research log 3

"High Self-esteem is Not Always What It's Cracked up To Be."ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily LLC, 28 April 2008. Web. 17 Oct 2011.


In the article "High self-esteem is Not Always What It's Cracked Up To Be" written in the science daily online news article they discuss what roles can play in a persons life that can lead to an increase in self-esteem, and how once can have too much of it.  They discuss the difference between high self-esteem and healthy self-esteem, which they state as "secure" self-esteem and "fragile" self-esteem.  After talking to researchers and professors from the University of Georgia they established that fragile self-esteem is not better to a person mental health then low self-esteem.  People that are fragile tend to be a lot more defensive and argumentative towards other people instead of just being the bigger person and believing in themselves.  High self-esteem can lead to aggressive behavior to enhance a persons self worth to protect ones ego. "Individuals with low self-esteem or fragile high self-esteem were more verbally defensive than individuals with secure high self-esteem." This statement means that people with low or fragile high self-esteem are more likely to counteract ones thoughts with an argument or a negative emotion in comparison to someone with secure self-esteem who would like brush off the comment.  These people are more likely to accept themselves and less likely to make excuses for their actions.  With all this being said they stated that having high self-esteem is not a bad thing and is recommended, but it should be controlled and broken down into finer gradations to be better understood.


I choose this article because it was important for me to find some information on the negative aspects of self-esteem instead of the usual norm, which is everyone believing you need unlimited self-esteem to be successful in life.  This was the first article that really touched on this aspect of my topic.  I also liked it because i felt it had a lot of relation to articles that we have discussed in class so it gives me a lot more to think about.  I also liked this article because there was a lot of useable quotes my professors that have high knowledge and have done studies on the subject.  So from that point of view i found the article very valuable and valid.