Page 147 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 23

to point to the power of the situa�on, she should not be so quick to dismiss
the importance of personality.
Second, while she is not a fan of personality, Devers is a fan of self-esteem.
It might surprise some readers, but this is actually a topic of controversy
among psychologists. Mainstream psychology was never really on board
with the no�on that raising self-esteem is a panacea (that was more the
message from self-appointed educa�on specialists and paren�ng gurus),
but there are psychologists (Devers being one of them) who hold to the no-
�on that self-esteem is something that humans need. As I men�oned ear-
lier, Devers and I are both enthusias�c about terror management theo-
ry, which does hold that self-esteem is a vital part of our reac�on to awaren-
ess of our mortality. Taylor & Brown famously argued that maintaining a po-
si�ve self-concept, even when it is unrealis�c, is necessary for proper psy-
chological func�oning.
However, not all psychologists are pro-self-esteem. Roy Baumeister
argued that raising self-esteem does very li�le to help people, and we
should instead look at self-esteem as an outcome rather than a need to be
sa�sfied. Self-determina�on theorists argue that people whose actual psy-
chological needs (competence, autonomy, relatedness) are met do not bo-
ther themselves with the ques�on of how much they like themselves. While
I s�ll appreciate terror management theory, the more that I read in the
scholarly literature on this topic, the more I find that self-esteem is overra-
ted as a psychological variable. Maybe Chris�ans, instead of grounding our
posi�ve self-evalua�ons on our rela�onship to God, should focus instead on
cul�va�ng a Christlike character and living rightly, and not worry about how
much we admire ourselves.

The Bo�om Line
This review is longer than I had an�cipated, but is actually the short version
of my thoughts on this book. The truth is that I could go on for hours about
this stuff (as my students well know). In summary, while The Unbiased
Self has its share of imperfec�ons, I recommend that you get this book and
read it. Devers provides an excellent introduc�on to the topic of cogni�ve
biases, and many of her prac�cal �ps are worth incorpora�ng into our lives.
Chris�ans revere the truth, because we revere the Author of truth. We
should therefore strive to live truthful lives, figh�ng against those prideful
parts of ourselves that distort our thought processes. Erin Devers’ book con-
tains a plethora of tools that readers will find helpful in this task.
Charles Hackney is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Southern Wes-
leyan University, and author of Posi�ve Psychology in Chris�an Perspec�ve.

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