There was some fear that the pressures exerted by societal norms would dilute the individual sense of self that people were thought to possess. Jean-Jacques Rousseau most notably recognized how social interaction could drown out the inner voices of individuals (Rousseau, 1782/1979, 1754/1984; also Herder, 1774–1791/1800). He argued that the desire to be considered worthy by others—pride, or even vanity—can become so overwhelming that people begin to lose contact with who they are as individuals. In this way, worldly pressures and external influences undermine the ability of an individual to focus on developing and sustaining knowledge of him- or herself.