Self-esteem is generally considered to be something vital, a value in itself, in Western societies. In this first of a series on our sense of self, or lack of it, I am going to look at the apparent lack of self-esteem in Chinese compared to North American students.

Dr Simon’s series continues with the third of ‘ten commandments’ of character development: maintain a balanced sense of self-worth.

One of the most serious misconceptions about self-esteem is that you can never have too much of it.

Our conceptualizations of the situations we find ourselves in can not only place us at a disadvantage, but can literally do us harm.

There’s no need to “red flag” action that you’re willing to take if the disturbed character won’t change. Don’t threaten, just take action.

Playing to the desire of another to be valued and liked can be a powerful manipulation tool.

Neurotics are too quick to feel ashamed when they’ve fallen short and too guilty when they think they’ve done wrong. In contrast, disordered characters are disturbingly lacking in their capacity to experience even healthy levels of shame or guilt.