Topic: Self

The self is an individual person as the object of its own reflective consciousness. Since the self is
a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of
having a self—or self-hood—should, however, not be confused with subjectivity itself.
Ostensibly, this sense is directed outward from the subject to refer inward, back to its "self" (or
itself). Examples of psychiatric conditions where such "sameness" may become broken include
depersonalization, which sometimes occurs in schizophrenia: the self appears different from the
subject.

The first-person perspective distinguishes self-hood from personal identity. Whereas "identity" is
(literally) sameness and may involve categorization and labeling,

self-hood implies a first-person perspective and suggests potential uniqueness. Conversely, we

Although subjective experience is central to self-hood, the privacy of this experience is only one
of many problems in the Philosophy of self and scientific study of consciousness.

Neuroscience
Two areas of the brain that are important in retrieving self-knowledge are the medial prefrontal
cortex and the medial posterior parietal cortex.

The posterior cingulate cortex, the anterior cingulate cortex, and medial prefrontal cortex are
thought to combine to provide humans with the ability to self-reflect. The insular cortex is also
thought to be involved in the process of self-reference.

Psychology
The psychology of self is the study of either the cognitive and affective representation of one's
identity or the subject of experience. The earliest formulation of the self in modern psychology
forms the distinction between the self as I, the subjective knower, and the self as Me, the subject
that is known. Current views of the self in psychology position the self as playing an integral part
in human motivation, cognition, affect, and social identity. Self following from John Locke has
been seen as a product of episodic memory but research upon those with amnesia find they have
a coherent sense of self based upon preserved conceptual autobiographical knowledge. It is
increasingly possible to correlate cognitive and affective experience of self with neural
processes. A goal of this ongoing research is to provide grounding and insight into the elements
of which the complex multiply situated selves of human identity are composed. The 'Disorders of
the Self' have also been extensively studied by psychiatrists.For example, facial and pattern
recognition take large amounts of brain processing capacity but pareidolia cannot explain many
constructs of self for cases of disorder, such as schizophrenia or schizo-affective disorder.

One's sense of self can also be changed upon becoming part of a stigmatized group. According to
Cox, Abramson, Devine, and Hollon (2012), if an individual has prejudice against a certain
group, like the elderly and then later becomes part of this group this prejudice can be turned
inward causing depression (i.e. deprejudice).The philosophy of a disordered self, such as in
schizophrenia, is described in terms of what the psychiatrist understands are actual events in
terms of neuron excitation but are delusions nonetheless, and the schizo-affective or
schizophrenic person also believes are actual events in terms of essential being. PET scans have
shown that auditory stimulation is processed in certain areas of the brain, and imagined similar
events are processed in adjacent areas, but hallucinations are processed in the same areas as
actual stimulation. In such cases, external influences may be the source of consciousness and the
person may or may not be responsible for "sharing" in the mind's process, or the events which
occur, such as visions and auditory stimuli, may persist and be repeated often over hours, days,
months or years—and the afflicted person may believe themselves to be in a state of rapture or
possession.

What the Freudian tradition has subjectively called, "sense of self" is for Jungian analytic
psychology, where one's identity is lodged in the persona or ego and is subject to change in
maturation. Carl Jung distinguished, "The self is not only the center, but also the whole
circumference which embraces both conscious and unconscious; it is the center of this totality...".
The Self in Jungian psychology is "the archetype of wholeness and the regulating center of the
psyche ... a transpersonal power that transcends the ego." As a Jungian archetype, it cannot be
seen directly, but by ongoing individuating maturation and analytic observation, can be
experienced objectively by its cohesive wholeness making factor.Meanwhile self psychology is a
set of psychotherapeutic principles and techniques established by the Austrian-born American
psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut upon the foundation of the psychoanalytic method developed by
Freud, and is specifically focused on the subjectivity of experience, which it alleges is mediated
by a psychological structure called the self.

Sociology
The self can be redefined as a dynamic, responsive process that structures neural pathways
according to past and present environments including material, social, and spiritual aspects. Self-
concept is a concept or belief that an individual has of him or herself as an emotional, spiritual,
and social being. Therefore, the self-concept is the idea of who I am, kind of like a self-reflection
of one's well-being. For example, the self-concept is anything you say about yourself.

A society is a group of people who share a common belief or aspect of self interacting for the
maintenance or betterment of the collective. Culture consists of explicit and implicit patterns of
historically derived and selected ideas and their embodiment in institutions, cognitive and social
practices, and artifacts. Cultural systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of
action, and on the other, as conditioning elements of further action. Therefore, the following
sections will explore how the self and self-concept can be changed due to different cultures.
Markus and Kitayama's early 1990s theory hypothesized that representations of the self in human
cultures would fall on a continuum from independent to interdependent. The independent self is
supposed to be egoistic, unique, separated from the various contexts, critical in judgement and
prone to self-expression. The interdependent self is supposed to be altruistic, similar with the
others, flexible according to contexts, conformist and unlikely to express opinions that would
disturb the harmony of his or her group of belonging. This theory enjoyed huge popularity
despite its many problems such as being based on popular stereotypes and myths about different
cultures rather than on rigorous scientific research as well as postulating a series of causal links
between culture and self-construals without presenting any evidence supporting them. A large
study from 2016 involving a total of 10,203 participants from 55 cultural groups found that there
is no independent versus interdependent dimension of self-construal because traits supposed by
Markus & Kitayama to form a coherent construct do not actually correlate, or if they correlate,
they have correlations opposite to those postulated by Markus & Kitayama. There are seven
separate dimension of self-construal which can be found at both the cultural level of analysis and
the individual level of analysis. These dimensions are difference versus similarity (if the
individual considers himself or herself to be a unique person or to be the same as everybody
else), self-containment versus connection to others (feeling oneself as being separated from
others versus feeling oneself as being together with the others), self-direction versus
receptiveness to influence (independent thinking versus conformity).

