behavioural difficulties, I asked Susan, a 14year old girl, to read ..... Similarly, in a study of 15 year olds, children from the West ... Yet Robin Alexander, perhaps.
Development
_
Professor JulOan El8iott says boosting children's self image at school is helpful for those with personal difficulties but for others may actually result in lowered performance.
Could do better? The risks of cultivating positive self esteem_
M
ANYyears ago, when I began-my career in education as a teacher of children with complex emotional and behavioural difficulties, I asked Susan, a 14 year old girl, to read aloud a series of,words from a reading test in standard use. She scanned it briefly before furiously declaring it a load of rubbish (she actually used a couple of vivid expletives, volubly delivered), and I watched impotently as she proceeded to tear the test into shreds and hurl them to the floor. Reflecting upon this incident sometime afterwards, I came to understand why she might have behaved in such a fashion. Susan was a youngster with learning difficulties who masked her insecurity behind a skinhead hairstyle, face and hand tattoos and masculine style of clothes and conduct - seemingly because she perceived this to be associated with power. Tackling the reading test would have resulted in poor performance in a sphere of activity -literacy - that is strongly associated with emotions of shame and inadequacy. Given this, her way of protecting her sense of self was to attack the test itself as something of no value. Last week, my 13 year old daughter gave me her English homework to read. It was a poor piece of work, ill thought through and sloppily presented, and I told her so. Like Susan, she reacted adversely, complaining that I was being horrible. The implicit message was that I should be supportive and affirming, that I should be making her feel good about her studies rather than putting her down. Angrily, she stormed upstairs, only to reappear an hour later with a substantially improved piece. I praised her for her efforts and the much improved quality of the revised version, taking care to avoid comment about one or two small errors that remained. The element common to both these stories is the impact of perceived negative evaluation upon each of the girls. However, in dealing with the threat to self, each girl responded in a different fashion. In the first scenario, a need to protect the sense of self resulted in destructive behaviour; in the latter, criticism resulted in greater effort and ultimate sapsfaction. Both girls had a desire to be perceived in a positive light but this led them to take very different courses of action. Having practised as a teacher and educational psychologist for many years, I have little need to .
be convinced of the damage that results when an
38
individual's sense of selfis diminished. The need to feel valued, respected, competent and efficacious is universal and where one's experiences of self are consistently negative considerable psychological harm is likely to result. Similarly, it is clear that a child who holds an unduly negative perception of his or her ability in any domain is likely to be difficult to motivate. Such individuals tend to have negative emotions associated with the activity, avoid placing themselves in situations where they may fail, may underperform because failure is anticipated (self fulfilling prophecy) and be unlikely to persevere when failure is encountered.' In such situations, the importance ofimbuing the individual with a sense ofcompetence and self efficacyis widely understood and agreed. In my professional life, I have long sought to help young people feel better about themselves and their capabilities, to boost their self esteem. I also believe, however, that our society's tendency to extrapolate beyond the experiences of a small proportion of rather unfortunate individuals is an error. This has resulted in an orthodoxy in which it is believed that boosting the self perceptions of all members of our society, often in a non-contingent fashion, is helpful. In my opinion, such a strategy is misguided for it can result in satisfaction with mediocre performance and a reduction in striving and engagement that ultimately undermines achievement. Preoccupation with notions of self appears to be a particularly American, and to a lesser extent, western European phenomenon." Not only does the average American possess largely positive self perceptions" but also tends to seek to maintain and enhance these." Many writers have emphasised the tendency for North Americans to have self perceptions higher than in many other, particularly eastern, cultures.v" perhaps in an attempt to meet American "cultural ideals of self-contained individuality"." Self versus society The focus upon self esteem on both sides of the Atlantic has resulted in a large and vociferous industry that often trivialises this complex construct and can encourage a narcissistic preoccupation. Ubiquitous courses for teachers on how to build
children's self esteem often promote practices that
HUMAN
GIVENS,
VOLUME
9, No 1 -
SPRING
2002
