Esteem as separateness
Self-worth is by nature unassailable, there is nothing we can do to increase or decrease it. Nevertheless, Maslow stipulates that strength, achievement, confidence and independence buttress esteem. Esteem gathers nourishment internally from a sense of safety, and a synergistic awareness of ones’ own accomplishments.
Esteem is also a result of healthy relationships from close family and friends, and an increasingly large rippling of colleagues and acquaintances. As the healthy, actualizing individual grows, the deeper all these relationships become and the appreciation of all of them.
[Self] is determined by the ratio of our actualities to our supposed potentialities; a fraction of which our pretensions are the denominator and the numerator our success: thus, Self-Esteem = Successes/Pretensions. Such a fraction may be increased as well by diminishing the denominator as by increasing the numerator[i].
This definition of self-esteem, coined by William James who established the concept, is predicated entirely on accomplishment and one’s accurate view of it.
A large chorus of psychologists now dispute this definition whole heartedly. But certainly esteem must involve an accurate and realistic assessment of self, including strengths and weaknesses, and a healthy embrace of all of them.
Esteem and belonging
One of the challenges of self-esteem is its non-linearity, since it so obviously acts as both an independent and dependent variable. Is it a cause or an enabler? Perhaps it is more helpful to appreciate its role than manipulate its mathematics, and yet another illustration of why we reconstituted Maslow’s Hierarchy as a circle.
It may seem a dichotomy that esteem bases itself on autonomy. Firmly holding onto their own self-esteem, actualized individuals make their decisions regardless of other opinions and rules. They appreciate independence and their own solitude, which in turn results in the respect and esteem of their colleagues.
This does not mean there is no empathy; on the contrary, actualized people hold an identity or kinship towards humanity. Actualized individuals therefore remain sincere and heartfelt, and their friendships are famous for lack of avarice or defense, and almost unique in artlessness and self-disclosure.
Situational Cognition
Lilleshall School Girls Class by The Library of Congress, on Flickr
This need for relationships based on self-confident independence is also replicated in how we learn; the milieu in which we do so is deeply important. Situational ethics alone forces us to re-examine the assumption that humans learn general precepts they adeptly apply across all life experience. People act and choose differently based on their surroundings. As it turns out, the physical and social contexts in which an activity takes place are an integral part of the activity. Conversely, the activity is an integral part of the learning that takes place within it[ii].
Using this perspective, focus on the environment, materials, participants and their interactivity increases drastically in importance[iii]. There are definitely important group dynamics occurring that are just as crucial as are the individuals doing the learning. Practical experience and apprenticeships in both educational and job training exercises take on a richer, brighter hue when viewed through the prism of both esteem and the synergistic methods by which we learn.
Practically then, learning activities important to a group (e.g., surveys, market analysis, marketing analysis, logistics paths) retain their utmost value when interactively developed involving the team utilizing the information.
Reading statistical surveys is no substitute for experiencing a day in the life of a customer. There is of course a benefit to sub-contracting and specialization, but those tasks should involve a natural inclusion within the group. There is more occurring in the group dynamic than the ‘feel good’ bonding of a professionally arranged team building exercise; the potential for the group to consciously develop their esteem as they learn together is enormous.
Groups internalize concepts best when they learn lessons together. Perhaps it reduces cognitive dissonance. Perhaps it develops cohesion. Once again, perhaps we did not need psychological research to learn that a team who plays together works together. But there it is.
Esteem references
[i] James, William, Frederick Burkhardt, Fredson Bowers, and Ignas K. Skrupskelis. The principles of psychology. Harvard University Press, 1981, p. 296.
 | The Principles of Psychology, Vols. 1-2 (2 Volumes in 1) William James |
[ii] J. G. Greeno, “On claims that answer the wrong questions,” Educational Researcher 26, no. 1 (1997): 5.
[iii] P. Cobb and J. Bowers, “Cognitive and situated learning perspectives in theory and practice,” Educational Researcher 28, no. 2 (1999): 4.
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