The self and thinking

How one feels about himself affects not only the content of his thinking but the way he thinks. A person who has a positive self-concept tends to spend more time thinking about his good qualities and his success experiences, whereas a person with an essentially negative self-concept spends more time thinking of his failures in life and his inadequacies as a person.

There is also evidence that how one feels about himself is related to how effectively he thinks. People who don’t like themselves tend to have difficulties in solving problems effectively, whereas people who feel good about themselves tend to be much more effective in problem-solving.

People who feel inadequate tend to think more rigidly; they tend to think in terms of black and white or good and bad, rather than in shades of gray. People who feel good about themselves also are able to tolerate complex or ambiguous (неопределенный) situations. People who do not feel good about themselves cannot tolerate ambiguity; they have a need for an immediate answer to a problem. People who feel comfortable can bring new and unique ideas into their thoughts about a problem situation. They are much more creative and far more apt to come out with original ideas.

Thus, man’s view of himself whether accurate or not, can serve either as facilitators (стимулятор) or inhibitors (тормоз) of effective thinking. It seems, as suggested by Freud, that we must come to terms with our inner selves before we can hope to develop the thinking competences necessary for living well in a complex social and physical world. Whenever our intellectual energies are freed from our inner turmoil (беспорядок), they can be turned to the problems of living life instead of being manipulated by life.