ABSTRACT
Self-esteem has captured the public interest like no other psychological construct (Twenge, 2006), and that interest seems to be growing. A recent Google search (October 17, 2011) on the term “self-esteem” resulted in over 50 million hits. This number has risen dramatically since 2003, when the same search retrieved just below 3 million hits (Solomon, 2006). But what is self-esteem in the eyes of the public? The overarching perspective expressed in the public media is that high self-esteem is a cure-all, a panacea of joy and success, whereas low self-esteem is a fault that needs to be corrected. Not surprisingly, interest in self-esteem programs has also risen dramatically. In a recent Google search (October 17, 2011) the number of hits retrieved for the search term “self-esteem program” was over 70,000, whereas in 2003 the same search resulted in only 2,430 hits (Koch, 2006). Given the growing cultural fascination with self-esteem, it stands to reason that possessing, or perhaps simply appearing to possess, self-esteem means something on the social playing field. In other words, self-esteem is not simply a psychological state experienced by an individual, but a social identity that can function as an interpersonal signal.
