“Self-esteem” is a term with which almost everyone is familiar, yet it is not necessarily easily understood. Psychologist William James gave the first clear definition in 1892 when he said that self-esteem equals success divided by pretensions. In other words, feelings of self-worth come from the successes an individual achieves tempered by what the person had expected to achieve. If the person expected to do extremely well on an exam (their her pretensions are quite high) and scores an A, then their self-esteem should be high. If, however, the person expected to do well and then scores a D, their self-esteem should be low.
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