Help Your Self-Esteem

"From at least as far back as Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking (1952), the media have advocated saying favorable things to oneself, the researchers wrote in a recent issue of the journal Psychological Science. At this moment, thousands of people across North America are probably silently repeating positive statements to themselves. But in one of their studies involving 32 male and 36 female psychology students, the researchers found that repeating the phrase did not improve the mood of those who had low self-esteem, as measured by a standard test. They actually ended up feeling worse, and the gap between those with high and low self-esteem widened. The findings did not change even if participants were instructed to focus on how the statement might be true about them, as they were in a second study involving 12 men and 39 women.” Inside Catholic
I found this really interesting, because I have believed this theory. Be supportive in negative situations in order to boost self-esteem. This study shows that the opposite is actually true. This brings to light that human beings are always searching for the truth, and if people do not believe that they posses intrinsic value no matter what they say to themselves this will not change. When someone wants to get a positive attitude they would be more likely to succeed by thinking about how much God loves them and values their life.