Self-Esteem and Productive Work
In analyzing the psychology of self-esteem, one of the most important aspects to consider is the relationship of self-
esteem to productive work and, more broadly, to the growth and exercise of a man's mental abilities.
When I discussed earlier the concept of efficacy, I was speaking of what may be termed metaphysical efficacy, i.e.,
the kind of efficacy which pertains to a man's basic relationship to reality and which reflects the reality-oriented
nature of his thinking processes. But there is another sense in which the concept of efficacy may be used: it may
refer to a man's effectiveness in specific areas of endeavor, resulting from particular knowledge and skills he has
acquired. I shall designate this latter type as particularized efficacy.
A man may possess a variety of practical skills, feel confident of his abilities in a number of delimited areas—thus
exhibiting a degree of particularized efficacy—and yet be profoundly lacking in that sense of fundamental efficacy
which pertains to self-esteem. For example, a man may be confident at his job, but terrified by any wider need for
independent thinking, fearing to step outside the frame of reference established by his "significant others." In basic
attitude and orientation, he is a profoundly dependent person—dependent, not in the financial, but in the psycho-
epistemological sense.
On the other hand, a man may possess a profound self-esteem, a profound sense of metaphysical efficacy; but,
being highly specialized in his interests, he may lack many of the practical skills that most men take for granted,
such as, for instance, the knowledge of how to drive an automobile or to perform some simple task of home repair.
He does not experience fear of such tasks and feels confident of his ability to acquire the requisite skills, should he
need to do so: a sense of metaphysical efficacy entails confidence in one's ability, in principle, to learn that which
one has a valid reason to learn.
The kinds of particularized efficacy men acquire, the specific skills they attain, vary according to their interests,
values, context, knowledge, etc. Metaphysical efficacy is necessarily expressed through some forms of
particularized efficacy, since the exercise of one's rational faculty entails dealing with some specific aspect of