Self-esteem and self-worth are essential building blocks for a healthy, fulfilling, and successful life. Both self-esteem and self-worth have been empirically linked to improved mental and physical health, increased resilience, increased confidence, academic and workplace productivity, higher job satisfaction, higher life satisfaction, and improved relationship experiences.
In this post, you’ll gain science-driven insights into self-esteem and self-worth and learn practical strategies for developing them for an empowered sense of self and an improved life experience. Although these are distinct constructs, they are often interrelated, and an increase in one influences the other. Let’s get to it!
Understanding Self-Esteem and Self-Worth
Although self-esteem and self-worth are often used interchangeably, there is a difference in the psychological capital or skill they’re referencing. While self-esteem says, “I feel good about myself,” self-worth says, “I’m a worthwhile human being just as I am.” Felt esteem and value are both positive internal resources, but they’re slightly different psychological experiences.
Self-esteem describes a cognitive and emotional response to yourself characterized by healthy self-acceptance and self-respect. It is a psychological characteristic based on accurate self-assessment. You understand your strengths, accomplishments, and areas of self that need development. You accept and respect yourself as a whole even as you understand that you are “a work in progress.”
Self-worth refers to your belief in your worthiness as a human being. It relates to your felt intrinsic value and can be linked with the concept of dignity. Dignity is defined as an individual's inherent worth regardless of their circumstances or achievements. It’s a concept that points to the importance of valuing an individual's life and right to life as a fundamental right.
A positive intrinsic value lets you feel and know that you’re inherently valuable regardless of external factors or accomplishments. Your worthiness isn’t a matter of what you’ve accomplished or attained but is rather an inherent part of your existence. When you have a high sense of self-worth, the treatment you expect and accept from yourself and others is established in respect and positive regard. You have a standing internal belief that says, “I treat myself and expect to be treated with respect and dignity.”
The Neuroscience of Self-Esteem and Self-Worth
Rooted in complex cognitive processes, experiences of self-esteem and self-worth are linked with activations in regions in the brain associated with self-awareness, introspection, emotion regulation, social cognition, autobiographical memory, and decision-making.
Any cognitive process has a neurological correlate in the brain (activation of specific brain regions, neurons firing) and biochemical correlates in the brain and body (release of neurochemicals, emotions, release of hormones). Your experiences of self-esteem and self-worth are cognitive, emotional, neurological, and biochemical experiences—they are cognitive states, emotional states, and physical states.
When you develop or improve your self-esteem and self-worth, you also change some of your neural landscape and biochemistry to reflect those positive improvements.
Neuroplasticity and Improving Your Self-Esteem and Self-Worth
Neuroplasticity describes the brain’s inherent ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout the lifespan. Existing neural circuits can be reshaped.
By developing and strengthening new neural connections in the regions of the brain linked to self-awareness, introspection, emotion regulation, social cognition, autobiographical memory, and decision-making, you can permanently improve and enhance your level of self-esteem and self-worth. You can have lasting healthy levels of self-esteem and self-worth.
The Benefits of Developing Your Self-Esteem and Self-Worth
Self-esteem and self-worth can be entirely based on a mindset focused on personal development rather than negative emotional bias. You can have healthy self-judgment. You can learn to evaluate yourself, your thoughts, your emotions, and your actions in a balanced, compassionate, and developmental manner. You can develop self-awareness that is both objective and self-accepting.
From a personal development perspective, you can learn to practice constructive self-assessments that allow you to look at your strengths and developmental areas with an active recognition that any apparent gap in your skills, personality characteristics, or traits can be developed and improved through intention and effort.
Higher levels of self-esteem and self-worth are scientifically shown to be linked with assertiveness, resilience, ambition, improved life satisfaction, effective decision-making, and stress reduction. They’re also highly correlated with improved workplace and academic performance and productivity.
Tools for Improving Your Self-Esteem and Self-Worth
By taking on specific proven practices, you can develop and enhance your levels of self-esteem and self-worth.
Journaling on your strengths and values regularly can help you develop the skills related to high self-esteem and self-worth. Structured journaling that includes prompts to guide what you journal about is a proven practice that can help you develop your self-awareness, increase your emotion regulation, give you time to self-reflect or introspect, and improve your social awareness and decision-making skills. These are all the cognitive skills linked with higher self-esteem and self-worth.
You can also increase your knowledge about these two important psychological resources through learning. Developing your understanding of the processes involved in high self-esteem and self-worth can help you better evaluate your current levels of self-regard. Books and courses by trained professionals can be valuable resources to develop your conceptual map of empowered self-regard.
Research has shown that mindfulness-based interventions like mindfulness meditations can enhance neuroplasticity and positively affect your perceptions of self and your self-worth. Developing and consistently making use of a mindfulness meditation practice can help you improve your self-awareness and emotion regulation skills, which, in turn, can help improve your levels of self-esteem and self-worth.
Tools like affirmations and hypnosis can support your ability to increase your awareness of your current patterns of self-talk and thinking habits. They can also help you “reprogram” your beliefs by repeatedly introducing you to positive self-statements. Through both active practices like journaling and passive practices like hypnosis, you can begin to reshape your neurology and internalize higher levels of self-esteem and self-worth.
Putting It All Together
To summarize, higher levels of self-esteem and self-worth are essential psychological resources for well-being and success. You can develop these levels through intentional practices and benefit from the physical, relational, and vocational gains they’re proven to bring about.
REFERENCES
Du, H., King, R. B., & Chi, P. (2017). Self-esteem and subjective well-being revisited: The roles of personal, relational, and collective self-esteem. PLoS ONE, 12(8), e0183958.
Guendelman, S., Medeiros, S., & Rampes, H. (2017). Mindfulness and Emotion Regulation: Insights from Neurobiological, Psychological, and Clinical Studies. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 220.
Pignault, A., Rastoder, M., & Houssemand, C. (2023). The Relationship between Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy, and Career Decision-Making Difficulties: Psychological Flourishing as a Mediator. European journal of investigation in health, psychology and education, 13(9), 1553–1568.
Usán Supervía, P., Salavera Bordás, C., & Quílez Robres, A. (2022). The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem in the Relationship Between Resilience and Satisfaction with Life in Adolescent Students. Psychology research and behavior management, 15, 1121–1129.
Kidest OM is a personal development and manifestation author and teacher with indispensable books and online courses designed to help you attract and manifest what you want. Her books include "Anything You Want" and "Nothing in the Way: Clearing the Paths to Success & Fulfilment" which are available globally in eBook, print, and audiobook on her website and through online book retailers. You can also find more inspiration and motivation from Kidest on her social media channels!