The psychology of self is the study of either the cognitive, conative or affective representation of one's identity, or the subject of experience. The earliest form of the self in modern psychology saw the emergence of two elements, I and me, with I referring to the self as the subjective knower and me referring to the self as a subject that is known. Current views of the self in psychology position it as playing an integral part in human motivation, cognition, affect, and social identity. Over time, different theorists from multiple schools of thought in psychology have created theories of the self.

In clinical psychology

Jungian's Self archetype

thumb|Carl Jung in 1935|207x207px

In classical Jungian analysis, the Self (typically capitalized in Jungian literature) is the culmination of several archetypes, which are predispositions of how a person responds to the world. The Self signifies the coherent whole, unifying both the conscious and unconscious mind of a person.

Kohut's formulation

Kohut followed Freud's line of thinking regard the self. However, he deviates from Freud by theorizing that the self puts energy into the idea of narcissism (See Cathexis). The system is then broken over time into initially two systems of narcissistic perfection: 1) a system of ambitions (the grandiose self) and 2) a system of ideals (the idealized parent imago).

Nevertheless, Winnicott did not undervalue the role of the false self in the human personality, regarding it as a necessary form of defensive organization similar to that of a caretaker that protects the true self hides behind so that it may continue to exist.

Five levels of false self-organization were identified by Winnicott, running along a kind of continuum.

  1. In the most severe instance, the false self completely replaces and ousts the true self, leaving the latter a mere possibility.
  2. Less severely, the false self protects the true self, which remains unactualized.
  3. Closer to health, the false self supports the individual's search for conditions that will allow the true self to recover its own identity.
  4. Even closer to health, we find the false self "... established on the basis of identifications".
  5. Finally, in a healthy person, the false self is composed of that which facilitates social behavior, the manners and courtesy that allows for a smooth social life, with emotions expressed in socially acceptable forms. without entirely forfeiting the ability to relate to others.

Berne's transactional analysis

In his transactional analysis theory Eric Berne distinguished the personality's ego states – Parent, Adult and Child – from what he called 'the real self, the one that can move from one ego state to another'.

  • The Parent ego consists of borrowed behaviors and feelings from previous caregivers. The parent ego can consist of either the Nurturing or Critical Parent. Both types of parents offer information to the child that can be either beneficial or detrimental to their development.
  • The Adult ego is otherwise known as our data-processing center. This ego state is able to judge information based on facts, rather than emotions or preconceived beliefs.

A person's tone, gestures, choice of words, posture, and emotional state can portray which ego state they are currently in. By knowing about their own ego states, a person can use each one in particular situations in order to enhance their experience or make new social connections.

Berne saw the self as the most valuable part of the personality: "when people get to know each other well, they penetrate into the depths where this real Self resides, and that is the part of the other person they respect and love".

In social psychology

Social psychology acknowledges that "one of the most important life tasks each a person faces is understanding who they are and how they feel about themselves". This allows us to better understand ourselves, abilities, and preferences so that a person can make choices and decisions that suit them the best.

Other schools of thought look at the self from a social psychology perspective. Some are listed below.

The self is an automatic part of every human being that enables them to relate to others. The self is made up of three main parts that allow for the self to maintain its function: self-knowledge, the interpersonal self, and the agent self.

Self-knowledge

Self-knowledge is something many seek to understand. In knowing about their selves, a person is more capable of knowing how to be socially acceptable and desirable. They seek out self-knowledge due to the appraisal motive, self-enhancement motive, and consistency motive.

Self-knowledge is sometimes referred to as self-concept. This feature allows for people to gather information and beliefs about themselves. A person's self-awareness, self-esteem, and self-deception all fall under the self-knowledge part of self. People learn about themselves through our looking-glass selves, introspection, social comparisons, and self-perception.

Interpersonal self

The Interpersonal self, also known as the public self, refers to the part of the self that can be seen by other members of society. This aspect of social psychology emphasizes the theme of mutual constitution of the person and situation. Instead of focusing on the levels of class, race, and gender structure, this perspective seeks to understand the self in the way an individual lives their life on a moment-by-moment basis.

Self as an emergent phenomenon

In dynamical social psychology as proposed by Nowak et al., the self is rather an emergent property that emerges as an experiential phenomena from the interaction of psychological perceptions and experiences. This is also hinted in dynamical evolutionary social psychology where a set of decision rules generates complex behavior.

Memory and the self

Martin A. Conway

Memory and the self are interconnected to the point that they can be defined as the self-memory system (SMS). The self is viewed as a combination of memories and self-images (working self). Martin A. Conway proposes that a person's long-term memory and working self are dependent on each other. Our prior knowledge of our self puts constraints on what our working self is and the working self modifies the access to our long-term memory and what it consists of.

John Locke

One view of the self that follows the thinking of John Locke, sees it as a product of episodic memory. It has been suggested that transitory mental constructions within episodic memory form a self-memory system that grounds the goals of the working self, and semantic facts, and so conceptual knowledge rather than episodic memory. "The nature of personal narratives depends on highly conceptual and 'story-like' information about one's life, which resides at the general event level of autobiographical memory and is thus unlikely to rely on more event-specific episodic systems."