What´s self-esteem?

The term self-esteem was defined by Rosenberg ( 1979) as the negative or positive attitude that individuals have of themselves. Rosenberg defends how this is frequently measured by capturing people’s overall feelings of acceptance and respect.

However, Jan E. Stets, Peter J. Burke ( 2014) have expanded the concept , suggesting three dimensions of self-esteem: worth-based, efficacy-based, and authenticity-based esteem. The authors link them, respectively, with three motives of the self: verification of social/group, role, and person identities, respectively.

Worth based- Verification of social group: If Self-worth has been defined as self-acceptance or self-respect under positive self-view. Recent studies add that good and valuable attributions became internalised from the responses of others. They satisfy the desire for communion and interpersonal connectedness, emphasising people’s acceptance and belongingness.

Self-efficacy motive- Role: “Self-efficacy is the degree to which people perceive that they have the ability to have an effect on the environment” (Gecas ,1989). It is associated with the self- competence: assessment of what the individual is capable to do in concrete situations.

Authenticity- Person identities: This third dimension, known as well as coherence motive, reflects the understandings about the self. In words of Harter ( 2002) “expressing oneself in ways that are consistent with inner thoughts and feelings”

Worth based- Self-efficacy motive- Role: Authenticity- Person identities:

Verification of social group

"Who one is" "One can do" "Who one really is"

Interpersonal domain : Social structural domain: Cultural domain:

face-to-face interaction Role performances beliefs, values, and morals

provide meaning for a person

Female/Male Student, employee… Honest Person

Verification of identity Verification of identity meanings Verification of identity meanings having to do with having to do with agency and that represent a self that is "real"

social belongingness and accomplishment or "true"

integration, including being

accepted and valued