A Short History Of Self Esteem - 2742 Words

A Short History of Self-Esteem The history of self-esteem can be traced back throughout time. In this section we have a critical look at the self-esteem movement. Though an overweening conceit of our own merit be vicious and disagreeable, nothing can be more laudable than to have a value for ourselves, where we really have qualities that are valuable . . . it is certain that nothing is more useful to us, in the conduct of life, than a due degree of pride, which makes us sensible of our own merit, and gives us a confidence and assurance in all our projects and enterprises. David Hume, Treatise of Human Nature, vol. 2 As the quotation from the great 18th century Scottish Enlightenment thinker David Hume shows, the idea that it is†¦show more content†¦Seligman argues that the 1960s changed all this. First the rise of wealth and consumerism meant that it was easier to conceptualise the individual at the centre of his/her destiny. And psychology, partly as a result of Seligman’s own â€Å"learned helplessness† experiments, created theories which put the â€Å"self-directed† individual at the centre of his or her own life. The rise of the self-esteem movement From the late 1960s on self-esteem became a fashionable and influential idea. One of the first exponents was a young psychology professor called Stanley Coopersmith from California. A more influential figure was Nathaniel Branden. Branden was a psychotherapist and devotee of the philosopher Ayn Rand. He has written countless books on self-esteem and is considered the intel lectual father of the self-esteem movement. As we shall see in another section, Branden’s work is sophisticated and his definition of self-esteem, and notions of how it can be boosted, is a far cry from the exhortations to feel special that have come to characterise self-esteem building exercises in American schools. Self-esteem may simply have remained a psychological and philosophical concept, debated by academics, if it had not been taken up by politicians in California in the late 1980s. John Vasconcellos was a state assemblyman who believed that low self-esteem was the cause of crime, teenage pregnancy, drug abuse andShow MoreRelatedSelf Esteem By Carol Craig1090 Words   |  5 PagesSelf-Esteem can be harmful and make people very self centered, but others lack confidence and need a boost of self-esteem. Self-esteem is a very important factor in various reasons that happens in people’s daily life. With no type of thought people don’t think or take self-esteem with importance without realizing that self-esteem is a huge thing that us humans depend for our daily activities. 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