Westerners, Latin Americans and the Japanese are relatively likely to represent their individual
self as unique and different from that of others while Arabs, South-East Asians and Africans are
relatively likely to represent their self as being similar with that of others. Individuals from
Uganda, Japan, Colombia, Namibia, Ghana and Belgium were most likely to represent their
selves as being emotionally separated from the community while individuals from Oman,
Malaysia, Thailand and central Brazil were most likely to consider themselves as emotionally
connected to their communities. Japanese, Belgians, British and Americans from Colorado were
most likely to value independent thinking and consider themselves as making their own
decisions in life independently from others. On the other hand, respondents from rural Peru,
Malaysia, Ghana, Oman and Hungary were most likely to place more value on following others
rather than thinking for themselves as well as to describe themselves as being often influenced
by others in their decisions. Middle Easterners from Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and Oman were
most likely to value self-reliance and consider themselves as working on their own and being
economically independent from others. On the other hand, respondents from Uganda, Japan and
Namibia were most likely to consider cooperation between different individuals in economical
activities as being important. Chileans, Ethiopians from the highlands, Turks and people from
Lebanon placed a relatively high degree of importance on maintaining a stable pattern of
behavior regardless of situation or context. Individuals from Japan, Cameroon, the United
Kingdom and Sweden were most likely to describe themselves as being adaptable to various
contexts and to place value on this ability. Colombians, Chileans, US Hispanics, Belgians and
Germans were most likely to consider self expression as being more important than maintaining
harmony within a group. Respondents from Oman, Cameroon and Malaysia were most likely to
say that they prefer keeping harmony within a group to engaging in self-expression. Sub-Saharan
Africans from Namibia, Ghana and Uganda considered that they would follow their own
interests even if this means harming the interests of those close to them. Europeans from
Belgium, Italy and Sweden had the opposite preference, considering self-sacrifice for other
members of the community as being more important than accomplishing selfish goals.

Contrary to the theory of Markus & Kitayama, egoism correlates negatively with individual
uniqueness, independent thinking and self-expression. Self-reliance correlates strongly and
negatively with emotional self-containment, which is also unexpected given Markus &
Kitayama's theory. The binary classification of cultural self-construals into independent versus
interdependent is deeply flawed because in reality, the traits do not correlate according to
Markus & Kitayama's self construal theory, and this theory fails to take into consideration the
extremely diverse and complex variety of self-construals present in various cultures across the
world.The way individuals construct themselves may be different due to their culture. The self is
dynamic and complex and it will change or conform to whatever social influence it is exposed to.
The main reason why the self is constantly dynamic is because it always looks for reasons to not
be harmed. The self in any culture looks out for its well-being and will avoid as much threat as
possible. This can be explained through the evolutionary psychology concept called survival of
the fittest.

Philosophy
The philosophy of self seeks to describe essential qualities that constitute a person's uniqueness
or essential being. There have been various approaches to defining these qualities. The self can
be considered that being which is the source of consciousness, the agent responsible for an
individual's thoughts and actions, or the substantial nature of a person which endures and unifies
consciousness over time.

In addition to Emmanuel Levinas writings on "otherness", the distinction between "you" and
"me" has been further elaborated in Martin Buber's philosophical work: Ich und Du.

Religion
Religious views on the Self vary widely. The Self is a complex and core subject in many forms
of spirituality. Two types of Self are commonly considered—the Self that is the ego, also called
the learned, superficial Self of mind and body, an egoic creation, and the Self which is
sometimes called the "True Self", the "Observing Self", or the "Witness". In Hinduism, the
Ātman (Self), despite being experienced as individual, is actually a representation of the unified
transcendent reality, Brahman. Our experience of reality doesn't match the nature of Brahman
due to māyā.

One description of spirituality is the Self's search for "ultimate meaning" through an independent
comprehension of the sacred. Another definition of spiritual identity is: "A persistent sense of
Self that addresses ultimate questions about the nature, purpose, and meaning of life, resulting in
behaviors that are consonant with the individual’s core values. Spiritual identity appears when
the symbolic religious and spiritual value of a culture is found by individuals in the setting of
their own life. There can be different types of spiritual Self because it is determined by one's life
and experiences."Human beings have a Self—that is, they are able to look back on themselves as
both subjects and objects in the universe. Ultimately, this brings questions about who we are and
the nature of our own importance. Traditions such as Buddhism see the attachment to Self is an
illusion that serves as the main cause of suffering and unhappiness. Christianity makes a
distinction between the true Self and the false Self, and sees the false Self negatively, distorted
through sin: 'The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?'
(Jeremiah 17:9)

According to Marcia Cavell, identity comes from both political and religious views. He also
identified exploration and commitment as interactive parts of identity formation, which includes
religious identity. Erik Erikson compared faith with doubt and found that healthy adults take
heed to their spiritual side.

See also
Attention

Ātman (Buddhism), Buddhist concept of self

Anatta— "not-self", there is no unchanging, permanent self, soul or essence in living beings

Ātman (Hinduism), inner self or soul in Hindu philosophy

Consciousness

Jīva (Jainism), or Atman, used within Jainism to identify the soul

Ego (disambiguation)

Humeanism § Bundle theory of the self

I (pronoun)

Individual

Individuation

Me (pronoun), the first-person singular pronoun, referring to the speaker

Meditation

Moral psychology

Outline of self

Self-awareness
Self-knowledge (psychology)

Self remembering

Social projection

Soul

Sources of the Self

True self and false self

Will (philosophy)

References
Further reading