Self-Esteem and Self-Evaluation: Feeling is Believing

Self-esteem is a hot topic. Educators believe that self-esteem plays an essential role in academic achievement. Politicians, business managers, and religious leaders extol the virtues of self-esteem as a vehicle for attaining success in numerous other pursuits and endeavors. Social scientists proclaim that self­ esteem is integral to life adjustment. And a slew of popular books have appeared in recent years promising to help people build and maintain high self-esteem. In short, self-esteem is a la mode.