though i agree that being yourself earns a degree of respect, i just want to throw in that people that are very much themselves but at the same time giant disrespectfull assholes towards others they immediately dont have my respect.
For instance someone who gives everyone he meets a clean start with respect, like you just respect them because you respect yourself and the other is just as much a human being as yourself, and just sees were it goes from there. <= i usually eventually tend to have more respect for
Then someone who feels that respect should and can only be achieved by achievements or other forms of status or even appearance.
respect is a weird thing and very much bound to your own liking and disliking because you can laugh at someone for doing the most dumbest things all the time and really dislike the fact that that person isnt really smart. And have no respect for that.
But you can also look at it in a way like, he/she is being laughed at but still a living human being just like yourself and how would you feel if you were laughed at.
And out of that realization start respecting someone for who he/she is.
But thats just the way i look at it