ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses self-aspect other aspects and shows how they can help to resolve apparent controversies and opinion differences. It focuses on the origins and functions of self-esteem and explores childhood experiences that can foster optimal self-esteem development. Self-esteem is a summary evaluation that reflects the extent to which a person believes she is performing well in those domains or areas in which she aspires to do well. Brown has consistently advocated for conceptualizing self-esteem in terms of global feelings of self-worth, liking, and acceptance that are separate from specific self-evaluations. Self-esteem is measured by asking people to indicate the extent to which each of a series of potentially self-descriptive statements are, in fact, descriptive of them. A particularly interesting case exists when a person reports having high self-esteem but nonconsciously possesses low feelings of self-worth. High and low self-esteem people did not differ in their reported tendencies toward anger and hostility.
