Complexity Digest 2003.20 - 04

19-May-2003

Blowing Off Self-Esteem, ScienceNow Bookmark and Share

Excerpts: (...) "indiscriminate praise might just as easily promote narcissism." And thinking you're great doesn't necessarily mean you are. (...) Self-esteem as panacea is "a very compelling illusion," because it correlates with happiness and other good things, says Baumeister. But he believes psychologists "were a little too eager in promoting the program before the data were in." Baumeister says his current research contains quite a different lesson about how to be a successful person: "Forget about self-esteem--concentrate on self-control."