Self confidence can be described as an appreciation of one's own self worth, or personal value and is a powerful human need that is essential for survival and normal, healthy development. It is classed as a behavioural trait or characteristic that arises from within a person, and concerns the various beliefs we have about ourselves, which can include a judgement about our appearance, capabilities, emotions and behaviour. It occurs in conjunction with our thoughts, behaviours, feelings and actions, and affects every aspect of our lives, from our personal relationships and our careers to our interactions with others.
According to psychologist Abraham Maslow (1943) it plays an important role in his concept of the Hierarchy of Needs, and he describes it as one of the most basic of human motivations. He believed that people attain confidence from both their inner selves as well as from other people, and suggested that both these needs should be met in order for the person to grow and realize self actualization.
Our self confidence is an important tool that enables us to work through life's challenges and achieve the goals we have set ourselves. It also helps us to properly assert our needs, gives us the right to feel happy and worthy, and can lead to successful careers and fulfilling relationships. It can be shaped by factors that are both internal and external. The internal factors can encompass your own personal beliefs or ideas, whereas the external factors will be found in your environment and can include interactions with parents, teachers, the workplace and cultures.
Early external factors will undoubtedly be the family environment in which we grew up in, and although parents play an important role within this setting, we are not mere pawns to which we are shaped and formed by our surroundings; we also play an active role within it. Parents respond to us as individuals, and can either nurture self esteem by providing positive feedback and interactions, or they can stifle it with harsh criticism or disinterest.
In Attribution Theory, people attempt to explain the behaviour of others and ourselves as either being caused by internal or external factors. Typically when we try to explain our own behaviour we use external factors such as the environment or unseen forces, and when we explain the behaviour of others we use internal factors, such as personality traits. Carol Dweck believed that people who attributed internal factors to their own behaviour were more capable acting on the beliefs and achieving their goals.
Having a a positive sense of our abilities makes us feel happy within ourselves; we know what we are capable of, we experience the world as an open opportunity in which we have just as much right as the next person to try and achieve our goals. We are empowered and motivated and we feel right in taking pleasure and satisfaction in our achievements.
If you do not possess these capabilities however, you look to others for validation of your own self worth, and you do not see people in their own right, but as sources of approval or disapproval. You associate yourself, not with people that genuinely share your beliefs, interests and to which you can enjoy their company, but with those that you know will not condemn or ridicule you. The old saying of "If you do not love yourself, you will be unable to love others" is well known, but similarly, if you don't feel lovable then it is also very hard to believe that someone else could love you.
People who are self confident at work are more likely to surround themselves with capable colleagues, as they are not panicked at the thought of being undermined by people that are better than them. They are often more motivated to give their best, and be in control of achieving their own goals. Also, they do not feel the need to put others down in order to raise others perception of them
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