Charles Horton Cooley and the Looking Glass Self
Charles Horton Cooley was a professor in the late 1800's to the first third of the 20th century. He went to the University of Michigan to study politics, sociology, psychology and economics. After he received a master's degree he married and had children. His children became the subjects of his experiments and as a result he became very secluded. In 1909, he published a book called Social Organization in which he spoke of in greater detail about his theory The Looking Glass Self. This theory is the idea that, what you think I am is what makes me, me. Cooley said this doesn't apply to only people, he said it also applies to things like the economy. So therefore, if enough people think the economy is failing the economy will fail.