The 5 differences between self-concept and self-esteem

Two concepts that are complicated to distinguish.

The concepts of self-esteem and self-concept are used to refer to the way in which we construct an idea of ourselves and how we relate to it, but the truth is that they can often be confused with each other.

It is useful to be clear about the differences between them in order to know how we think of ourselves. to know how we think of ourselves.

The main differences between self-esteem and self-concept

To a certain extent, self-esteem and self-concept are theoretical constructs that help us understand how our self-esteem works. that help us understand how our mind works, how we see ourselves and how the opinion of others influences the idea we have of our own identity. This means that they are not "pieces" that can be located in one place in our brain, components that are easy to recognize and isolate from the rest of the mental phenomena that take place in our mind, but are useful labels within the very complex sea that is the human psyche.

However, this does not mean that it is not important to distinguish between these concepts. In fact, if we confuse them, we run the risk of not understanding many things; for example, it would lead us to believe that seeing oneself in a certain way (overweight, tall, pale, etc.) indicates that irremediably that image of one's own identity is seen as something negative or positive, just because socially there are attributes that are more valued than others.

Below you can see the basic points that serve to distinguishing self-esteem from self-concept.

1. One is cognitive, the other is emotional.

The self-concept is, basically, the set of ideas and beliefs that constitute the mental image of what we are according to ourselves. according to ourselves. Therefore, it is a web of information that can be expressed more or less textually through statements about oneself: "I am moody", "I am shy", "I am not good at speaking in front of many people", etc.

Self-esteem, on the other hand, is the emotional component that is linked to self-concept, and therefore cannot be dissected in words, because it is something totally subjective.

2. One can be put into words, the other cannot.

This difference between self-esteem and self-concept follows from the previous one. Our self-concept (or, rather, part of it) can be communicated to third parties, while it is not the case with self-esteem.The same is not true of self-esteem.

When we talk about those things about ourselves that make us feel bad (whether they are more or less real and accurate or not), we are actually talking about our self-concept, because self-esteem cannot be reduced to words. However, our interlocutor will gather that information we give him/her about the self-concept and from there imagine the self-esteem that is associated with it. However, this task will consist in actively recreating the self-esteem of the other person, not in recognizing it in the verbal information that arrives.

3. They appeal to different types of memory

Self-esteem is basically an emotional response to the idea we have of ourselves, which means that it is related to a type of implicit memory: emotional memory. This kind of memory is especially related to two parts of the brain: the hippocampus and the amygdala.

Self-concept, however, is associated with a different type of memory: declarative memorywhich is more related to the hippocampus and the associative cortex areas that are distributed throughout the cerebral cortex. It is made up of a series of concepts that we have learned to associate with the idea of "I", and that can contain all kinds of concepts: from joy or aggressiveness to the name of certain philosophers or the idea of certain animals that we identify with us. Of course, certain concepts will be more related to the core of our self-concept, while others will be part of its periphery.

4. One has a moral component, the other does not

Self-esteem is the way we judge ourselves, and therefore depends on how similar we perceive ourselves to be. depends on the similarity we perceive between our self-concept and the image we have created of the "ideal self"..

Therefore, while self-concept is independent of value judgments, self-esteem is based on the fundamental value judgment about one's worth: it depends on the extent to which we believe we are close to "the good", and therefore traces a path that will indicate whether we are getting closer to or farther away from what we should be.

5. One is easier to change than the other

As it is part of the emotional memory, self-esteem can be very difficult to changeIt does not obey the criteria of logic, in the same way that phobias, which also depend on emotional memory, make us fear stimuli and situations that, based on reason, should not scare us.

Self-concept, although it is related to self-esteem and therefore its changes correspond in part to those of the latter, is somewhat easier to change, because it can be modified directly through cognitive restructuring: if we stop to think about the way we see ourselves it is very easy to detect inconsistencies and parts that fail, and to replace them with more viable beliefs and ideas when it comes to explaining who we are.

For example, if we believe we are markedly shy but then realize that on past occasions we have become very confident and assured when speaking in front of many people in an exhibition on a topic we are passionate about, it is easy to think that our shyness is somewhat more moderate and circumstantial. However, this does not necessarily this does not necessarily translate into an improvement in self-esteem, or at least not immediately.or at least not immediately.

It may be that on future occasions we will remember that we are not so shy after all and therefore not behave so shyly, which would make others give more importance to our presence, and then, yes, our self-esteem could improve, as we see real changes in the real world that tell us how valuable we can become.

A very blurred boundary

Although there are differences between self-concept and self-esteem, we must be clear that both are theoretical constructs of psychology that help us understand how we think and how we act. help us understand how we think and how we act, but do not describe clearly distinguishable elements of reality..

In reality, the two occur together; like virtually all mental processes and subjective phenomena we experience, they are the result of a looped system of parts of the brain that function at an incredible speed and are constantly interacting with our environment and coordinating with each other. This means that, at least in humans, there can be no self-concept without self-esteem, and vice versa.