The Flawed Self-Esteem Movement and its Consequences

Key Insight

The concept of fostering 'high self-esteem' through positive self-perception gained prominence in psychology around the 1960s. Initial research suggested that individuals with positive self-regard performed better and caused fewer problems. This led many researchers and policymakers to believe that elevating a population's self-esteem could bring tangible societal benefits, such as reduced crime, improved academic performance, increased employment, and lower budget deficits. Consequently, from the 1970s, self-esteem practices were widely adopted, integrated into education with examples like grade inflation to comfort low-achieving students, the creation of participation awards and 'bogus trophies' for common activities, and homework assignments encouraging self-specialness.

However, subsequent data a generation later revealed the movement's fundamental flaws. Simply feeling good about oneself proved meaningless without a legitimate basis for such positive feelings. In reality, adversity and failure are crucial and even necessary for developing strong-minded and successful adults. The strategy of teaching people to believe they are exceptional and to feel good about themselves regardless of their actions did not produce individuals of the caliber of Bill Gates or Martin Luther King. Instead, it contributed to a population characterized by traits exemplified by a character referred to as Jimmy.

Jimmy embodies the failure of this misguided movement, representing delusional self-confidence. He constantly promoted various 'business ventures' and 'brilliant ideas,' often name-dropping, yet he was a deadbeat, financially dependent on family and girlfriends into his late twenties, spending on entertainment rather than business. Despite a life full of talk and no tangible accomplishments, including daily marijuana use, Jimmy maintained an unwavering belief in his own 'genius.' He dismissed critics as 'missing opportunities,' 'ignorant,' or 'jealous haters,' demonstrating how self-worth measured by unearned positive feelings can lead to weakness and an inability to confront personal problems.