Maslow's Theory Of Self-Esteem

Abstract
Self-esteem has long been considered an essential component of good mental health. It is a widely used concept both in popular language and in psychology. It refers to an individual’s sense of his or her value or worth, or the extent to which a person values, approves of, appreciates, prizes, or likes him or herself. Self-esteem is a set of attitudes and beliefs that a person brings with him or herself when facing the world. During childhood, if individual’s feelings are respected, thoughts valued and abilities recognized then self esteem strengthens. When feelings are trampled upon, thoughts belittled and abilities criticized then the individuals self esteem remains at a low point of development and is therefore weak. During the

The “self” part of self esteem pertains to the values, beliefs and attitudes that we hold about ourselves. The “esteem” part of self esteem describes the value and worth that one gives oneself. Simplistically self-esteem is the acceptance of us for whom and what we are at any given time in our lives. Six pillars which form the foundation of self-esteem. They are; The practice of living consciously, The practice of self-acceptance, The practice of self-responsibility, The practice of self-assertiveness, The practice of living purposefully, The practice of personal integrity (Bran den,1994). There are many theories about self esteem. These include Maslow’s Theory of needs, Carl Rogers Theory of personal development and Bednar and Peterson’s Theory of self esteem among others. However, this study will use Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to investigate the effects of self esteem on academic performance. Maslow’s Theory of Needs According to Maslow people is motivated to seek personal goals that make their lives rewarding and meaningful. The law contends that human beings have wants and rarely reach a state of complete satisfaction. He stated that all human beings have needs that are innate and are systematically arranged in ascending (order) hierarchy of priority. Satisfaction of one need creates another need that commands the person’s attention and efforts. The basic assumption in Maslow’s theory is that the

Self-esteem and academic performance are important for the holistic development of the students. The investigator personally is interested to work with teenagers and had come across some children who are finding difficult in academic performance due to problems like comparison between the siblings and too much expectation from the parents. So the researcher felt that this study will help in the better understanding of low academic performers and in the future to plan out some programmes for such adolescents. The scope of the present study in the fact that it aims to explore self esteem level among the adolescents which will result in high achievement or vice versa is the study aim. The researcher felt that it is good to find out in which area these children are good at and what the factors that contributes in enhancing their self-esteem and the reasons for the poor performance in the academic. Because as the researcher has observed and seen these children with poor academic performance are good in extracurricular activities like drawing, dancing and playing. And this motivated the researcher to undertake this present