Self-Esteem

A Historical Overview

The first glimpses of theoretical differences in explaining the self system can be seen beginning with the mind-body debates of the Greek philosophers, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. These philosophers all theorized about where the “essence of a person” (the self) resided, in the soul or in the mind. Centuries later these early quests to understand the body and soul influenced other philosophers and scientists to examine what constitutes an individual's “self-identity.” One of the most influential of these philosopher-scientists to discuss the self-concept in depth was William James in his 1890 book The Principles of Psychology. James is credited as the first psychologist to develop a theory of self-concept. It is his theoretical structure of self-concept that laid the groundwork for all of the other theories that have since been posited about this construct.

James incorporated his ideas of self into the concepts of “I” and “me.” The “I” is the subjective self and the “me” is the objective self. The “I” is the essence of the self or what constitutes one's personal identity. It cannot be observed directly and, according to James, can only be discovered through reflection. The “me” is the combination of all things that are objectively known about the self; that is, those things that incorporate one's material self, family, and friends and one's social self. Unlike the “I,” the “me” can be observed and empirically examined.

There are three elements of the Jamesian “me”: the material “me,” the spiritual “me,” and the social “me.” According to James's theory, these elements are ordered in a hierarchical structure with the material self at the bottom, the spiritual self at the top, and a combination of material and social elements in the middle. Self-evaluations then, according to Jamesian theory, are the reflection of how individuals weight the subjective importance of these different characteristics of the “me.” The importance placed on these characteristics becomes the standard that objective information is referenced against and dictates what is considered to be a success or a failure.

This overview of James's theory regarding self-concept is only a brief summary of a very critical piece of work that has affected self-concept research throughout history, including contemporary times. Indeed, symbolic interactionists Charles Cooley and George Herbert Mead were influenced by the Jamesian concept of the “social self” when developing their theories on the impact of socialization. Cooley's concept of the “looking-glass self,” for example, posits that individuals can only know themselves through the reactions and social interactions of others. Mead also considered social interactions [Page 859]important to the development of the self but, like James, acknowledged a core self that is modified by these interactions. Other psychological paradigms as diverse as psychoanalytic and behaviorist theory were affected by James's framework of self-concept. Sigmund Freud and his followers, like James and Mead, believed that individuals were influenced by the way others view them or feel about them. They, however, added the idea that the self-concept exists at birth and is modified by childhood interaction with family members, especially the mother.

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