Interestingly, there’s no single sentence—not even from Emerson himself—that really captures all the aspects of self-reliance in one pop.
Merriam Webster defines self-reliance simply as ‘reliance on one’s own efforts and abilities’, which doesn’t quite do the concept much justice, either.
Let’s look at the psychological mentions of self-reliance for a better understanding.
The Psychology of Self-Reliance
In an age where statistics allows almost everything to be psychometrically measured and operational definitions abound, it isn’t surprising that there’s no one definition for self-reliance.
What we do know is that the concept has been linked to ‘the self’—in its psychological sense—for at least several decades (Baumeister, 1987).
More specifically, self-reliance is consistently mentioned alongside, if not within, discussions of self-definition. What makes it unique is the approach to society that self-reliance encompasses—it has been alluded to roughly in psychological journals as:
“a reliance on internal resources to provide life with coherence (meaning) and fulfillment” (Baumeister, 1987: 171).
Answers & Comments
Explanation:
Interestingly, there’s no single sentence—not even from Emerson himself—that really captures all the aspects of self-reliance in one pop.
Merriam Webster defines self-reliance simply as ‘reliance on one’s own efforts and abilities’, which doesn’t quite do the concept much justice, either.
Let’s look at the psychological mentions of self-reliance for a better understanding.
The Psychology of Self-Reliance
In an age where statistics allows almost everything to be psychometrically measured and operational definitions abound, it isn’t surprising that there’s no one definition for self-reliance.
What we do know is that the concept has been linked to ‘the self’—in its psychological sense—for at least several decades (Baumeister, 1987).
More specifically, self-reliance is consistently mentioned alongside, if not within, discussions of self-definition. What makes it unique is the approach to society that self-reliance encompasses—it has been alluded to roughly in psychological journals as:
“a reliance on internal resources to provide life with coherence (meaning) and fulfillment” (Baumeister, 1987: 171).