Self-Esteem: The Capacity for Self-Esteem Regulation

Abstract

A distinction is made in this chapter between primary self-esteem and reactive self-esteem. A person with a reactive self-esteem has a hypersensitive need to regard the self as exceptionally special and thus superior. A person with a primary self-esteem assumes a pre-reflective, nonjudgmental attitude of acceptance, regard, and valuation toward the self. Such an individual has attained a balance between being and becoming for she or he does not try to be more or less than who she or he truly is. Such a person is well positioned to regulate his or her self-esteem in the face of self-esteem threats. Primary self-esteem or primordial self-love guides the bodily self’s agentic balance-seeking among its lifeworld meaning possibilities and involvements.