You and Me and Mr. Self-esteem
1/23/20261 hr 18 min
Most of us spend some part of our lives feeling bad about ourselves and wanting to feel better. But this preoccupation is a surprisingly new one in the history of the world, and can largely be traced back to one man: a rumpled, convertible-driving California state representative named John Vasconcellos who helped spark a movement that took over schools, board rooms, and social-service offices across America in the 1990s. This week, we look at the rise and fall of the self-esteem movement and ask: is it possible to raise your self-esteem? And is trying to do so even a good idea?
Special thanks to big thank you to the University of California, Santa Barbara Library for use of audio material from their Humanistic Psychology Archives and to their staff for helping located so many audio recordings.
EPISODE CREDITS:
Reported by - Heather Radke and Matt Kielty
Produced by - Matt Kietly
Flute performance and compositions by - Ben Batchelder
Voiceover work by - Dann Fink
Fact-checking by - Anna Pujol-Mazzini and Angely Mercado
and Edited by - Pat Walters
EPISODE CITATIONS:
Articles -
Books -
- Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing to Us (https://zpr.io/eGRyqz9zNQHu) by Will Storr. Counterpoint, 2018.
- A Liberating Vision (https://zpr.io/tJn7BR5m84fv) by Vasconcellos, John. Impact Publishers, Inc., 1979
- The Therapeutic State (https://zpr.io/tJn7BR5m84fv) by Nolan, James, Jr. NYU Press, 1998
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 00:00
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Latif Nasser· Host0:30
... Oh, wait, you're listening?
Heather Radke0:33
[laughing] Okay.
Latif Nasser· Host0:34
All right.
Heather Radke0:35
Okay.
Latif Nasser· Host0:37
All right.
Speaker 30:37
[clears throat] You're listening- Listening- To Radiolab.
Matt Kielty0:41
Radiolab.
Speaker 30:42
From- WNYC. C!
Heather Radke0:44
C?
Latif Nasser· Host0:45
Yeah.
Heather Radke0:46
[laughing] Hello? Can you hear me?
Latif Nasser· Host0:50
Yeah, yeah, we hear you. We're just ignoring you.
Heather Radke0:52
[laughing] Okay, that's fine.
Matt Kielty0:53
[laughing] We were not. I was waiting until it was recording.
Latif Nasser· Host0:56
Hey, I'm Latif Nasser. This is Radiolab, and today- Ugh!
Heather Radke1:00
Do you know what this is about at all, Latif?
Matt Kielty1:02
Only vaguely. Only two words.
Latif Nasser· Host1:05
A story from a pair of friends, producer Matt Kielty and contributing editor Heather Radke.
Matt Kielty1:11
You wanna say them?
Latif Nasser· Host1:12
Self-esteem?
Matt Kielty1:13
Yeah. Or maybe this is actually really, in fact, a story about Heather's need for constant validation and praise.
Heather Radke1:20
[laughing] [laughing] Dang, Matt!
Latif Nasser· Host1:21
Whoa.
Heather Radke1:22
Coming in hot.
Matt Kielty1:23
What is the most sort of like, honest explanation of how this came about? You were feeling bad.
Heather Radke1:28
I think... Okay, the hon-