The Low Self-esteem Indian Stereotype: Positive Self-regard among Indigenous Peoples of the United States

Abstract

This research compares the cultural meanings that shape the construction and experience of self-regard in Indigenous Peoples of the United States with the conceptualization of self-esteem prevailing in the mainstream psychological science and cultural context. The Indigenous self seems to become meaningful mainly in reference to relationships with one's people and to one's involvement within the goals of their communities. This contrasts with the emphasis on independent self striving for self-enhancement typically reported within the mainstream cultural settings. The conception that emerges from this study treats self-regard as general feelings of self-worthiness, which are an epiphenomenon of being a valuable member of one's community and of living a good balanced life according to one's cultural ways. In the process of one's self-regard formation, the individual reflects the evaluations that their community expresses about their deeds. Indigenous people who identify with their respective cultures thus do not need to worry about their low self-esteem as measured and defined by the mainstream society, but rely rather on their respective traditions.