What is self-esteem and level of aspirations
Self-esteem is a complex of components that includes experience, skills, capabilities, a subject, and an idea of the importance of one’s own person.
The level of aspirations is the degree of choice of goals and objectives that a particular subject plans to achieve.
Both terms are related concepts that influence each other.
As everyone goes through life's journey, they begin to evaluate their skills and capabilities, compare themselves with the people around them, and try to realize their own plans. The ability to realistically assess one’s own strengths allows the subject to improve, strive to complete a given task, satisfy one’s curiosity, and choose the appropriate behavior for a specific situation.
The level of self-esteem affects self-esteem and helps you find your place in society.
There are two types:
- Adequate - a real attitude towards one’s own qualities, based on the real state of affairs.
- Inadequate, which is divided into underestimated (worries about any reason) and overestimated (the desire to dominate in everything).
Psychologists also divide the level of aspirations into two types: adequate and inadequate. It is not surprising that subjects who have an inadequate assessment of their own importance often have a high level of aspirations.
Self-esteem is too low
Scientists who are well versed in the field of psychology have long identified specific signs of low self-esteem:
Great timidity and caution in action. One cannot expect straightforwardness and firmness in answers from a person with an inferiority complex. There is a regular fear of hurting the feelings of others; he most often fusses and mumbles, but never expresses his point of view.- Excessive demands. People with strong complexes try to carefully achieve perfection in everything, meticulously evaluating not only their own, but also those of others. This behavior very often leads to the fact that even those closest to them begin to avoid them.
- Trying to earn approval. Numerous experiments have revealed that an insecure person is very dependent on the opinions of the people around him. For him, disapproving glances and conversations from the outside are considered not only a problem, but a whole tragedy, which subsequently leads to the emergence of new complexes and signs of inferiority.
- In this case, the aspirations are too low. Self-awareness plays a major role in this case and forces the individual to rush in the opposite direction from his real desires and capabilities. Such a person simply cannot adequately assess his abilities and skills; very often he continues to remain “at his beck and call,” even when he actually deserves a higher position in his career.
- Excessive love for constant complaints. In this case, it does not matter how justified a person’s suffering is, the main thing is that the world around him knows that he is unhappy, sick, dissatisfied and irritated.
- Special appearance. At the same time, there is an indecisive and shuffling gait, a head pulled into the shoulders and a quickly running gaze, in which one can read guilt and some kind of premonition of bad things.
- Such a person strives to fulfill the wishes or instructions of others. Not trusting his own judgment, a complex individual easily and easily succumbs to influence from the outside, and can also with great joy shift all his responsibility for actions onto another person. If a person, under someone else’s pressure, does something illegal or bad, then he is relieved to first of all think that everything that happens around is not his fault.
Classification
In psychology, there are 2 types of level of aspiration (LA), which are divided into 2 types.
Kinds:
- Private - refers to the desire to be successful in a specific area of life (professional activity, sports career, personal life).
- Social - refers to all spheres of life.
Types:
- Adequate - when goals correspond to capabilities.
- Inadequate, which is divided into 2 subtypes:
- Understated. Example: a brilliant student does not apply to a prestigious university, fearing failure during admission.
- Overpriced. Example: a child who does not know a subject well is sure that he deserves a high mark, without taking any action to obtain it.
What characterizes the concept
According to a number of well-known psychologists who study the concept as a psychological category, PM is characterized by the individual’s desire to achieve success in all aspects of his own life (personal relationships, significance in the eyes of others, professional activity, material well-being).
The basis for an adequate level of aspiration is setting achievable goals and objectives, and the ability to soberly assess one’s own capabilities.
UE is characterized by the following concepts:
- the degree of difficulty of the goal;
- determination of further tasks;
- feeling of self-worth.
What can a low level of aspirations or constant failures lead to?
The human psyche is designed in such a way that it needs systematic development to function fully. It is necessary to move forward and achieve your goals. This is exactly what modern society demands from a person. You must always be successful, rise up.
It is worth noting that when a person fails, the damage to his self-esteem is always much greater than with comparable success. And the general mood and emotions depend on the self-esteem and level of aspirations of the individual. With frequent failures, frustration may occur. It can be expressed in threatening behavior towards oneself or others around them.
Falling into frustration often causes a change in character and contributes to manifestations of lethargy, lack of initiative and an inferiority complex. If this condition lasts for a long time, it can cause neurosis, as well as various psychological problems.
In fact, the level of aspiration depends on self-esteem very indirectly. However, they are still interconnected. Thus, with a constant decrease in self-esteem, the level of aspirations may unexpectedly increase. As a rule, this occurs during the transition from high self-esteem to adequate self-esteem. In this case, the person most likely wants to make up for his failures, or reduce disappointment from possible losses.
The connection between self-esteem and the level of individual aspirations
Both components have a huge influence on each other. Having an inflated or underestimated view of one's own worth can lead to setting inappropriate goals in the future.
