High Self-Esteem: Multiple Forms and Their Outcomes

Self-esteem has been empirically investigated extensively and has become deeply ingrained in the social and popular conscience. Varied definitions of self-esteem across disciplines and perspectives and inconsistent empirical findings with self-esteem have yielded a messy research literature and have produced many lingering questions. In this chapter, we briefly review the “mess” of self-esteem, first focusing on its inconsistent empirical findings. Then, we propose a differentiated view of high self-esteem as being either fragile or secure, and how this differentiated view can help “clear the waters” of self-esteem research. Next, we highlight self-esteem’s importance in personal and cultural identity processes, examining in particular potential cultural changes influenced by the concept of high self-esteem. Finally, we discuss where self-esteem comes from and how we can cultivate “healthy” self-esteem, and we discuss two individual difference measures—authenticity and mindfulness—that relate to secure self-esteem processes.