Social Psychology - Social Cognition & the Self

Making Sense of Self-Esteem 1

Making Sense of Self- Esteem

A Commentary on Mark Leary 's Article (Type Your Name

Social Psychology (type your section (type your professor 's name

February 26 , 2005 Self-esteem , as defined by any lexicon , is high regard to one 's self or self- respect . Such can be likened to a family , which is the basic unit of a society . This is so because self-esteem is the most fundamental unit to an individual 's psychological and sociological formation . To illustrate , individuals who gives high regard to oneself

are usually those who are able to cope with the rigors of life . Likewise , these are also the same people who are able to achieve their pre-determined goals whether it is for one 's personal motive , business entity , and or other purposes of even nature

Mark Leary 's article entitled making sense of self-esteem ' depicts the importance of self-esteem as well as its relation to the sociometer theory

According to Leary (1999 , the sociometer theory is a psychological meter or gauge . It serves the purpose of monitoring the quality of an individual 's relationship with others . It is within this context that the concept of self-esteem was explicitly explained (cf . pp . 2-3 of the article

Leary discussed self-esteem and the sociometer theory relation in four categories to wit : self-esteem motive , antecedents of self-esteem , low self-esteem and psychological problems , and the consequences of self-esteem enhancement , so as to facilitate better illustration of its linkages

It is the purpose of this to express the author 's views on Leary 's presentation on self-esteem as well as describe practical applications of such in the analysis of daily life scenarios

I concur with Leary 's statement that it is innate to every individual to sustain and enhance self-regard or self-respect with the help of other individuals . This is so due to the fact that no man is an island An individual needs another person in to live his life .This is also true for the case of self-esteem . An individual would need another person 's contribution or help so as to enable to increase or decrease his self-respect and this is made possible via compliments , criticisms and pieces of advice that that other person gives that individual . Thus enabling that individual to improve oneself and at the same time gain acceptance or the other way around . However , it cannot be gainsaid that an individual can also enhance one 's self-respect not only through the influences of his peers and environment but also through the norms mores , customs , and traditions he got accustomed with . Let us take into consideration the case of the Muslims . It is the Muslims ' tradition to be able to travel to Mecca for pilgrimage . A Muslim who has been to Mecca (a .k .a . holy land ) has enhanced his self-regard or self-respect through it . This is said to have brought him to a higher plane

I also agree with Mark Leary that there are times when an individual...