Self-Esteem and Confidence: Is There a Difference?

An eager young kindergarten student raises his hand. "The answer is five!" he exclaims. The teacher applauds the student for his attempt, although the correct answer is four. The teacher rewards him with a sticker, assuring him of his wonderful job. The child's self-esteem is boosted by all the praise; it does not matter to him that his answer was incorrect. He will continue to believe that he is a competent student, while in reality …

…as the two have a strong correlation. Both words represent and describe how one feels about oneself. However, reviewing the connotations of each of the words reveals that they are as different in meaning as they are similar. Confidence describes the level of trust one has with oneself, while self-esteem describes the level of appreciation or regard one has for oneself. Essentially, self-esteem is having confidence whether one is assured of the outcome or not.