Posted on 11/28/2001 5:14:28 AM PST by blam
Beliefs about low self-esteem 'are myths'
November 28 2001 at 06:02AM
London - Many of the most commonly held beliefs about low self-esteem are myths without reliable evidence to support them, says a study published on Wednesday.
Low self-esteem has become one of the most frequently cited explanations for social and personal problems, ranging from young people's involvement in violent crime to adult failures in business, and the US state of California has gone so far as to invest significant public funds in trying to raise the self-esteem of its citizens.
But Nicholas Emler, a social psychologist who conducted the study, said his research showed that people with a high opinion of themselves could pose a far greater threat to others than those with a low sense of self-worth.
"People with low self-esteem tend to injure themselves rather than other people. Those with high self-esteem tend to damage other people, either because they are reckless and dangerous or because they're unpleasant," he said.
Young people with very high self-esteem are more likely than others to hold racist attitudes, reject social pressures from adults and peers, and engage in physically risky pursuits such as drink-driving or driving too fast, the study said.
"Widespread belief in 'raising self-esteem' as an all-purpose cure for social problems has created a huge market for self-help manuals and educational programmes that is threatening to become the psychotherapeutic equivalent of snake oil," said Emler, a professor at the London School of Economics.
High self-esteem was unrelated to real accomplishments. "What causes people to rise in management hierarchies is largely unrelated to their objective performance, but is related to their ability to convince their superiors they should be promoted," he said.
But his study, commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, the UK's largest independent social research and development charity, found that relatively low self-esteem was not a risk factor for delinquency, violence, drug use, alcohol abuse, educational under-attainment or racism.
It was, however, a risk factor for attempting suicide, depression, teenage pregnancy and being victimised by bullies, he said in the study, which followed the fortunes of children and young people over time.
Relatively low childhood self-esteem also seemed to be associated with adolescent eating disorders. Among young adult males it seemed linked with low earnings and job problems.
Emler said the most important influence on young people's self-esteem was their parents, "partly as a result of genetic inheritance and partly through the degree of love, concern, acceptance and interest that they show to their children".
He said his study, which took a year to complete, reviewed research worldwide from the 19th century onwards, much of it from the United States. - Reuters
I had thirteen year-olds who could barely read monosyllables, couldn't add double-digit numbers accurately and who were poor at sports as well. Yet these kids would brag about their sexual-physical-mental prowess, would intimidate other students verbally and physically and would take anything which was not nailed down.
If these kids needed one thing it would have been lower self-esteem - a more realistic picture of how little they knew, how destructive and stupid their behavior was and how poorly they were preparing themselves for later life.
Everytime I see someone attribute the criminality of minority youth I want to scream. Add to their ridiculously inflated self-images two other preposterous "self-esteem boosters":
(1) That the police are out to get them, not because they are violent little thugs with convictions, but because they are "strong black men" whom the "racist establishment" is trying to "bring down" and
(2) That the reason they do poorly in school is that schools are run by Jews who deliberately confuse them and hide from them the "truth" that blacks invented medical science, mechanics, music, art, literature and physics.
Afrocentrism is nothing other than a method for teaching dull, violent children that they are suffering geniuses who deserve to take revenge.
Should I be depressed? ;-)
Say what? What a crock.
Seems to me that the result of the self-esteem nonsense has been to dumb-down, patronize, and teach kids that they have a RIGHT to have their appetites -- for position, power, and pleasure -- appeased NOW, and without much exertion on their part. That's the root of the problems this author assigns to "high" self-esteem -- IMHO.
Here's a golden-oldie for you:
OFFICER KRUPKE(West Side Story)
ACTION: See, those cops, they believe everythin’ they read in the papers about us cruddy JD’s. So, that’s what we give ‘em … somethin’ to believe in.
SNOWBOY (as Officer Krupke): Hey, you!
ACTION: Who, me, Officer Krupke?
SNOWBOY: Yeah, you! Give me one good reason for not draggin’ you down to the stationhouse, ya punk!
ACTION: Dear kindly Sergeant Krupke, ya gotta understand, it’s just our bringing-upke that gets us out of hand. Our mothers all are junkies, our fathers all are drunks: golly Moses, naturally we’re punks.
JETS: Gee, Officer Krupke, we’re very upset. We never had the love that every child ought to get. We ain’t no delinquents, we’re misunderstood. Deep down inside us there is good.
ACTION: There is good!
JETS: There is good, there is good, there is untapped good; like, inside the worst of us is good.
SNOWBOY: That’s a touchin’ good story.
ACTION: Let me tell it to the world!
SNOWBOY: Just tell it to the judge!