______________________________________________________________________________
bear no relation to children's real life experiences and understandings. Dissenting voicesare now more prevalent," Not only is there increasing doubt about the impact of self esteem on our functioning, there is also greater recognition that our self perceptions are unlikely to be easily susceptible to manipulation. Is it likely, one might ask, that our global self understandings, the product ofcountless interactions with significant others over time, can be altered on the basis of a few short 'self esteem' sessions operating in the classroom or school hall? One researcher tells how his fiveyear old daughter returned home with a piece of card on which were written the words, "I'm terrific"," Each child in her class had received such a message. When asked what that meant, his daughter replied that she was terrific and all her classmates were terrific. Unfortunately, she could not say what they were terrific at. He argues that such self indulgence can have deleterious consequences: "The psychological danger ofputting the child at the centre of all things, of making children too conscious of themselves and their own feelings, is that it draws the child's attention away from fundamental social realities to which the child must adapt for proper character development. When children learn to place themselves first, they learn to care more about their own personal experience than about the feelings and reactions of others." While recognising the importance ofthis message, my focus here is more narrowly concerned with the impact of overly positive messages upon academic motivation, engagement and achievement. My thesis is that widespread overestimation of abilities and performance running throughout a culture can result in student attitudes, teacher and parental expectations and educational practices that militate against the highest levels of achievement. I have suggested that the 'self-esteem' industry is based upon extrapolation from the effects ofbuilding self confidence in those with a disempowering self image. Yet such an observation would appear to misrepresent a literature that generally points to a statistical relationship between academic self perceptions, self esteem, self efficacy and educational performance. However, even accepting that positive correlations exist, this does not permit us to make claims as to causality - it is possible that self esteem may be the result of high achievement rather than its cause or that both are related to some other factor. My salary and the earth's temperature are positively correlated (both are rising very slowly) but there appears to be no causal relationship between them. ; A further concern is that this literature tends to examine performance within one (usually American) culture. However,comparative international studies of children's educational self perceptions and actual
HdMAN
GIVENS,
VOLUME
9, No 1 -
SPRING
2002
Development
performance consistently point to an interesting phenomenon regarding the relationship between them. While, within anyone country, those who are more positive about themselves tend to be higher achievers, when between-country analyses are undertaken, the opposite pattern pertains - that is, higher achieving children tend to be less positive about their abilities and performance." This is important because it suggests that while those at the 'top ofthe tree' are more likely to feel good about themselves in whatever culture they are situated, being more positive and affirming to everyone may not ultimately result in real psychological or educational gains.
Yes, I'm good at maths In analyses of the comparatively poor academic performance ofUS children in international studies, a constant theme relates to student overestimation oftheir performance.'? This is perhaps most striking when comparisons are made with Asian children. In one study, for example, involving a standardised mathematics examination undertaken by 13 year olds in six countries, US students obtained the lowest score yet had the highest proportion (68 per cent) agreeing with the statement, "I am good at mathematics"." In contrast, Korean students, who obtained the highest scores, were least positive, with only 23 per cent agreeing they were good at mathematics. The US picture appears to apply to British youngsters too. The National Foundation for Educational Research'! found that English, Scottish and US students had higher self perceptions about their performance in mathematics and science than students from any other country sampled, regardless of performance. This is no isolated finding. Such a picture has been repeatedly found in other investigations and, indeed, overconfidence appears to be particularly evident in British underachievers. In one comparative international study, for example, David Burghes, professor ofmathematics education at the University ofExeter, interviewed English and Scottish students who had been tested for mathematical potential and whose results had indicated a degree of underachievement. Surprisingly, the children thought that they had been selected because they were doing well (personal communication). A similar picture has emerged in studies colleagues and I have carried out of students' academic self perceptions in England, the US and Russia.13.14.15.16 Interestingly, how students saw themselves was closely mirrored by their perceptions of what their teachers and parents thought of them and by actual parental understandings. In a survey of 3000 10 year olds, for example, 25 per cent of Russian respondents saw themselves as 'above', and 29 per cent as 'below' average at schoolwork. In contrast, the respective figures were 70
Julian El/iott is associate director (research) and professor of educational psychology at the University of Sunderland. He started his career as
a teacher
in special and school sett-
mainstream
ings, and subsequently practised as a local education authority educational psychologist prior to entering higher education. His research interests include achievement motivation, comparative education, behaviour management and dynamic assessment.
REFERENCES 1 Press/ey. (1995).
M and McCorm;ck,
Advanced
psychology
for educators.
researchers
and policymakers.
HarperCollins.
