Self-Evaluation Theory;
Barriers & Challenges
to Self-Esteem
Week Three
Quote from Branden
“We are the one species that can
formulate a vision of what values
are worth pursuing—
and then pursue the opposite”
~ Branden, page 31
Agenda
• Self-Evaluation Theory
• Branden’s concepts of The Illusion
of Self-Esteem &The Practice of
Personal Integrity
• Barriers and Challenges to Self
Esteem
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Shame
Pessimism
The Mis-Direction of Personal Power
Procrastination
Self-Evaluation Theory
Point to ponder
“Life can only be
understood backwards,
but has to be lived forwards”
Self-Evaluation Theory
by Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation
• Motives for self-evaluation
– Motives from the past can be good
or bad experiences which we want
to repeat or avoid
– Motives out of the present can be
latent frustration, a situation of acute
crisis and need to optimize which
drives us to action
– Motives from the future are wishes,
visions and hopes.
Self-Evaluation Theory
Self-Evaluation Maintenance
by Abraham Tesser
• Proposes that self-opinion (i.e., selfevaluation) is affected by the social
comparison process
• When we compare ourselves to another,
our reactions are based on three
important pieces of information:
– an interaction with another
– the importance of the activity to our selfconcept, and
– the type of relationship we share with the
other.
Self-Evaluation Maintenance
• When we compare ourselves to
others, we do so to:
– seek knowledge about ourselves,
regardless of the type of information
(positive or negative)
– seek positive information about
ourselves, to enhance our selfopinions, and
– seek somewhat obvious information,
to verify our self-view.
The Harris Self-Evaluation
Maintenance Ladder
• The professor’s visual model for
demonstrating the relative gain or
loss of self-esteem based upon
Tesser’s concepts of Social
comparison:
– Relationship Influence Value
– Esteem of Other
– Value of activity
– Value of performance
C
A B
A
B
C
C
B
A
C
A
B
Review of Branden’s Views
on Barriers & Challenges to SE
• Chapter 4
“The Illusion of Self-Esteem
• Chapter 11
“The Practice of Personal
Integrity”
The Illusion of Self-Esteem
• When SE is low, we are often manipulated
by fear
– Fear of reality, to which we feel inadequate
– Fear of facts that we have denied, about
ourselves or others
– Fear of the collapse of our “mask”
– Fear of exposure
– Fear of the humiliation of failure or the
responsibilities of success
• We live more to avoid pain than to
experience joy
• Irrational belief that reality is the enemy of
our SE.
The Illusion of Self-Esteem
• Our SE level doesn’t determine our ability to think,
but SE affects our “emotional incentives”
• Our feelings tend to encourage or discourage
thinking
• That is why the first steps in building SE can be
difficult:
– We are challenged to raise the level of our
consciousness in the face of emotional resistance
• The key factor that stands in our way to act
contrary to our negative self-image is our
resignation to our own “state of worth”
– We tell ourselves we are powerless
The Illusion of Self-Esteem
• Poor SE not only inhibits thought, it
tends to distort it
• Low SE draws conclusions, not to
the most logical explanation of our
behaviors, but to the most damaging
• If we are confronted with unjust
accusations from others, we may
feel disarmed and incapable of
refuting their claims
The Illusion of Self-Esteem
• Low SE
– Dreads the
unknown and
unfamiliar
– Avoids
challenges
– Looks for
chance to be
held free from
blame
• High SE
– Seeks new
frontiers
– Desires and
needs
challenges
– Looks for
opportunities to
admire
The Illusion of Self-Esteem
• Pseudo Self-Esteem
– The illusion of self-efficacy & self-respect without
the reality
– Non-rational and self-protective device to diminish
anxiety and give false sense of security
– Seeks SE through:
• Popularity
– Certainly it is wiser to seek companions who are the
friends of our SE rather than its enemies
– Nurturing relationships are obviously preferable to
toxic ones
• material acquisitions
• sexual exploits
– Fear of being exposed as an imposter
– Approval addict
The Practice of Personal Integrity
• Integrity requires congruency
– For instance, when our ideals and
practices match
• If my actions clash with my expressed
values, then I act against my judgment,
I betray my mind
• When a breach of integrity wounds SE,
only the practice of integrity can heal it
The Practice of Personal Integrity
• Guilt
– Guilt is moral self-rebuke
– Self blame may reduce the
sense of impotence in the face
of events outside of our control
The Practice of Personal Integrity
• Five steps to restore integrity
1. We must own, accept and take
responsibility for the fact that it was our
own behavior that lacked integrity
2. We seek to understand why we did what
we did
3. We acknowledge explicitly the harm we
have done
4. We make any and all actions available
that might make amends for the harm
done
5. We firmly commit ourselves to behaving
differently in the future
Barriers to Self-Esteem
by Channing Grigsby
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Intellectualizing
Reality Distortion
Dishonesty
Sabotage
Impatience
Escape/Fantasy
Control/Fixing Others
Saturation
Otheration
Sense of Defeat
Negative Focus
Pseudo-work.
http://www.getnewvisions.com/se/09crse_barriers.html#7
Common Psychological (false-self) Wounds
by Peter K. Gerlach, MSW
Growing up in a low-nurturance childhood
seems to promote two or more of these:
1. False-self control – distrust of your true Self.
This causes a mix of...
2. Excessive shame and guilt, and...
3. Excessive fears, and
4. Significant reality distortions, and...
5. Trusting too easily or distrusting “everyone”
These five wounds can combine to cause...
–
Difficulty feeling and bonding (attaching to / caring
about / loving) other living things.
http://sfhelp.org/gwc/guide1.htm
Shame Report Card
Guilt
• appropriate consequence of single
mistake at one point in time
– My choices were bad
Shame
• inherited guilt
– All of me is bad
• Shame-based families over-value
others’ worth, while heavily discounting
one’s own worth
Shame Report Card
School report card
Shame report card
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•
•
•
•
• A = if others are
failing, then they are
Excellent
• B = Above average
• C = Average
• D = Below Average
• F = if you aren’t
excelling, then you
are a Failure
A = Excellent
B = Above average
C = Average
D = Below Average
F = Failure
Goal = help clients build back B, C and D into their
self-evaluation skills
Life Orientation Test
by Scheier, Carver & Bridges
Those with high
optimism reported
Those with high
pessimism reported
•
•
•
•
•
high levels of career
planning and exploration,
were more confident about
their career decisions, and
had more career related
goals.
reported high levels of selfesteem and
Reported low levels of
psychological distress
•
•
•
•
low levels of career and
decision making
knowledge,
were more career
indecisive and
reported low levels of
school achievement.
reported low levels of selfesteem and
Reported more
psychological distress.
The Mis-Direction of
Personal Power
The Personal Power Grid © Scott & Jaffe
The Mis-Direction of
Personal Power
The Personal Power Grid © Scott & Jaffe
The Re-Direction of
Personal Power
The Personal Power Grid © Scott & Jaffe
The Re-Direction of
Personal Power
The Personal Power Grid © Scott & Jaffe
Denial as a Barrier
to Self-Esteem
• Distorts reality
• Suspends
consciousness
• Leads to inaction
• Denies the self
• Branden: “Self-chosen blindness
does not make the unreal real or
the real unreal”
The Seven Styles
of Procrastination
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Perfectionism
Fantasizing
Fear
Crisis Maker
Anger
Over-Doers
Pleasure Seeker.
© http://www.employer-employee.com/procrastination.html
“Even if you are on the right track,
you'll get run over if you just sit there”
-Will Rogers