ACTION: Dear kindly Judge, Your Honor: my parents treat me rough. With all their marijuana, they won’t give me a puff. They didn’t want to have me, but somehow I was had: leapin’ lizards, that’s why I’m so bad.
JUDGE: Right! Officer Krupke, you’re really a square. This boy don’t need a judge, he needs an analyst’s care. It’s just his neuroses that ought to be curbed. He’s psychologically disturbed!
ACTION: I’m disturbed!
JETS: We’re disturbed, we’re disturbed, we’re the most disturbed; like, we’re psychologically disturbed!
JUDGE: Hear ye, hear ye: in the opinion of this court, this child is depraved on account he ain’t had a normal home.
ACTION: Hey, I’m depraved on account of I’m deprived!
JUDGE: So, take him to a head-shrinker.
ACTION: My daddy beats my mommy. My mommy clobbers me. My grandpa is a commie. My grandma pushes tea. My sister wears a moustache. My brother wears a dress. Goodness gracious, that’s why I’m a mess.
HEAD-SHRINKER: Yes! Officer Krupke, he shouldn’t be here. This boy don’t need a couch, he needs a useful career. Society’s played him a terrible trick, and, sociologically, he’s sick.
ACTION: I am sick!
JETS: We are sick, we are sick, we are sick sick sick; like, we’re sociologically sick!
HEAD-SHRINKER: In my opinion, this child does not need to have his head shrunk at all. Juvenile delinquency is purely a social disease.
ACTION: Hey, I’ve got a social disease!
HEAD-SHRINKER: So take him to a social worker.
ACTION: Dear kindly social worker, they tell me get a job; like be a soda-jerker, which means like be a slob. It’s not I’m anti-social, I’m only anti-work; glorie-osky, that’s why I’m a jerk!
SOCIAL WORKER: Yechh! Officer Krupke, you’ve done it again! This boy don’t need a job, he needs a year in the pen. It ain’t just a question of misunderstood: deep down inside him, he’s no good!
ACTION: I’m no good!
JETS: We’re no good, we’re no good, we’re no earthly good; like the best of us is no damn good!
JUDGE: The trouble is he’s lazy!
HEAD-SHRINKER: The trouble is he drinks!
SOCIAL WORKER: The trouble is he’s crazy!
JUDGE: The trouble is he stinks!
HEAD-SHRINKER: The trouble is he’s growing!
SOCIAL WORKER: The trouble is he’s grown!
ALL: Krupke, we’ve got troubles of our own!
JETS: Officer Krupke, we’re down on our knees …
ACTION: … ‘cause no one wants a fella with a social disease!
JETS: Hey, Officer Krupke, what are we to do?
Gee, Officer Krupke, krup you!
No surprise.
Most criminals have excessively high self-esteem and they believe the world owes them which justifies thier criminal behavior.
The Greeks had a term for excessive self-esteem: Hubris. Many greek tragedies revolved around people who were so full of hubris that they felt they could do anything they wanted, that consequences would only happen to the "little people".
No one should be surprised that self-esteem is popular with academics and popular self-gurus both, as it fits in with a deconstructionist view of reality (that it's all fiction) and with making anyone better. No requirement for the hard work of actually changing behavior or accomplishing things, just know you're better than ok.
The stupidity of concern with self-esteem rather than self-respect has been one of my pet hobby horses for years now, along with the inordinate concern in every psychology class, popular psychology book, management guru, organizational consultant and thus most schools, churches and businesses with process rather than actual results. But that's a whole other story....
This is absolutely priceless!!!!!!
California spends beaucoup bucks every year explaining that people who smoke do so because of low self-esteem, among other things. OTOH, the state of California spends hundreds of millions of dollars every year telling people that smokers are low-life parasites trying to kill and corrupt everyone around them. Sounds to me like there doing much to help the self-esteem of about one quarter of the population.
Oh, and on top of that - all the money being spent, comes from the smokers themselves.
Self-esteem - my FOOT!!!!!!
I was about to say "One of the best pocket summaries I've ever heard."
But, actually, it is that they hate cause and effect.
It is not an intellectual deficiency (of the head), but an existential choice (of the will).
Like Satan, in Paradise Lost.
Say what? What a crock.
I think the problem with this statement is that the author has failed to distinguish between two very different groups of people:
1. Those who falsely have had a high self-esteem given to them by parents, teachers, or their own imaginations
2. Those who have genuinely earned their high self-esteem through their own accomplishments
I'd agree with the statement with regard to the first group but not the second.
I flagged this for you not so much to be used on the Show, but for your information. The comments on the thread are also worth reading.
Congressman Billybob
BINGO.
Only in California ...
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