期刊名称：International Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
印刷版ISSN：2163-1948
电子版ISSN：2163-1956
出版年度：2017
卷号：7
期号：5
页码：135-141
DOI：10.5923/j.ijpbs.20170705.03
语种：English
出版社：Scientific & Academic Publishing Co.
摘要：Self-esteem is one of the most prevalent psychological constructs and a target for improvement in environments ranging from schools to communities. However, at the beginning of this century, scientific attempts to determine whether high self-esteem is required for optimal health, adjustment, and performance concluded that it would not produce such beneficial effects. Nevertheless, research and education regarding self-esteem is still being widely conducted in many countries. Considering the current conditions, the present study reconsidered the concept of self-esteem, along with its methods of measurement. First, previous conceptualizations of self-esteem are reviewed and criticized, with a particular focus on Rosenberg's works. Our review shows that many different concepts have been established and utilized. Moreover, it is clear that even if the most widely accepted conceptualization by Rosenberg is right, his scale for assessment that has been most widely and frequently utilized is unable to accurately measure his own ideas. Next, in order to establish a more accurate conceptualization of self-esteem, after indicating various limitations of existing concepts, we discuss whether the recently established concepts of “true self-esteem” by Deci and colleagues and “secure high self-esteem” by Kernis represent viable candidates for an improved conceptualization. In doing so, we introduce nonconscious functions that have been revealed as powerful factors in the determination of human behavior according to recent neuroscience research. Consequently, we posit that the concept of self-esteem needs to be considered in terms of nonconsciousness, underscoring that it cannot be assessed utilizing consciously answered measures such as self-reports, which leads us to introduce the concept of autonomous self-esteem in contrast to heteronomous self-esteem. Moreover, as another measure in place of self-report questionnaires, we describe an implicit association test that is administered to groups of children to assess nonconscious, autonomous self-esteem. Thus, new research and education with respect to this new conceptualization and measurement tool is ready to commence, hopefully renovating the current ideas related to self-esteem.
关键词：Self-esteem;Autonomous self-esteem;Nonconsciousness;Measurement;Implicit association test
