Self and self-concept

Timothy J. Owens

Sarah Samblanet

pp. 225-249

in: Amanda Ward (ed), Handbook of social psychology, Berlin, Springer, 2013

Abstract

The notion of a self, or the possibility of unique personhood, has occupied human thought for millennia. Today, theory and research on the self and its more tangible manifestation—self-concept—continues to increase and to expand in new and promising directions. The assumption that self and society are co-created is also a bedrock axiom in symbolic interactionism. Recent scholarship, however, has attended more closely to defining and distinguishing among concepts related to the self and self-concept and to the mechanisms associated with their development. In this chapter we discuss the philosophical foundations of the concept of self and then address more recent theoretical and empirical refinements in self and self-concept research in the social sciences, particularly sociological social psychology. Along the way, we pay particular attention to theory and research on the self and self-concept as both a social product and a social force. Also addressed are deserving yet under-researched concepts related to the self, particularly mattering and comfort with the self. We conclude by discussing research methods used to study the self, including survey, field, and laboratory research.