... the giftie gie us to see ourselves as others see us.

The words of Rabbie Burns [I think it was] seem to be a prescription for emotional health. And in contradistinction to earlier studies which seemed to suggest that a degree of over-estimation of our public likability was associated with less depression.

The findings are significant because they show that accuracy is the key -- not whether children thought that other kids liked them or not. That's important because some psychologists have theorized that people who have a positive bias -- meaning they think others like them more than they actually do -- are protected against developing symptoms of depression, while those who have a negative bias are prone to maladjustment and depression. The researchers found neither to be true. Instead, they found that those who had symptoms of depression at the start of the study over time became less accurate and more negatively biased about how well they were liked, indicating that negative bias is more of a consequence than a cause of depressive symptoms.

This is a roundabout commendation of the Christian practices of self examination, I think. So another thing worth noting in building that portfolio of spiritual practices that we Christians should be finding ways to 'market' into the spiritual marketplace.