High Self Concept Essay

Within normal populations, high self-esteem is characterized by a general fondness or love for oneself and low self-esteem is characterized by mildly positive or ambivalent feelings toward oneself. In extreme cases, low self-esteem people hate themselves, but this kind of self-loathing occurs in clinical populations, not in normal populations (Baumeister, Tice, & Hutton, 1989). Generally conceptualized as a part of the self-concept, to some self-esteem is one of the most important parts of the self-concept. Indeed, for a period of time, so much attention was given to self-esteem that it seemed to be synonymous with self-concept in literature on the self (Rosenberg 1976, 1979). There is a vast research literature in which the self-concept is considered not in motivational terms but for its

The most dramatic transformation occurred for cognitive dissonance theory. The original version of the theory, in which the motivational factor was a perceived incongruity between two cognitive elements, has essentially been replaced with one in which self-esteem motivates dissonance reducing actions. Cognitive dissonance is a significant motivational force only when the self-concept is involved (Aronson & Rokeach, 1968). The present state of cognitive dissonance theory is described as the motivational force in present versions of dissonance theory has much more of an ego-defensive character. The theory seems now to be focused on cognitive changes occurring in the service of ego defense, or self-esteem maintenance, rather than in the interest of preserving psychological consistency (Greenwald & Ronis, 1978). Other notable theories have increasingly become self theories because of the perceived importance of the self-esteem motive in cognitive