A reputation seems to be made by the environment but it is a magnifying simplification, constructed by simpletons. Bergler shows that reputation is not something one acquires but is an act of unconscious misconception one imposes unconsciously on the environment to bolster one's own inner defenses. The purpose of this unconsciously determined technique is to produce a smoke-screen concealing one's inner self from one's self and others. Thus the outsider is misled into taking the unconscious defense structure of the subject for what the subject is, and by this coöperation from the environment the subject is helped to maintain his psychic balance.