Self Esteem vs. Self Confidence - What Is the Difference?

Written by: Arooj Paulus B. Sc (Applied Psychology)
Last updated date : March 14, 2023

The phrase self confidence vs. self esteem is often used together. You may be looking ways to enhance your self esteem. But it can be confusing for you to differentiate between these two phrases. Self esteem vs. self confidence are different yet similar phrases. So if you want to build your self esteem, then firstly, know the difference between self esteem and self confidence.

Consider that:

  • Self esteem is your sense of self worth or self value.
  • While self confidence is to belief in your own abilities or skills.

Self esteem affects you view yourself, others and engage with the world by involving both thoughts and feelings. The similarity between these two phrases may confuse you to look for self worth in your skills or achievements. However they are not the same. Let us look for insight to know the difference between th.


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Chapter 1:

What Is Self Esteem?

It mainly relates with your overall view of one’s self. Our life experiences and interactions have a great impact on our self esteem and how we see ourselves. It concerns how you feel about yourself. Hence, this overall view can be good or bad.

For instance, if you have high self esteem then you feel good about yourself, have a positive view of yourself, and value yourself. This leads to an overall feeling of self worth.

On the other hand, if you view yourself negatively and you don’t value yourself then you will have low self esteem.

People with healthy self esteem don’t require external factors like money, status, or recognition to keep them going. They respect themselves and look after their health and environment. Theories and researches have shown that to have positive feelings about oneself is good for overall wellbeing.

Chapter 2:

What Is Self Confidence?

Although self confidence is closely linked to self esteem but there is a thin line that separates the two. Self confidence refers to your view toward your skills when doing various tasks in life. It is to have faith and trust in yourself, specially in your skills and ability to succeed in different life situations.

Therefore, it all has to do with how you feel about your skills and how competent you think you are of doing specific tasks or dealing with various situations in life. Confident people are constantly willing to take on new tasks and challenges. Also they feel responsible when things are hard for others to manage. For instance you may be self confident that you will pass the test because you have a belief in your skills.

Chapter 3:

What Is the Relationship between Them?

There is a strong relation between self esteem and self confidence. Both of them are interlinked. For instance, a person who values oneself will see himself or herself positively and will believe that he or she is capable of accomplishing a task.

Chapter 4:

Difference between Self Esteem and Self Confidence

Although these two terms have a lot in common but they don’t always go together. When the differences between valuing yourself and believing in your skills are understood, then self esteem is restored. These are often linked to misunderstanding of self worth, rather than understanding that poor performance may be because of lacking necessary skills. So don’t confuse your skills with your worth. Sometimes it is okay to perform below average and that does not make you of a less value.

Here are some points to see the difference between self esteem and self confidence.

Self Esteem
  • Definition: It is feeling about oneself.
  • Evaluation: It is self evaluation.
  • Theme: It requires personal views to value oneself.
  • Healthy self esteem can lead to
  • know one’s value
Self Confidence
  • increase in self esteem
  • better performance
  • fearless and take challenges

Chapter 5:

Call to Action

You can read “What Is Low Self Esteem and Low Self Worth” at Epsychonline for more knowledge about self esteem vs self confidence. If you are looking to enhance your self esteem then you can enroll yourself in “Low Self Esteem” course at Epsychonline.

"Quizzes and recommendations were very uselful" Donna

87 sections

6-Weeks Self-Paced

  • Educational Content
  • Quizzes
  • Self-reflection material
  • Suggestions & feedback
  • Worksheet, tips & tools to use

$9.00 $12.00

25% discount