Interesting Idea on Human Behavior -- what's your take?

[Dommer]

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I don't believe in self-esteem,...

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You mean you think very poorly of or have no opinion of yourself?

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I mean that "self-esteem" as a lifechanging idea has no inherent virtue. If you're a [censored] who values himself highly, you're still a [censored], and if you're a genius who hates his life, you're still a genius. I misphrased when I said "I don't believe in self-esteem," because you any opinion you have about yourself is "self-esteem," but I don't believe in the New Age-y [censored] that says, "Think positively, and you can do anything!"

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I don't think anyone here really agrees with the wishy-washy attitude you mention, reminds me of the one taken in schools that causes everyone in the class to get an "A for effort!". Low self esteem would be more like "you're a genius but hate yourself and don't trust any of your ideas/perceptions/etc so you are constantly fighting yourself". Pretty hard to operate at your full capacity when you feel like that. It's the same as having no confidence at the poker table and second guessing yourself, beating yourself up over mistakes, etc. I know when I feel confident I play much much better, so if theres a way to improve on that then I am by all means for it.

[LinusKS]

The basic problem is that people have too much self-esteem, especially the stupid ones.

Somebody needs to be in charge of putting an "I'm stupid" stamp on people's foreheads. That way they'd be reminded everytime they look in a mirror, in case they forget.

Everyone would be a lot better off that way. Especially the stupid people.


Edit: actually, nm. This would cost poker pros a lot of money.

[donkeyradish]

....always choose actions that seem most likely to meet your needs based on current awareness

So basically, you are saying people do whatever they feel like.

I could be wrong but this may be commonly known already [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Usagi_yo]

No, I disagree. The statement is naive. People make good snap decisions when they are 1. Relaxed, 2. Under pressure. Inbetween we rationalize too much, read between the lines too much.

Also, there are plenty of common day to day examples of people acting in self destructive manners. Watching people smoke, watching people Jay walk, watching people drink and get drunk.