WHAT IS CONFIDENCE: VARIOUS DEFINITIONS

WHAT IS CONFIDENCE: VARIOUS DEFINITIONS

1. Confidence means believing in yourself and in your abilities – not in an arrogant way, but in a realistic, secure way.

2. What is confidence?

   A bunch of you already noticed the benefit of having a nice and tidy definition of an abstract concept like confidence or courage. And maybe you already figured out how much I love scientific definitions. So what does confidence or self-confidence actually mean?

   First we are going to take it way back and look at where the word confidence actually comes from before we look at how modern research defines it.

    

   Etymology

   Confidence originates from the Latin word confidere, which means "to be sure," "to believe in," or "to have full trust." So when we slap "self" at the beginning of confidence, we end up with the word self-confidence, which according to the word's origin means something like "to have full trust in yourself" or "to believe in yourself." Alright, now that we know where it comes from, let's have a look how researchers today define it.

    

   Scientific Definition of Self-Confidence

   Dumitrescu and his colleagues wrote in one of their papers "self-confidence […] has to do with beliefs about one's general ability to handle situations and problems in the world." So self-confidence describes the extent to which a person believes they can handle the world. If we make this more tangible, it means a self-confident person has the internal belief of "I can handle it."

   On the other hand, a really unconfident person might think, "Oh my god I don't know what to do when this cute boy starts talking to me/the teacher calls me out/my boss asks me to present in front of the group."

   Compte and Postlewaite go further with their definition. They say self-confidence also includes a "lack of anxiety," which I think adds a very important dimension. If we put the two together, then a self-confident person is somebody who goes through the world with the general belief of "Whatever comes, I can handle it." Obviously, if you believe this about yourself, then there is no need to be afraid.

    

   The Two Subtypes of Self-Confidence

   Usually we are more confident in some situations and less confident in other situations. Researchers therefore distinguish between general self-confidence and specific self-confidence, a distinction that most of us do not make on a daily basis. However, this distinction is very important as it has certain consequences to our approach of increasing confidence–but more on this later. First, let's take a look at the different subtypes.

    

   1. General Self-Confidence

   General self-confidence is the type of confidence we already talked about that is the general belief of "I can handle it." The great majority of psychologists believe that general self-confidence is simply an aggregation of your own evaluation about your past performance in many specific situations. Makes sense, right? If things in your past worked out over and over again, you can be pretty confident that they will work out in the future as well. Thus, you are confident in your ability to handle all kind of problems.

    

   2. Specific Self-Confidence

   On the other hand we have specific self-confidence, which can be the building blocks for general confidence. Continuing from his definition on general confidence, Dumitrescu further writes about specific self-confidence: "self-confidence […] can also refer to one's ability to handle a specific task." Let's look at an example to make it clear. As some of you might know, I played professional Basketball until I was 19 and lived together with my teammates. One of these guys had low general self-confidence but great specific self-confidence; as soon as he stepped on the court he would make Russel Westbrook look shy.

   Likewise, the opposite is also true. Just think of how many generally confident people you know start shaking and sweating when they need to get on stage and do a bit of public speaking.

3. A bunch of you already noticed the benefit of having a nice and tidy definition of an abstract concept like confidence or courage. And maybe you already figured out how much I love scientific definitions. So what does confidence or self-confidence actually mean?

   First we are going to take it way back and look at where the word confidence actually comes from before we look at how modern research defines it.

    

   http://www.comfortzonecrusher.com/what-is-confidence-a-scientific-definition/
   

   What Is Confidence?

   Confidence means feeling sure of yourself and your abilities — not in an arrogant way, but in a realistic, secure way. Confidence isn't about feeling superior to others. It's a quiet inner knowledge that you're capable.

   Confident people:

4. feel secure rather than insecure
5. know they can rely on their skills and strengths to handle whatever comes up
6. feel ready for everyday challenges like tests, performances, and competitions
7. think "I can" instead of "I can't"

Why Confidence Matters

Confidence helps us feel ready for life's experiences. When we're confident, we're more likely to move forward with people and opportunities — not back away from them. And if things don't work out at first, confidence helps us try again.

It's the opposite when confidence is low. People who are low on confidence might be less likely to try new things or reach out to new people. If they fail at something the first time, they might be less likely to try again. A lack of confidence can hold people back from reaching their full potential.

Believing in Yourself

Has someone told you that you're smart? Funny? Kind? Artistic? A good student? A good writer? A good athlete?

When people praise us or recognize our skills and capabilities, it can boost our confidence — as long as we believe these good things, too. If you've ever doubted the good things people say about you, that's the opposite of self-confidence.

To feel truly confident, you need to really believe you are capable. The best way to get that belief is through using your skills and talents — by learning and practicing.

Confidence helps us move forward to discover and develop our capabilities. When we see what we're capable of and take pride in our achievements, confidence gets even stronger.