Self-Esteem

Self-esteem can be defined in emotional and psychological parameters and is often contrived from one's self-concept and self-efficacy. Self-concept refers to the complex organized system that a person has of learned beliefs, attitudes, and opinions, and forms the cognitive or thinking aspect of self. Self-concept includes self-assessment, incorporating a variety of beliefs about self-worth and competence. Self-efficacy refers to the ability to achieve goals and complete tasks. When considering self-concept and self-efficacy as foundations for self-esteem, self-esteem can be defined as the [Page 995]judgmental evaluation that an individual makes of one's self. Self-esteem is a broader and more global construct, referring to how people think and feel about themselves, encompassing a set of unconscious self-beliefs formed by the perception of one's abilities and causality for life events. Self-concept, self-efficacy, and self-esteem are sometimes interchangeably used in today's society, but self-concept and self-efficacy comprise factors that can contribute to the development, or lack of development, of self-esteem.

Many psychologists and sociologists have attempted to provide a definition of self-esteem to ensure that clinicians and researchers understand self-esteem epidemiology. Charles Cooley proposed the “looking glass self,” an early theory on self-esteem that suggested that individuals' self-esteem was directly related to the responses and evaluations of the people with whom they interacted. Psychologists Brett Pelham and William Swann suggest three factors influence self-esteem: (1) individuals have a tendency to experience either more positive or more negative states, with individual variation in the amount of happiness experienced; (2) individuals have specific self-views, such as an opinion on their athletic ability or physical appearance; and (3) framing of these self-views determines if an individual believes that the traits are important, and how much he or she believes that they possess those traits.

Other theorists believe that self-esteem is a biological characteristic that allows people to cope with social situations and understand their morbidity and purpose in life.

Because a large part of one's sense of self is based on the perception of other people, it is difficult to produce self-esteem from within. Numerous theorists examine the importance of self-esteem and how it affects a person's daily life, and by studying the effect of music on self-esteem, insights may be gained on how art and music experiences shape one's views of self and perceptions of others.