Conceptual Comparison of Self-Esteem in Western Psychology
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ijcrb.webs.com FEBRUARY 2013 INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS VOL 4, NO 10 Conceptual Comparison of Self-esteem in Western Psychology and Islam Religion Abolfath Azizi Abarghooi2 Maryam Azizi Abarghooi3 Abstract Self-esteem is one of the concepts that western psychologists have studied to describe, explain and develop it and they have presented different theories and approaches about this concept. On the other hand, this issue is one of the important concepts of Islamic ethics behind there are a great deal of Quran verses and innocent stories. There is no doubt that investigation and interdisciplinary comparison of self-esteem would have a great portion to develop knowledge. In this regard, we will try to define self-esteem based on the western psychologists, primarily, and then, with utilizing the related verses of Quran, we will compare and criticize that one with Islamic self-esteem. The analysis of these definitions shows that as psychology considers self-esteem to be as a science, it is individualist and based on individual criteria. But Islamic definition of self-esteem is based on monotheism and divine values and Islamic self-esteem area includes both mundane life and hereafter life. Therefore, Islamic definition of self-esteem is more comprehensive. Keywords: SELF-ESTEEM, PSYCHOLOGY, ISLAM, QURAN Introduction Nowadays, the discussion of self-esteem is a prominent topic in the science of psychology. Discussion of self-esteem began from the works of a psychoanalyst named Carl Rogers (1961). Rogers believed that a person’s low amount of self-esteem has chronic deduction effects in academic achievement, depression, and unemployment (Biabangard, 2007, p. 192). From that time to the present, lots of attempts have been made to explain more about this topic leading to the expansion of conceptual scope of self-esteem and its presence in the world's scientific communities. The point is that whether self-esteem has a position in Islam or not. Have the Islamic scholars discussed this issue? If yes, what is their definition of self-esteem? Are there any common points in western psychologists' definition and Islamic scholars'? What is the difference? Are the criteria for Islamic self-esteem identical to psychological self-esteem? And whether the method of obtaining self-esteem in both of them is identical or each one has its own features. These kinds of questions encourage us to analyze the psychologists' ideas and meanwhile, comparing them with Islamic principles, we evaluate the existing challenges of western psychology and Islam religion. Accordingly, the present study, firstly defines the self- esteem concept from the view of prominent scholars of western psychology and then Islam's view is proposed and at the end both of them will be compared. 2 Department of religion Group , Abarkouh branch , Islamic Azad University, Abarkouh, Iran 3 MA Student in Psychology, Sahid Sadoghi medical University of Yazd COPY RIGHT © 2013 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 177 ijcrb.webs.com FEBRUARY 2013 INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS VOL 4, NO 10 Self-esteem in Psychology Most of the scientists and theorists of the western psychology considers positive evaluation of self as the basic factor in social-emotional compatibility of the people. At first, scholars such as William James (1842-1910) and Herbert Mead (1931) emphasized on the importance of self-esteem and later on Neo-Freudians and people like Sulivan (1849) and Karen Horeny (1952) brought ego in their personality theories. After many years, psychologists mingled the theories with experimental works and concluded that positive self-esteem is related to the individual's effective operations (Shafi' Abadi & Naseri, 1999). An attitude has been grown up in people who have a weak self-esteem that they see themselves from a weak, negative and criticizing viewpoint, and interpret the facts through negative means. They focus on the negative aspects of each situation and feel that like the past, there is not hope for future. They have a pessimistic and disappointing attitude towards future (Ettikenson, 1991: Translated by Baraheni). Greenberg (1992), determining the fact that why we need self-esteem has proposed the theory of "control of horror". Jennifer (1990) believes that based on this theory we need self-esteem, because it protects us against anxiety. Studies show that high self-esteem removes the people's anxiety while people with low self esteem experience more anxiety. From the aspects of mental health and personality balance, self-esteem is very important. Self-esteem is a positive attitude towards self and it is a major and crucial element in body and sex hygiene. Bell et al. (1985) assert that self-esteem is like a cultural shield against anxiety. Coopper Smith (1967) believes that children having high self-esteem are those who like to express themselves