‘How to Know Your Self’ Review: Self-Help You Can Use

Human psychology has burdened us with anxiety about the future and regret about the past. It may be fruitful to look outwards.

Excerpt: "The psychologist B.F. Skinner (1904-90) is remembered for his principle of reinforcement. His idea was simple. When our actions are rewarded by their consequences, we tend to repeat them. When they are not, we don’t.

One day a friend of mine witnessed Skinner rushing into an elevator at Harvard. The elevator was programmed, as signs indicated, to wait with its doors open for 2 minutes before heading up. That didn’t prevent Skinner from repeatedly pressing the close-door button, even though his behavior wasn’t once reinforced by any kind of reward.

It is a cautionary tale.

If the great theorist of reinforcement couldn’t stop himself from compulsively jabbing an unresponsive button, then how can the rest of us ever throw off the self-defeating thoughts, regrets and obsessions that replay themselves endlessly in our minds?"