negative affect states, this type of tension results inpositive ones. Such behaviors, he argues, are also need-based, but cannotbe explained in terms of tension reduction because the organism actuallyseeks them out or creates them, even though they stimulate the sympatheticnervous system and can often involve risk. Therefore, he arguedthat “It is necessary to make competence a motivational concept; there isa competence motivation as well as competence in its more familiar senseof achieved capacity” (White, 1959, p. 318). Satisfying this need throughthe mastery of developmental tasks and experiencing other successes inchildhood results in feelings of “effectance” and a sense of self-respect. Inother words, “self-esteem . . . has its taproot in the experience of efficacy”(White, 1963, p. 134).The most recent manifestation of seeing self-esteem largely in termsof competence does not come from a psychodynamic perspective, but itdoes take us to what might be the ultimate expression of this definition.Crocker and Park, for example, began their work on self-esteem bybasing it squarely on James’ definition when they said thatOur central proposition is that people seek to maintain, protect, andenhance self-esteem by attempting to obtain success and avoid failurein domains on which their self-worth has been staked. Contingenciesof self-worth, then, serve a self-regulatory function, influencing the situationspeople select for themselves, their efforts in those situations,and their reaction to successes and failures. (2003, p. 291)If it is true that self-esteem is strictly based on success and failure indomains that are of particular significance to an individual alone, and ifit is true that people must have self-esteem, then in some sense we arebound to these particular areas of life. Some people may even become soinvested in success in these areas that they become “enslaved” to them.