Year: 2025
Type: preprint
Abstract: We diagnose an ego paradox in modern psychology: interventions that center self-esteem, authenticity, and comfort can quietly erode resilience and moral character.Synthesizing 1900-2025, we map four engines of this drift-self-care consumerism, validation culture, therapy-as-product, and algorithmic self-branding.Drawing on virtue ethics, Stoicism, existentialism, and research on psychological richness, we argue that flourishing requires discomfort, duty, and perspective-shifting experiences.We propose five practice shifts: moral scaffolding, challenge tolerance, richness goals, community responsibility, and anti-consumer guardrails.The aim is simple: care for the self and build character.
Author: Kyle Hyatt
Language: English
Subfield: Social Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
OpenAlex ID: W4413377097