Research Paper On Self-Esteem

Peer Assessment 1

Every child a right to a legal identity, as activated and safeguarded from birth by registration. From birth every child begins their journey of constructing their unique personal and social identity which is characterized by a growing awareness of the importance of markers such as gender, ethnicity, age and their status within the child 's family and the community. Before they even begin school many children demonstrate understanding of their role and status at home, preschool, their neighbourhood and the impact of how they are treated on the sense of who they are. Early identities are complex and continue to change and grow as children as children experience new settings, activities, relationships and new responsibilities.

These self-feelings make self-esteem important both experientially and motivationally. Self-esteem can change over time, but individuals tend to maintain a consistent view of their self-worth due to the need for psychological consistency and the need to resolve cognitive dissonance. The motivation to maintain and enhance a positive conception of one-self is a major dynamic of many contemporary self-theories (Gecas 1991). There are several processes that can be used to develop self-esteem: reflected appraisal, social comparisons, and self-attributions. Reflected appraisal is the most important process because of its emphasis within symbolic interaction theory. The reflected appraisals process states that we come to see ourselves and to evaluate ourselves as we think others evaluate us. Social comparison is the second process important to the development of self-esteem. This is a process in which individuals assess their own abilities and virtues by comparing them to those of others. The process involves self-attributions which refers to the tendency to make inferences about ourselves from direct from direct observation of our behaviour and its consequences. Although all three processes are important, one could be more important than the others to develop and maintain self-esteem at a given time. One of the most important social contexts for the development and expression of self-esteem is the family. For children, family is the most important context because its major function is the socialization and care of the children. Family is the first primary group that children experience, it is the place where our most important identities take shape. Assessments of these role performances based on these identities become early sources of self-esteem. All three processes of self-esteem formation are pervasive of family life. On gender we