his employer with the excuse that he intended to replace it later. The father

said, “Son, it would be better for you to simply take all you want and call

yourself a thief every time you do it.”

 

The best antidote to folly from an excess of self-regard is to force yourself to

be more objective when you are thinking about yourself, your family and friends,

your property, and the value of your past and future activity. This isn’t easy

to do well and won’t work perfectly, but it will work much better than simply

letting psychological nature take its normal course.

 

While an excess of self-regard is often counter- productive in its effects on

cognition, it can cause some weird successes from overconfidence that happens to

cause success. This factor accounts for the adage: “Never underestimate the man

who overestimates himself.”

 

Of course, some high self-appraisals are correct and serve better than false

modesty. Moreover, self-regard in the form of a justified pride in a job well

done, or a life well lived, is a large constructive force. Without such

justified pride, many more airplanes would crash. “Pride” is another word

generally left out of psychology textbooks, and this omission is not a good

idea. It is also not a good idea to construe the bible’s parable about the

Pharisee and the Publican as condemning all pride.

 

Of all forms of useful pride, perhaps the most desirable is a justified pride in

being trustworthy. Moreover, the trustworthy man, even after allowing for the