Hypnotic Impact

There are a number of models by which self-esteem is believed to develop. For example, the affective model assumes that it develops early in life in response to temperamental and relational factors.  However, as self esteem is intrinsically connected to an individual’s ‘self concept’, the term will have to be addressed for clarification.  Perhaps the most noted psychologist to explain the development of an individual’s ‘self concept’, from early childhood to adulthood is Piaget (1969).

In his ‘theory of mind’ he makes a distinction between four stages of cognitive development in individuals, namely, sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational stages. In the sensorimotor stage (birth to age 2), the child is believed to have no conceptual or reflective thought, and therefore the notion of self-esteem is of no consequence.  From about the preoperational stage (2-6 years), the child engages in symbolic thinking, at which moment the child understands the world only from its own perspective and thus has only one point of view – that of its own.

In the concrete operational stage (7-11 years), the child begins to interpret experiences objectively and understands the basic concepts of conversation and other scientific ideas such as classifications and numbers. The formal operational stage (12 years and older), enables the adolescent or adult to think about hypothetical concepts and abstractions. Throughout these four stages an individual’s cognitive abilities are consistently increasing, which in turn also causes an increase in the individual’s self awareness due to physical and mental attributes, as well as social roles. What emerges is the person’s ‘self image’. At the same time, the individual usually develops a concept of who they would like to be, a characteristic referred to as the ‘ideal self’.

Together, self image and ideal self are part of a person’s ‘self concept’. In other words, an individual’s self concept can be seen as an umbrella term for self image and ideal self, two terms that between them give rise to self-esteem.  As such, the level of self-esteem is determined by the discrepancy between an individual’s perceived self, and an expectation of who they ‘should’ be. Branden (1995) understands self-esteem as the reputation individuals acquire within themselves. Put simply, by satisfying personally defined roles an individual is able to measure or perceive his/her ‘self-esteem’.