A real assessment of one’s own strengths and capabilities contributes to the development of an adequate management program.
The dependence of concepts has a rather complex mechanism: a gradual decrease in self-esteem can first reduce aspirations, but when it reaches the limit, it sharply increases. A person, tired of constant failure in his activities and lack of confidence in his own abilities, suddenly sets himself high goals.
Heightened self-esteem
A person with high self-esteem:
- feels his own importance, superiority over others;
- idealizes one’s own external features and character;
- ignores failures;
- passes off failure as success;
- blames others for his own failure;
- can't stand criticism.
Features of frustration
Frustration is a traumatic mental state that occurs in a person when he cannot do something or thinks that he cannot achieve his own desires and goals.
At the same time, very often the cause of this condition is too high, or, conversely, low self-esteem, as well as inflated claims. In this case, you can solve the problem only by completely getting rid of your complexes, regaining confidence in your abilities and a sober view of the things around you.
In the life of a modern person there is a constant struggle: for a place in the sun, for one’s family, as well as a normal attitude, success at work - such factors can be listed for a very long time. By correctly setting all your priorities in life and goals, and getting rid of difficulties with your own self-esteem, you can gain a new positive character trait - self-esteem.
Private and general level
It is also possible to distinguish between a particular and a general indicator of the development of self-esteem in an individual. Partial claims relate to achieving one’s goal in the field of activity (music, sports, cinema) or in human terms (the need to take the right place in family, friendly or industrial relationships, as well as in the team). The basis of this claim is one’s own self-esteem in a certain area.
Claims can also be general; they will relate immediately to many areas of a person’s life and, above all, to those in which his moral and intellectual manifestations are involved. Such an indicator will be very closely associated with a person’s self-esteem indicator, and will be formed under the influence of subjective experiences of success or failure of one’s goal.
How to determine your own UE?
To determine your own level of aspirations, you can use the method of psychologist Schwartzlander.
Method-based testing is often used during recruitment. A person is given a table measuring 10x3. 10 cells horizontally and 3 cells height.
The subject must name the number of squares that he can fill with pluses in 10 seconds. He writes his answer in the upper right cell of the first table.
For example, the subject plans to give 20 plus signs.
The time is noted, the person completes the task. After stopping the stopwatch, the number of plus signs actually placed is counted. This value is entered in the lower-right cell of the table.
The test subject is given 3 attempts, with each attempt the testing time is reduced.
Evaluation of test results
First, let's calculate the final level using the formula:
UP = [UP (2) – UD (1) ] + [UP (3) – UD (2) ] + [UP (4) – UD (3) ]
Where UP - Levels of aspiration in tests 1,2,3, and UD, respectively, levels of achievement in these tests.
Compare the result with this data
≥ 5 – unrealistically high level of aspirations; 3–4.99 – high level of aspirations (within the norm); 1–2.99 – moderate level of aspirations (within the norm); -1.49–0.99 – low level of aspirations; ≤ -1.50 – unrealistically low level of aspirations
And remember, self-esteem is not equal to the level of aspirations, but the more adequate the self-esteem is, the more adequate the level of aspirations will be. In other words, a person with an unrealistically inflated PM will take on the most ambitious projects and undertakings and most often fail in them.
Self-assessment of personal qualities
The way a subject feels about himself and his place among other individuals has a huge impact on behavior and mood. There are no strict criteria for assessing personal qualities; therefore, determining the level of personal self-esteem is an arbitrary, creative process.
Study of personality self-esteem
A study of personality self-esteem by psychologists revealed that it performs three functions:
- regulatory, solving problems of personal choice,
- protective, ensuring relative stability, as well as independence of the individual,
- developing, acting as an impetus for personal development.
Psychologists advise every person to look within themselves, since solutions to many current problems are found within. By delving into oneself, a person is able to get rid of the garbage found there, as happens when cleaning an apartment on New Year’s Eve. At the same time, useful, necessary things are placed closer, and what is not needed is hidden further away.
Personal self-esteem forms a person’s self-awareness. A person, evaluating himself, includes in this process an assessment of his qualities, properties and capabilities. This occurs through introspection, introspection, self-report, continuous comparison of oneself with other individuals with whom a person is in direct contact.
Self-assessment is not simply the satisfaction of curiosity. The driving motive is the motive of self-improvement, the desire for success, a healthy sense of pride, because human life is a protracted struggle with oneself.
Personal self-assessment makes it possible to both see the present “I” and link it with your future and past. Personal self-esteem allows an individual to see the roots of his strengths and weaknesses, become confident in their objectivity and learn to acquire adequate models for his behavior in everyday situations. A person who has come to know himself turns into a different person.
Personal self-esteem in its structure has two components: cognitive and emotional.
Cognitive reflects everything that a person has learned about himself from various sources of information.
Emotional expresses one’s own attitude towards different aspects of the personality (behavior, character traits, habits).
