Lesson plan
Approbativeness
Approbativeness is an excessive eagerness to become the subject of approval or praise. One of the rare examples of the word's use, appears in a letter of 1829, from Helen Martineau, in which she comments on the figures in an embroidered fire-screen made by her youngest sister Isabella Higginson (1808-1860): The Gypsey is my most especial admiration, and no less James’s too, who says he hopes [Isabella] has not the organ of approbativeness, or woe betide her where she is an object of such unbounded praise. In phrenology, approbativeness is a term used to define the faculty or mental power associated with desires such as esteem, ambition, and superiority. Nowadays, approbativeness is often linked to the emotion of vanity, and, as such, is distinguished from self-esteem, which is linked to the emotion of pride. In psychology, approbativeness may be seen as an inordinate desire for applause and adulation, where the subject strives to be the centre of attention, with a consequent sensitivity to criticism and blame. For example, Then think of the president’s skull, which is stuffed with other humours: insecurity, insincerity, victimhood, paranoia, mockery, self-delusion, suspicion, calculation, illogic, vindictiveness, risk, bullying, alimentiveness, approbativeness, vitativeness. Gall, divided into three parts. Rev.…
Article summary
Approbativeness is an excessive eagerness to become the subject of approval or praise. One of the rare examples of the word's use, appears in a letter of 1829, from Helen Martineau, in which she comments on the figures in an embroidered fire-screen made by her youngest sister Isabella Higginson (1808-1860): The Gypsey is my most especial admiration, and no less James’s too, who says he hopes [Isabella] has not the organ of approbativeness, or woe betide her where she is an object of such unbounded praise. In phrenology, approbativeness is a term used to define the faculty or mental power associated with desires such as esteem, ambition, and superiority. Nowadays, approbativeness is often linked to the emotion of vanity, and, as such, is distinguished from self-esteem, which is linked to the emotion of pride. In psychology, approbativeness may be seen as an inordinate desire for applause and adulation, where the subject strives to be the centre of attention, with a consequent sensitivity to criticism and blame. For example, Then think of the president’s skull, which is stuffed with other humours: insecurity, insincerity, victimhood, paranoia, mockery, self-delusion, suspicion, calculation, illogic, vindictiveness, risk, bullying, alimentiveness, approbativeness, vitativeness. Gall, divided into three parts. Rev.…
Key claims
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.