Thanks for the interesting post—definitely gives one some things to think about!
Here’s another point to consider: depending on the costs, one of the most effective interventions may be to raise the self-esteem levels of people in high income countries. Note: I’m operating under a model in which self-esteem is determined primarily by personal responsibility level, first for one’s emotions and then one’s actions (see “The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem” by N. Branden). Raising people’s self-esteem levels should raise their self-reported life satisfactions, and also likely have secondary effects on those they interact with. In addition, people who have higher self-esteem due to being more responsible are more likely to practice responsibility in terms of human and animal suffering (as by donating to causes and/or going vegetarian/vegan, with people from high income countries having more potential impact here). Of course, raising self-esteem levels in low income countries could also be quite beneficial—for instance, higher self-esteem people may be more of a driving force for raising health standards in their countries.
The concept of self-esteem has a somewhat checkered history in psychology. Here, an influential review paper finds that self-esteem leads people to speak up more in groups and to feel happier. But it fails to have consistent benefits in other areas of life such as educational/occupational performance or violence. And it may have detrimental effects, such as risky behavior in teens.
Overall, the benefits of high self-esteem fall into two categories: enhanced initiative and pleasant feelings. We have not found evidence that boosting self-esteem (by therapeutic interventions or school programs) causes benefits. Our findings do not support continued widespread efforts to boost self-esteem in the hope that it will by itself foster improved outcomes. In view of the heterogeneity of high self-esteem, indiscriminate praise might just as easily promote narcissism, with its less desirable consequences. Instead, we recommend using praise to boost self-esteem as a reward for socially desirable behavior and self-improvement.
Thanks for the comment and the link to the review paper!
I think most people, including researchers, don’t have a good handle on what self-esteem is, or at least what truly raises or lowers it—I would expect the effect of praise to be weak, but the effect of promoting responsibility for one’s emotions and actions to be strong. The closest to my views on self-esteem that I’ve found so far are those in N. Branden’s “Six Pillars of Self-Esteem”—the six pillars are living consciously, self-acceptance, self-responsibility, self-assertiveness, living purposefully, and personal integrity.
Unfortunately, because many researchers don’t follow this conception of self-esteem, I tend not to trust much research on the real-world effects of self-esteem. Honestly, though, I haven’t done a hard search for any research that uses something close to my conception of self-esteem, and your comment has basically pointed out that I should get on that, so thank you!
Thanks for commenting, and welcome to the EA Forum, Sean! I wonder whether there are cost-effectiveness analyses of interventions aiming to raise self-esteem.
Thanks. I don’t know the answer to that, although a quick search didn’t yield anything too promising. I don’t believe the concept of self-esteem as being primarily about personal responsibility has really caught on, so perhaps it would be better to look for studies on interventions to raise personal responsibility.
Thanks for the interesting post—definitely gives one some things to think about!
Here’s another point to consider: depending on the costs, one of the most effective interventions may be to raise the self-esteem levels of people in high income countries. Note: I’m operating under a model in which self-esteem is determined primarily by personal responsibility level, first for one’s emotions and then one’s actions (see “The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem” by N. Branden). Raising people’s self-esteem levels should raise their self-reported life satisfactions, and also likely have secondary effects on those they interact with. In addition, people who have higher self-esteem due to being more responsible are more likely to practice responsibility in terms of human and animal suffering (as by donating to causes and/or going vegetarian/vegan, with people from high income countries having more potential impact here). Of course, raising self-esteem levels in low income countries could also be quite beneficial—for instance, higher self-esteem people may be more of a driving force for raising health standards in their countries.
The concept of self-esteem has a somewhat checkered history in psychology. Here, an influential review paper finds that self-esteem leads people to speak up more in groups and to feel happier. But it fails to have consistent benefits in other areas of life such as educational/occupational performance or violence. And it may have detrimental effects, such as risky behavior in teens.
Thanks for the comment and the link to the review paper!
I think most people, including researchers, don’t have a good handle on what self-esteem is, or at least what truly raises or lowers it—I would expect the effect of praise to be weak, but the effect of promoting responsibility for one’s emotions and actions to be strong. The closest to my views on self-esteem that I’ve found so far are those in N. Branden’s “Six Pillars of Self-Esteem”—the six pillars are living consciously, self-acceptance, self-responsibility, self-assertiveness, living purposefully, and personal integrity.
Unfortunately, because many researchers don’t follow this conception of self-esteem, I tend not to trust much research on the real-world effects of self-esteem. Honestly, though, I haven’t done a hard search for any research that uses something close to my conception of self-esteem, and your comment has basically pointed out that I should get on that, so thank you!
Thanks for commenting, and welcome to the EA Forum, Sean! I wonder whether there are cost-effectiveness analyses of interventions aiming to raise self-esteem.
Thanks. I don’t know the answer to that, although a quick search didn’t yield anything too promising. I don’t believe the concept of self-esteem as being primarily about personal responsibility has really caught on, so perhaps it would be better to look for studies on interventions to raise personal responsibility.