Knowing Yourself: How to Understand Personality, Harness Willpower & Manage Self-Esteem

by Roy F. Baumeister

Join Roy Baumeister, celebrated psychologist and New York Times best-selling author, on a journey to answer the most important questions of our lives: Who am I? What am I? What might I become? In 15 audio lectures, Dr. Baumeister draws from his renowned research to explain the origin, importance, and impact of the human self: the source of our self-esteem, self-control, and decision making, as well as our capacity for self-deception and self-destructive patterns.

The human self—self-aware, enmeshed in meaningful stories, sensitive to morality and reputation, and endlessly self-altering—is what separates humans from other animals. These lectures explore the general truths and patterns of our behavior that have been identified by psychologists, while recognizing that each of us is unique.

Individual lectures address the self’s influence on our personal strengths and weaknesses, and how we can leverage our understanding to fulfill our potential.

Genres: Psychology, Philosophy

Unknown Binding

About the author

Dr. Roy F. Baumeister is Social Psychology Area Director and Francis Eppes Eminent Scholar at Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida. He is a social psychologist who is known for his work on the self, social rejection, belongingness, sexuality, self-control, self-esteem, self-defeating behaviors, motivation, and aggression. And enduring theme of his work is "why people do stupid things." He has authored over 300 publications and has written or co-written over 20 books.

DOB from Wikipedia

Reviews

[Rupinder · Rating 4 out of 5]

A set of 15 nuanced lectures on some of the most important (and sometimes controversial) topics of psychology by Prof. Baumeister. Although the narration could be better, but the content is remarkable in its breadth, and the simplicity by which he summarizes sometimes decades of research (sometimes his own) in a few lines. Although one may be surprised by some findings or may have disagreements, it’s still a worthwhile listen for anyone looking to know what the research says about the self-concept, free will, self-esteem and many others.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't really a book as such but rather a series of lectures by the eminent psychologist Roy Baumeister. He does a good job of reviewing the literature on various aspects of the self. I enjoyed the lectures. I just can't say that I learned a lot about myself in the process, though they did give me much to think about.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s fine. Not particularly compelling. I tend to be skeptical about psychological research, and I was only convinced that about half of the ideas presented had any substance to them. The best chapters were the one on self regulation and the final on free will.

[Aneta · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very enjoyable audiobook, read by the author himself. Because of that, it really does feel like listening to lectures at uni. And I mean the best lectures. I don’t know myself better after this book but I’ve learnt couple interesting things.

[Sol Smith · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is better personality research to read. A lot of correlation studies which work wonders for the “number envy” problem in social sciences, but minimizes the human experience.

[Gregg Jenczyk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I was looking for at all but there were some interesting bits.

[Ramesh Naidu · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful short read

[Cheryl Cathcart · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good description of personality functions in easy to understand non-technical language.

[Nikita Hall · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first audiobook. I liked the format given that it’s a series of lectures. It was a little dull at times, but some topics were particularly interesting.

[Lawrence Lewis · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of lectures about how individuals create a self as a response to society: “you need a self only to deal with other people in society.” The lectures on self-control, willpower and decision making make very similar points to those in Charles Duhigg The Power of Habit. Informative audiobook.