Self-esteem and cultural differences

Self-esteem; this is the regard that people have for themselves. It's really difficult to decide how we arrive at a sense of self-esteem; it's a gradual process. Before a baby can understand spoken language they know when parents and carers show anger, pleasure, disappointment or approval by their body language and tone of voice.

Although emotions are expressed in a similar way all over the world there are some differences. Asian children are encouraged to show emotional restraint and American and European babies seem to cry and smile more than Chinese children of the same age. Some cultures and some families value cooperation, some obedience and some value individual self-expression.