2 Seligman. Optimistic
CB
educational
New Yorl ill11Rt-r"tArl " relationship between low academic demand and high self perception. A detailed case study analysis of students from the US, Germany and Japan found that the American children had the highest academic self perceptions, yet had the least demanding curriculum and the lowest mean score. In contrast, the Japanese students were working at the highest level (two year grades above the Americans) and obtained the highest mean score, yet were the least
'}..,~(Thl"tT T\l"\o~f~uo
interactions with students would reduce the incidence of disruptive behaviour, which is perceived as increasing." Others have seen increasing the 'Jositives' as a valuable means of increasing studept motivation." Yet Robin Alexander, perhaps England's foremost authority on primary schooling, has actually commented that teachers' orientation to be positive and reinforcing was such that they, "ended up devaluing the evaluation to the point
""TYlTH,
HUMAN
••
GIVENS,
VOLUME
9, No 1 -
SPRING
2002
---------------------------------------------------positive about themselves. The German students fell midway between the two. Permission to be mediocre The US experience is particularly illuminating for, as is so often the case, it provides a more dramatic illustration of a situation that also exists to some degree in Britain. In both countries, there has been concern about grade inflation providing an unrealistic picture of student performance. While the UK's use of public examinations and national curriculum standards has provided an external measure that may constrain school evaluations, the US system, in which teachers often have much greater freedom over content, and grades are largely unrelated to any national standardised measure of performance, is more easily susceptible to inflationary pressures. At the outset of the 1980s, the US Secretary of Education, alarmed by seemingly poor educational performance, set up a National Commission on Excellence in Education. The Commission's report A Nation at Risk 27 warned that "the educational foundations of our society are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our future". One of the Commission's key recommendations - that grades should be more closely,and realistically, related to actual achievement - appears not to have been implemented. Several studies have shown how rising school grades have not been matched by performance on the standardised measures that US students sit prior to entering college.Neither do rising grades seem to be matched by greater work rates. In a US survey ofmore than 250,000 freshmen entering college in 2000,28it was found that, while the amount of homework undertaken had declined substantially over the past few decades, grades had risen. The survey indicated, for example, that in 2000, 42.9 per cent of freshmen had reported earning 'It grades on average, compared to 17.6 per cent in 1968. A record low of 6.6 per cent reported 'C' averages, compared to 23.1 per cent in 1968. These latter-day students also appeared to be increasingly confident about their future educational performance; the proportion anticipating an average 'B' grade or better in college rose from 26.7 per cent in 1971 to 58.1 per cent in 2000. Whereas 4.1 per cent of 1967 respondents expected to graduate from collegewith honours, the figure for 2000 was 20.7 per cent. In responding to criticisms that they are inflating assessments, many US teachers complain that they feel pressurised by parents and school administrators to provide high grades even in cases where these are not deserved. One commentator'" argues that grades no longer accurately reflect academic performance and the high proportion of "contentfree 'Its have become tools of affirmation, therapy and public relations". In similar vein, another" talks of an "unholy marriage of low expectation
HUtvtAN GIVENS,
VOLUME
9, No 1 -
SPRING
2002
and high marks". Reading the above, it would be all too easy to blame teachers for being undemanding and overly affirming, either because of misunderstandings about the true nature of self esteem or because of a perceived need to keep their students compliant and well disposed towards them. This, in my opinion, would involve a failure to appreciate that teacher behaviour does not exist independently ofits broader cultural context. For example, the longstanding anti-intellectualism of American high schools, where social and sporting success often represent the pinnacle of achievement, has been shown not to originate from within the adolescent subculture but, rather, from socialising experiences in the wider community." Thus high levels of adult support for non-intellectual high school activities (eg participation in football or cheerleading) has provided strong messages about what is most desirable that directly impacts upon students' own value systems. Overly rosy evaluations, I would argue, are a feature of broader Anglo-American society in which we expect positive messages about our performance - to feel good about ourselves. It is therefore often easier for teachers to be noncontingently positive than risk censure for failing to do their jobs properly.
Development
J, Hufton, N, W
15 Elliott, //Iushin.
L and Willis.
(2001).
"The kids are doing
af! right": differences parental
expectation in
and attribution
SI Petersburg,
Sunderland
and KentUCky.
Cambridge Journal of Education, 31. 179-204. 16 Hufton, N, Elliott, J and //Iushin.
L (2002).
Educational
motivation
engagement:
and
qualitative
from three BrJUsh
accounts countries.
Educational
Research
Journal, 28. 2. 267-291. l' Bueur, M and [klof. B (1999). Russia Europe.
and Eastern
In R F Amove and
C A Torres (eds) Comparative
education:
the
dialectic of the global and the local. Rowman and LIttle field, Lanham. Maryland. 18 Wheldall,
K and
Merrett, F (1985). The Behavioural ApproaChto Teaching Package (BAT· PACK). Positive Products, Birmingham.
