# self-esteem (setpoint)

not a reading of the parameter but where the self-model's window is placed over value, so the same performance reads as inside or outside as the window moves.

- Computed level: L15 (depth in the emergence graph, not abstraction)
- Status: review  ·  Domain: psychology

## Emergence
**Emerges from:** [self-model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self-model.reflexive), [self](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self.personal), [model](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-model.representation), [read](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-read.information), [parameter](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-parameter.condition), [window](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-window.range), [space](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-space.extent), [value](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-value.worth), [performance](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-performance.quality), [inside](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-inside.spatial), [outside](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-outside.spatial), [motion](https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-motion.movement)

**Through:** The self-model positions its acceptance window somewhere on the axis of worth, and every performance is then judged by where it lands relative to that placement rather than by any absolute measure.

**Novel properties:**
- placement over reading
- performance-independent verdicts
- movable acceptance window

## Examples
- The same finishing time feels like triumph in a first marathon and like failure after a season of podium finishes. *(sport)*
- A student moving from a small school to an elite university reports feeling less capable while performing objectively better. *(education)*
- Lottery winners report drifting back toward their prior sense of their own worth within about a year. *(psychology)*

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*Canonical: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self-esteem.setpoint*  
*Structured data: https://emergencemachine.com/tools/lexicon/what-is-the-meaning-of-self-esteem.setpoint.json*  
*Every definition provably resolves to space, time, energy and pattern.*