Lecture 9: Views on the Self

What is the self?

Stainton Rogers (2003) suggests that we have 3 selfs:

• A Personal Self. My conscious thoughts and feelings
• A Social Self. Defined by the social context I am in
• A Relational Self. From the relationships I am involved in.

A sense of self

Maccoby (1980) pointed out that a sense of self develops by degrees. This process can be thought of as the gradual emergence of 2 somewhat separate features:

• the self as a subject of experience
• the self as an object of knowledge

Self concept

• An individual’s view of him/her self
• May be perceived differently by others
• Includes our sense of independence, individuality and sense of interdependence (Markus & Kitayama, 1991)
• Butterworth (1992) showed that by age 2 we have a sense of self-concept (a red line ws drawn on toddlers face and they were surprised when they saw themselves in a mirror