19 Stigler. ) Wand Hiebert. J (1999). The Teaching Gap. Free Press, New York.
20 Alexander. R (2000). Culture and pedagogy: international
comparisons
in primary education. Blackwell.
Oxford.
21 Broadfoot,
Parents play their part Many research studies in both England and the US have indicated that parents also tend to overestimate children's work rate and ability. In a national survey of parental attitudes published in 1994, Michael Barber, one of Tony Blair's closest advisers, complained that parental expectations were too low," Similarly,in comparing American and Asian parental attitudes, some researchers have criticised the high levels of satisfaction in the US, adding that American perceptions oftheir children's educational performance were redolent of the Lake Wobegonfactor, "where all the men are strong, the women are good-looking, and all the children are above-average."33In a study of approximately 3,000 parents in Russia, US and England," we found performance-related perceptions that closelyreflected both how students perceived themselves and how they thought their parents perceived them. Again the Anglo-American picture was very positive, the Russian picture more negative. For example, only 14 per cent of Russian parents considered their children to be above average, compared with 65 per cent in the US and 71 per cent in England. Russian parents were significantly less likely to be satisfied with their children's performance in school and more likely to believe that this could be improved. Russian parents were also far more eager that their children should devote their free time to study despite the fact that their offspring were already spending considerably more time on homework than their Western peers. Indeed, our investigations indicate
in
satisfaction.
P, Osbarn,
M. Gil/y. M and Bruche" (1993).
A
Perceptions of
Teaching: primary school
teachers in England and France. Cassell,
London.
22 8an, T and Cummings, W K (1999). Moral orientations
of
schoolchildren
in the
States and Japan. Comparative Education Review, 43, 64-85. 23 Muckle. ) (1990). Portrait of a Soviet School United
under Glasnost.
Macmilfan,
London.
24 Hufton. Nand E/liott, ) (2000). Motivation to learn: the pedagogical
nexus in
the Russian School: some implications
for
transnational
research
and
policy borrowing.
Educational Studies, 26, 1, 115-136. 25 Hufton. N. EI/iott. J and lIIushln,
L (submitted).
Teachers' beliefs about student motivation: similarities across
and differences
cultures.
26 Zirkel,
P A (1999).
Grade inflation? leadership
A
opportunity for
schools of education? Teachers College Record,
101. 247-260. 27 National an Excellence
Commission in Education
(19B3). A Nation at the imperative for
Risk:
educational
reform.
NCEE,
Washington
DC.
41
Development
28 Sax, L 1, AS!in, A W. Korn, W 5 and Mahoney,
M (2000). The American Freshman: K
national norms for fall 2000. Higher Education Research Institute, UeLA.
Los Angeles. Sykes, Cl (1995). Dumbing Down Our Kids. 29
St Martin's
Griffin, New
York. 30 Finn, C E (1991). We Must Take Charge. Free Press, New York. 3:1. Coleman, 1 (1961).
Adolescent Society: the social life of the teenager
and its impact on education. Free Press, New York.
32 Barber, M (1994). Parents and their attitudes to secondary schools. Centre for Successful Schools, Keele University. Unpublished paper. 33 Stevenson,
H Wand
Stig/er, 1 W (1992). The Learning Gap: why our
schools are failing and what we can learn from
Japanese and Chinese education. Summit Books, New York. 34 Schneider, Band Stevenson, D (1999). America's Teenagers: motivated but directionless. Yale University
Press.
35 Caving/on, M V
(1992). Making the grade: a self-worth perspective on motivation and SChoolreform. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA. 36 Craske, M L (1988). Learned helplesssness, se/f·worth protection and atlriblllion retraining for primary school children. British Journal of Educational Psychology,
58, 152-164. 37 Covington, M V
(1998). The Will to Learn: a guide to motivating young people. Cambridge University
Press,
Cambridge. 38 Thompson, T (1999). Underachieving to Protect Self Worth: theory, research and interventions.
Ashgate
Publishing, Aldershot. 39 Bempechat, 1 (1998). Against the odds: How 'at-risk' students exceed expectations. IosseyBass, San Francisco. 40 Baranov, A (1998). A reaJ threat to the nation's future. Russian Education and Society, 40, 1, 6-16.
