Matt Kielty

For example, a famous psychologist back then wrote, I don't think I'm the best boxer in the world.

So if someone's a better boxer than me,

Eh, no biggie.

But instead of boxing, let's say this other person is a better, more famous, higher achieving psychologist.

That does hurt my self-worth.

That does hurt my self-image.

And the way that Michael explained it was, this was at a time in psychology where the self was not a unified thing.

It was just kind of like parts.

You had different parts, different aspects of a self.

And then you had these different things where you might find worth or value.

It's like you almost stake your territory where your identity and value lie.

And it's like and other places, it's like you've ceded that territory.

Like, it's OK.

But then in the 30s and the 40s, the very idea of the self changes.

Psychologists come with this idea of a personality, which is your unified whole self.

And so self-esteem becomes a more global, basic attribute of the person.

It's no longer like how you feel about these individual things you're good at.

Now it's just about how you feel about you.

That one either had high self-esteem or low self-esteem.

So for psychologists, it starts to become this really important measure of a person's entire well-being, like their whole mental health.