Browsing by Author "Partanen, Eeva"

Aims. The aim of this dissertation is to present definitions of self-esteem and try to create one based on the definitions presented. The concept of self-esteem comes up in everyday talk rather often and here the purpose is to present a reasoned definition to it. The theoretical framework is based on motivation theory. One could say that my prior knowledge on motivation has influenced the way self-esteem is defined. Self-esteem is an aspect in life, which relates to the self and to well-being. To explore the concept better, I have looked for research on self-esteem. I will introduce the reader to the process of defining concepts firstly, and then present the definitions of self-esteem and its neighboring concepts. Methods. The material for this Bachelor's thesis consists of seven volumes published in the years 1965-2015. The material is both in Finnish and in English. I searched search engines by the words self-esteem, self-efficacy, and self-consciousness. I found a master’s thesis by the year 2015, which handled self-esteem. My material consists of books and articles, which I have mainly found from the list of sources of the dissertation and also of one article that emerged in the seminar of the Bachelor’s thesis. I analyzed the material by using the analysis of ideas. I investigated what kind of meanings the researchers gave to self-esteem. The analysis also has traits of phenomenography and qualitative metasynthesis. Phenomenography means that you describe the conceptions that someone, in this case researchers, have of a phenomena and qualitative metasynthesis means that you present information in a more structured manner. Conclusions. A person creates an image of the self on the base of her traits and behavior. She also forms an evaluation of her own worth and skills. The former is a self-image and the latter is self-esteem. Self-esteem is a feeling, a way of behaving and an attitude. Self-esteem is also a subconscious aspect. Therefore, you necessarily do not realize the effects of your self-esteem. Self-esteem affects your well-being and behavior. Self-esteem needs a clear definition, because now there are differences in what researchers mean by self-esteem. The benefit of a definition for self-esteem is that in everyday life you can better handle problems.