Tricking the mind
The modern perspective of our self esteem is riddled with a lack of understanding. The modern calls to 'love yourself' are an attempt at delusion in my opinion. To trick your mind into believing it is successful, when in reality the opposite is true. I am not sure of the effectiveness of such ideas, but with the contrast of the public outcry to 'love who you are' and the high levels of depression in the modern population, it is proving rather ineffective. That's precisely because you can't trick a hyper observant organ into believing it is successful when the inner dialogue does not match what it is observing.
Serotonin and dominance hierarchies
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that fluctuates based on your self-perception. The better you perform or are treated by others, the more serotonin is released into your brain. Serotonin also regulates your mood, meaning the more there is, the better you feel. Modern SSRI's, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, are antidepressants used to keep more serotonin in the brain and increase your mood in a positive manner.
When someone is socially or sexually rejected, loses a competition, or has their worth challenged in anyway, serotonin levels plummet. All of these losses could signal a lack of access to mates, food or being socially outcasted from the group. All of which could spell the end of your life or genetic lineage. The evolutionary function of feeling anxious and depressed when serotonin levels are low is to keep you alive in dangerous situations. If one is socially outcasted from a group, it dramatically increases the likelihood of death, making hunting or finding food more difficult and encounters with predators far more dangerous. So when you are shunned by other members of your social group, you need to be anxious and 'on-edge', it could save your life. And so evolution favoured it, and here we are manifesting millions of years of evolution in our everyday actions.
The opposite also manifests, someone who has 'good' genetics or is particularly affluent with useful skills will feel the confidence boost that a high serotonin level will bring from the continual positive reinforcement they will receive from others. This allows them to exploit the resources of others more efficiently and gauge what conflicts they are able to win.
I am sure that this extends beyond the complexity of just a single neurotransmitter, but this explanation is at least easy to understand how human social value systems work.
Markers of human value
This is quite obvious if you understand the basic concepts of evolution, what makes someone valuable to themselves or others is what is useful for the species at it's last natural or sexual selection point.
More definably:
Perceived genetic quality which is shown in physical appearance.
Levels of resources and social status which can also be a marker of genetic quality to acquire such resources.
Intelligence and personality (to a smaller extent), which can indicate survival capabilities and carrying out the raising of young for example.
With the introduction of modern technology, these features are rendered useless. But our primordial brains still choose to value them for reasons aforementioned.
Modern human behaviour
Ever observed a playground? To most it would be a place of children playing and interacting for fun, but to me it is a place of darwinistic struggle for power. I found a study that presented that even as young as first grade, males get dopamine boosts when placed in positions of power over their classmates. It's a window into human evolution, if one traveled back in time ten thousand years, one would find no major difference in the behaviour of humans on a fundamental level, despite the lack of technology.
In summary
To my knowledge, the best way to significantly increase your self esteem or general mood, is to actually be successful or be treated better by others. Modern psychological approaches to helping people with mood disorders is flawed and in need of repair. Drugging up some teen with an SSRI is only solving the psychological problem that is caused by a physical reality, only when targeting the solution to the reality, are we able to completely solve the issue. For incels; a government or charity mandated plastic surgery welfare program would be of great use, including public health campaigns on mewing and child hormonal profiles, like what we have with smoking and such.
The modern perspective of our self esteem is riddled with a lack of understanding. The modern calls to 'love yourself' are an attempt at delusion in my opinion. To trick your mind into believing it is successful, when in reality the opposite is true. I am not sure of the effectiveness of such ideas, but with the contrast of the public outcry to 'love who you are' and the high levels of depression in the modern population, it is proving rather ineffective. That's precisely because you can't trick a hyper observant organ into believing it is successful when the inner dialogue does not match what it is observing.
Serotonin and dominance hierarchies
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that fluctuates based on your self-perception. The better you perform or are treated by others, the more serotonin is released into your brain. Serotonin also regulates your mood, meaning the more there is, the better you feel. Modern SSRI's, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, are antidepressants used to keep more serotonin in the brain and increase your mood in a positive manner.
When someone is socially or sexually rejected, loses a competition, or has their worth challenged in anyway, serotonin levels plummet. All of these losses could signal a lack of access to mates, food or being socially outcasted from the group. All of which could spell the end of your life or genetic lineage. The evolutionary function of feeling anxious and depressed when serotonin levels are low is to keep you alive in dangerous situations. If one is socially outcasted from a group, it dramatically increases the likelihood of death, making hunting or finding food more difficult and encounters with predators far more dangerous. So when you are shunned by other members of your social group, you need to be anxious and 'on-edge', it could save your life. And so evolution favoured it, and here we are manifesting millions of years of evolution in our everyday actions.
The opposite also manifests, someone who has 'good' genetics or is particularly affluent with useful skills will feel the confidence boost that a high serotonin level will bring from the continual positive reinforcement they will receive from others. This allows them to exploit the resources of others more efficiently and gauge what conflicts they are able to win.
I am sure that this extends beyond the complexity of just a single neurotransmitter, but this explanation is at least easy to understand how human social value systems work.
Markers of human value
This is quite obvious if you understand the basic concepts of evolution, what makes someone valuable to themselves or others is what is useful for the species at it's last natural or sexual selection point.
More definably:
Perceived genetic quality which is shown in physical appearance.
Levels of resources and social status which can also be a marker of genetic quality to acquire such resources.
Intelligence and personality (to a smaller extent), which can indicate survival capabilities and carrying out the raising of young for example.
With the introduction of modern technology, these features are rendered useless. But our primordial brains still choose to value them for reasons aforementioned.
Modern human behaviour
Ever observed a playground? To most it would be a place of children playing and interacting for fun, but to me it is a place of darwinistic struggle for power. I found a study that presented that even as young as first grade, males get dopamine boosts when placed in positions of power over their classmates. It's a window into human evolution, if one traveled back in time ten thousand years, one would find no major difference in the behaviour of humans on a fundamental level, despite the lack of technology.
In summary
To my knowledge, the best way to significantly increase your self esteem or general mood, is to actually be successful or be treated better by others. Modern psychological approaches to helping people with mood disorders is flawed and in need of repair. Drugging up some teen with an SSRI is only solving the psychological problem that is caused by a physical reality, only when targeting the solution to the reality, are we able to completely solve the issue. For incels; a government or charity mandated plastic surgery welfare program would be of great use, including public health campaigns on mewing and child hormonal profiles, like what we have with smoking and such.