42
~
that, on average, the Russian 10 year olds in our samples spent more time on homework than did the English or American 15 year olds. Observing classroom and homework practices in each of the three countries, it was clear that there was a large difference in student, teacher and parental understanding about what constituted effort, hard work and the highest levels of achievement. Perfectly illustrating this was the response of one American teenage informant. When I challenged him about the seeming contradiction in his report of studying outside of school hours for 15-20 minutes each day, and his statement about how important it was to work hard in order to succeed, he replied, without any hint of irony, that for those 20 minutes he really worked as hard as he could.
Effects on the future An education culture in which there are high levels of undeserved praise and non-contingent approbation may not only result in a degree of self satisfaction that is likely to diminish striving in the classroom, but also lead to unrealistic expectations about one's vocational future and a failure to recognise the effort required to attain goals.Arecent study of 7,000 American students indicated a significant rise in levels of ambition compared with those of the previous two decades but noted that many of these were unrealistic." Many students had little understanding about the level ofeducation that particular professional positions required, It appears somewhat paradoxical that the strong Angle-American emphasis on fostering positive conceptions of self, high self-ratings and comparatively low academic demands do not seem to protect our most vulnerable youngsters, Given the strong importance we attach to appearing successful, one may question why so many in our society appear eager to be seen not to be trying, even to the point of concealing their efforts from others. Martin Covington, professor ofpsychologyat the University of California in Berkeley, argues that the problem stems from the fact that, in Western society,human value is closely related to one's ability to achieve in competition with others." Thus, perceived ability becomes closely linked to perceptions of self worth, and performance in school becomes associated with low ability. Humiliation and shame result. To fail because one hasn't really tried or because of factors unrelated to one's ability is, however, less embarrassing. Many individuals, particularly those with low self-esteem or who are uncertain what others think of them, adopt defensive strategies. These include making little or no effort so that ability cannot be used to explain low performance; procrastination (whereby the task is left solate that foor performance is unavoidable); self handicapping rwhere an emotional or physical cause can be used to explain the performance); and the selection of tasks that are either so difficult that one cannot
~
be blamed for failure, or so easy that success is guaranteed. Many children, Covington argues, must find a balance between the extremes of trying too hard (and so risking the humiliating consequences of appearing incompetent in cases offailure) and not making sufficient effort (in which case, they may face guilt-inducing disapprobation from teachers and parents). In many cases, fear of humiliation is the stronger source of motivation, particularly for males." This results in many students attempting to preserve "a sense of dignity in school" by which they may engage in a series of "ruses and artful dodges [that] reflect a primordial struggle for self protection so elemental that many students are prepared to sacrifice even good grades for the sake of appearances". 37 Ultimately, however, such strategies are doomed to fail. Students are increasingly cut offfrom rewarding classroom experiences. Their externalised attributions for failure become less convincing and they finally have little option but to attribute their lack of success to low ability. This results in the student feeling incompetent, hopeless, angry and emotionally burnt out."
Resolving the paradox In trying to reconcile the self esteem paradox, we need to look to our highly individualistic and competitive culture, in which the nature of one's natural ability is pre-eminent, and, at the core, to our sense of personal worth. For those who fail to 'match up' to the desired image, the result is a sense of cognitive dissonance whereby the individual can only resolve the threat to his or her self-image by inflating self perceptions, personal aspirations and expectations. Our education system reflects broader societal values, yet, increasingly mindful of the seeming need to protect children's self esteem, now tries to ensure that 'all shall receive prizes'. This clash of individualist and collectivist traditions is abrasive and difficult to reconcile. Constant and non-contingent praise can result in a climate where the great majority have high opinions of themselves, yet still maintain an uneasy need to ensure that others share such a view. Those who experience greater difficulties with their learning may find unconditional praise untrustworthy or demeaning and, as a result, are likely to become even more defensive in how they present themselves to others. Given that our society's core values of individualism and competitiveness are unlikely to be susceptible to manipulation, what can teachers and parents do to help children? In my opinion, we need to provide our young with a sense of personal efficacy, a belief that, whatever their natural abilities, they can achieve if they are prepared to make significant and sustained effort. We need to signal honesty in our feedback to children and, in so doing, concentrate primarily upon how a youngster has done in relation to his or her previous performance, rather than that of others. That is
HUMAN GIVENS,
VOLUME
9, No 1 -
SPRING
2002
--------------------------------------------------------------__________________
what I tried to do in the case of my daughter's homework. The difference in the two vignettes I presented at the start of this article is that, in my daughter's case, negative feedback signalled positive parental expectations about the standards she could and should attain. Thus negative feedback was unlikely to undermine her underlying sense of worth. In Susan's case, however, a shattered sense of self resulting from gross psychological abuse and deprivation could not permit her to place herself in a situation where she would publicly be seen to perform badly. Nevertheless, it would have been a mistake, in my opinion, to follow the course of action I witnessed many of my colleagues taking at that time, which involved rapturous praise for halfhearted achievement. This, I feel, only served to make matters worse. Ifwe wish our children's performance to be comparable with those of other cultures, we need, both as a society and as individuals, to be clear about the levels of performance and the spheres of activity we consider truly desirable, and then accept that these come at a price. In the same way that I learned as a teenager that muscle-building contraptions advertised in magazines could not provide me with a 'six-pack' on the basis oflO minutes' daily exertion, the highest educational standards
can only be achieved by long and arduous periods of study. The question, and it is a genuine one, is whether this is something that we would wish for our children.