with self-confidence and exploiting their own ability and creativity and they are not easily influenced by the environmental factors. Adler (1937) believes that low self-confidence is the reason of stress and thinks that inferiority grows with the environment. Human moves to one purpose as if reaching this ideal purpose gives him tranquility of mind and provides his self-esteem (Shafi' Abadi & Naseri, 2006, p.88). In hierarchy of needs that Abroham Maslo points out, a very important degree has been considered for self-esteem. He asserts that human needs self-esteem prior to food and water. We need to know that self-esteem is not the equivalence of our shelter or the food in our stomach but it is a factor that may lead to achieving them. The need of self- esteem stems from two basic facts. First, for our survival and successful domination of the environment we need thought and knowledge to achieve the correct selection and second, we should respect ourselves, deem ourselves as valuable creatures, and for being successful we need to attempt (Brandon, 2009, p. 62). In the structure of psychology, self-esteem is the resultant of "self" and "self-conception" or it is related to some subjects of psychology like self, self-efficacy, self-idealism, self- esteem and respecting oneself. Some people consider these concepts as identical or synonym with each other but we should know that all of them have not the same meaning and while they are similar in meaning they also have differences. COPY RIGHT © 2013 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 178 ijcrb.webs.com FEBRUARY 2013 INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS VOL 4, NO 10 Psychologists believe that "self" is the core of personality and a number of states of self or the kinds of self-conceptions which could emerge in a person depends on the amount of self acceptability. In the following figure the place of self-esteem and its related concepts are indicated. Figure 1. The relationship between self-esteem and its features Psychologists believe: ego (self) is a collection of person's believes about self that is mostly based on description not judgment, despite the fact that whether this idea is based on reality or unreality; while self-esteem is the matter of evaluation and judgment of self (Ahmadi, garusi Farshi and Sheikh Alizadeh, 2006, No. 2 & 3). Coopper Smith believes that self-esteem is a personal judgment about having value or lacking value, accepting or rejecting the self which appears in attitude. Self-esteem is the amount of value which like other aspects of self we ascribe to ourselves. In other words, self-esteem is the amount of value which other people consider for us as a person (Sandferd . B. W.& Frank, 1965). Bedonar & Richard (1989) introduces self-esteem as the result of each individual's viewpoint to four categories including: feeling of worthiness, successful experiences, success and failure definition, and individual's reaction against criticism. Natanail Brandon who is called the father of self-esteem movement calls it "self- awareness immunity system" and believes that self-esteem is an experience that we recognize ourselves suitable for life. He defines self-esteem as follows: 1. Having confidence in self-ability in thinking, it means, having confidence in self to deal with primary challenges of life. 2. Having confidence in one's own right for being successful and happy, feeling worthiness, appropriateness, having the right of expressing needs and wishes, expressing willingness of achieving values and enjoying the results of one's own attempts (Brandon, 2009, p. 241). All in all, self-esteem is the amount of value which an individual considers for himself and the definition which he has had for success and failure and consequently, the amount of confidence which one has from oneself for living and achieving his goals. COPY RIGHT © 2013 Institute of Interdisciplinary Business Research 179 ijcrb.webs.com FEBRUARY 2013 INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS VOL 4, NO 10 1. Self-esteem Dimensions In general, self-esteem has five dimensions in psychology (Emami & Fatehizadeh, 2000): 1.1. Social Self-esteem Social self-esteem is a feeling and judgment that one has about himself as a friend for others and also whether others like him and respect him or not. Whether they allow him to participate in their activities and consider value for him or not? If the social needs of a person are provided and he is relaxed, his social desirability will be met. Personal immunity and confidence are two criteria of social background for people which are very effective in providing self-confidence. 1.2 Familial Self-esteem Evaluation and evaluation of an individual as a member of family which is made by interaction with family members is called family self-esteem. One's mutual relationship with father, mother, brothers and sisters and also the fact that to what extent this person is accepted by them is effective in his attitude towards himself and determines his family self-esteem.