The small and somewhat fringe praxis of processual self-esteem research is described with respect to its enactment of a process ontology. The chapter shows that a process approach has resulted in a focus on ‘how’ questions in self-esteem research (rather than on predictive validity, for example) and a more pluralistic approach to the operationalization of self-esteem. What the various processual-studies reviewed have in common is a conceptual and methodological approach to self-esteem as a situated and action-based process, rather than a thing that individuals have to different degrees. Here, the central role of situational affordances is highlighted. This processual praxis often relies explicitly on complex dynamic systems principles, such as self-organization, emergence, variability, and attractor landscapes. With processes and actions as its focus, this praxis constructs self-esteem knowledge that emphasizes one’s agency in the world and the centrality of our actual context-bound actions and experiences as we move through it. This chapter ends with a discussion of how a process approach is beneficial for the lived reality of self-esteem, where individuals are encouraged to embrace and reflect on their situated and fluctuating experiences of self, rather than a pursuit of ‘high’ self-esteem.

With this chapter, we contrast the mainstream explanatory practices with forms of causality that are processual: complex causality. Complex dynamic systems are used as a framework, incorporating principles such as emergence, self-organization, circular causality, and perturbations. With this alternative, processes themselves are seen as causes, making causality a moving and dynamic phenomenon. We conclude with descriptions of various concrete causal models that can be used to help researchers understand causality via processes.