Dlma and Brandon I recall the lifestyles of two 16 year olds, high achievers in their schools, one a Russian, the other an American, both of whom I have come to know well over the past few years. These two I think, encapsulate, albeit in extreme form, key differences between the two cultures. The Russian, Dima, attends school for six days a week, and studies at home for more than four hours most nights. He is highly educated, fluent in three languages, advanced in mathematics and sciences. His knowledge of Russian literature is matched by his appreciation of Dickens, Shakespeare and Austen. The American, Brandon, despite making good grades, spends (and is required to spend) little time studying outside school hours. Although an academically able youngster, he prefers to spend his evenings playing sports, swimming in the lake, riding off-roader quad bikes, hanging out at the mall, eating fast food and going to the movies. In 1989, President George Bush outlined a goal that, by the year 2000, US students would be first in the world in
BOOKS The Tyranny of Numbers: why counting can't make us happy David Boyle Harper Collins, £8.99 THE proliferation of numbers in our lives is astonishing. Counting, measuring and analysing results has been an immeasurably useful tool that has helped us live together in ever more complex ways and allowed the rise of civilisations. But, as well as bringing progress, we alllmow that reliance on statistics too often paralyses thought, renders decision making harder and, however much counting
HUMAN GIVENS, VOLUME
9, No 1 -
we do, leads us to lose sight of the essence of the questions we are asking. Statistical research, like a virulent parasitic virus, has invaded our lives to such an extent that academics now often refuse to pass judgement on any problem, however urgent, because there 'hasn't been enough research'. Politicians use figures all the time. They obsess about their popularity ratings in the polls. They try to hide their failures from us by manipulating 'the figures'. And they use statistics to justify their actions, however foolish and out of touch with reality their policies are.
SPRING
2002
Books
mathematics and science achievement. Subsequent international assessments suggest that this aspiration was far from realised. To have achieved this would have required students to prioritise their studies in a way that would be unpalatable to most Americans (or British) for whom broader developmental tasks and the pursuit of ha pp iness, as demonstrated in Brandon's case, are often of higher priority than the erudition achieved by Dima," Should our children, in such contexts, feel inferior because their erudition is more meagre - and when there is evidence, too, that heavy school workloads are endangering Russian children's health and general well-being?" Obviously not, given that our society's interests and emphases differ. However, to believe that our children's academic performance can rival that of high-performing nations if our curricula and teaching approaches are reformed, but with the extent of the students' efforts remaining much as before, would be an equally fallacious position. High self esteem built upon individual or mass self delusion is unlikely to be psychologically adaptive. Recognising our priorities and tailoring our expectations in line vith these is likely to be the best way to maintain a positive, yet realistic, sense of self .•
"In power and influence, counting counts," wrote Robert Chambers in his book WhoseReality Counts? And David Boyle quotes Chambers to good effect in The Tyranny of Numbers. "Quantification brings credibility. But figures and tables can deceive, and numbers construct their own realities. What can be measured and manipulated statistically is then not only seen as real; it comes to be seen as the only or the whole reality." This neat little verse sums it all up:
Economists have come to feel What can't be measured isn't real. The truth is always an amount Count numbers, only numbers count. But the distinctions really get blurred when politicians start using numbers, says Boyle: ''Waiting lists up 40,000, Labour's £1000 tax bombshell, fertility down to 1.7, 22 Tory tax rises - elections are increasingly a clash between com-
43
