What is "the Self" in Psychology?

The concept of the "self" has been evolving since the ideas of William James and Sigmund Freud.

In psychology, concepts such as "I", "Ego" or "Self" are often used to designate the self-referential dimension of human experience. self-referential dimension of human experience. The perception of continuity and coherence, and thus the development of a sense of identity, depends on our conceiving a part of ourselves as the subject that is the protagonist of our life.

Since the late nineteenth century when William James (1842-1910) distinguished between "I" as the observer and "Me" as the object of experience, a large number of theories have emerged that attempt to define what it is to be the subject of our life. theories that attempt to define what the "I" is.. Below we will describe the most relevant ones through a brief historical tour.

The self in psychoanalysis

In the theory of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) the I is understood as the conscious part of the mindwhich must satisfy the instinctive and unconscious impulses of the Ego, taking into account the demands of the external world and of one's own consciousness - the Overself, constituted by internalized social norms.

The Ego or identity would therefore be an intermediate instance between an individual's biology and the world around him. According to Freud, its functions include perception, information management, reasoning and control of defense mechanisms.

His disciple Carl Gustav Jung (1875-1961) defined the ego as the core of consciousness. the ego as the nucleus of consciousness.Every psychic phenomenon or vital experience that is detected by the Ego becomes conscious. Thus, the sense of self is understood as a complex structure with a double component: somatic and psychic.

Moreover, for Jung the Self, the center of identity, is immersed in the Self, which constitutes the core of the personality in general; the Self includes the unconscious as well as the conscious part of experience. However, we are unable to experience the Self fully because we are anchored to the Self and consciousness.

The social roles of the self

In the social sciences of the first half of the 20th century, symbolic interactionism, a theoretical current that proposed that people interpret the world and its elements on the basis of the meanings that are given to them socially, enjoyed notable popularity. The self is constructed on the basis of face-to-face interaction and the social structure. and the social structure.

If we talk about the self and identity, within symbolic interactionism it is worth mentioning the dramaturgical model of Erving Goffman (1922-1982). This author was of the opinion that people, as if we were actors, try to appear consistent to others by adopting roles. For Goffman, the self is nothing more than the set of roles we play..

Later, the social psychologist Mark Snyder (1947-) developed his theory of self-observation or self-monitoring. This model states that people high in self-observation adapt their roles, and therefore their identity, to the situation in which they find themselves; on the other hand, those who self-monitor little show more the "I" with which they identify.

Multiplicity and complexity of identity

Among recent advances in the conception of the self from social psychology, two theories in particular stand out: Patricia Linville's self-complexity model and E. Tory Higgins' self-discrepancy theory. The central aspect of both models is that the self is understood as the mental representations we make of ourselves. mental representations we make of ourselves.

The self-complexity model proposes that identity depends on our social roles, interpersonal relationships, core personality traits, and the activities we engage in, such as careers. The concept "self-complexity" refers to the number of representations that make up the Self, as well as their degree of differentiation.

According to Linville, people with a high degree of self-complexity are more resilient to negative life eventsEven if one part of their identity is questioned or weakened by experiences, there will always be other parts of the self that they can use as a psychological anchor.

Higgins' theory of self-discrepancy

In his theory of self-discrepancy Higgins also states that the Self is not a unitary concept, although he defines the different components of identity on the basis of two parameters: the domains of the Self and the views of the Self.. In the latter criterion we find the person's perspective on him/herself, as well as that which he/she believes significant others have.

In the domains of the self, which can be associated with one's own perspective or that of others, we find the real self (how I am), the ideal self (how I would like to be), the self that I should be, the potential self (how I could become) and the future self, which is the identity we hope to be.

Higgins considers that the real self, both from the point of view of oneself and from that which we assume significant others have, is the basis of our self-concept. In contrast, the other aspects are the guides of the self, which serve as a model and reference for us to act. serve as a model and reference to act and to evaluate our behavior. and to evaluate our behavior.

Post-rationalist cognitive theories

Vittorio Guidano (1944-1999) is considered the main pioneer of postrationalist psychology. This theoretical orientation arose as a reaction to the predominance of positivist and rationalist philosophies, which affirm that there is an objective reality that can be perceived and understood accurately through the senses and logic.

Cognitive-constructivist psychological theories defend the fundamental relevance of language in the way we interpret the world around us and we share these perspectives. Through language we organize our experiences in the form of narratives, from which memory and identity emerge.from which memory and identity emerge.

Thus, the self is not conceived as a defined entity, but as the constant process of constructing a coherent autobiographical narrative that allows us to give meaning to our experiences. From the postrationalist perspective the problem of identity becomes a linguistic-narrative issue.

Guidano also distinguished between the I and the Me. While he defined the I as the bodily-emotional dimension of experience, predominantly unconscious of experience, predominantly unconscious, for this author the Me is the part of the Self that observes and generates meanings through language. The union of the I and the Me results from the creation of coherent narratives that are intended to be explanatory.