No‐self,real self,ignorance and self‐deception: Does self‐deception require a self?

In this paper I dispute Eliot Deutsch's claim [See Deutsch, Eliot (1996) Self‐deception: a comparative study, in: Roger T. Ames and Wimal Dissanayake (Eds) Self and Deception: a cross‐cultural enquiry (Albany, State University of New York Press), pp. 315–326] that examining self‐deception from the perspective of non‐Western traditions (i.e. how it is understood in those cultures) can help us to better understand the nature of the phenomenon in one's own culture. Although the claim appears to be uncontrover‐sial and perhaps even self‐evident, I shall argue that it is fundamentally mistaken. What is important about both the claim and my critical assessment of it is not what it tells us about self‐deception. I shall show that it tells us little about self‐deception; that Deutsch confuses ignorance with self‐deception; and that he straightforwardly equivocates on the concept. Instead, what is interesting is what Deutsch's treatment of self‐deception in comparative perspective can tell us about comparative philosophy. The significance of what follows in this paper is less about self‐deception than it is about comparative philosophy.     

Freedom,emotion, and self‐subsistence

A set of basic static predicates, ‘in itself, ‘existing through itself, ‘free’, and others are taken to be (at least) extensionally equivalent, and some consequences are drawn in Parts A and ? of the paper. Part C introduces adequate causation and adequate conceiving as extensionally equivalent. The dynamism or activism of Spinoza is reflected in the reconstruction by equating action with causing, passion (passive emotion) with being caused. The relation between conceiving (understanding) and causing is narrowed down by introducing grasping (λαμβ?νω) as a basic epistemological term. Part D, ‘The road to freedom through active emotion’, introduces a system of grading with respect to the distinctions introduced in the foregoing, including ‘being in itself, ‘freedom’, etc. Active emotions are seen to represent transitions to a higher degree of freedom, the stronger and more active ones being the more conducive to rapid increase in degree of freedom. Elementary parts of the calculus of predicates are used in order to facilitate the survey of conceptual relations and to prove some theorems.     

Self‐construction and identity: The Confucian self in relation to some western perceptions

In contrast to the metaphysical, epistemological and psychological understandings of the self traditionally held and today still extensively considered in the West, the self in Confucianism is essentially an ethical concept, representing a holistic view of humanhood and a continuingly constructive process driven by self‐cultivation and moral orientations. This paper first examines what is literally and philosophically meant by the self in these two traditions, then examines the contrasts or comparisons between the Confucian conception of the self and the self as perceived in some strands of Western philosophy; and finally, interprets and analyses the constructively organic theory of the Confucian self, which is clearly differentiated from the self perceived in mainstream philosophy in traditional Europe and yet is being echoed in the more recent developments of Western philosophy and in the strong current of postmodernism. [1]     

Settling on what we are: The central place of the sense‐of‐self in education,and the implication of the concepts of the teleon and telentropy for the development of the sense‐of‐self

The purpose of this article is to illustrate the centrality of the development of a person's sense‐of‐self in his or her personal growth, and so to justify why educators should deliberately focus the attention of learners on the development of their own senses‐of‐self.

We describe the sense‐of‐self as a person's working hypothesis of what he or she is, as a functioning being. (This is in contrast to the notion of self‐concept, which is composed of the beliefs and evaluations that one has about oneself as a person in a social context.)

To illustrate the centrality of the sense‐of‐self we introduce two associated concepts—the teleon and telentropy. Teleons are “purposeful action patterns,” which may be regarded as the defining characteristic of any living system, including human beings.

Telentropy is similar to entropy (encountered in physics and chemistry), but instead of dealing with the level of disorder in externally described systems, it represents the level of informational confusion existing within an organism regarding its own true nature.

We discuss the implications of the concepts “teleon” and “telentropy” for a person's educability, using examples from daily life and educational institutions.

We provide a number of suggestions for the revising of educational practice to foster the development of the sense‐of‐self in learners. This we demonstrate to have potentially beneficial effects of the general stress levels of society.     

Hegel and self‐actualization

Abstract

Hegel says that mind develops through three phases, which he calls soul, consciousness, and mind. By referring to these three phases as the Primary level, the Social level and the Realizing level, it makes it clearer that they link up with thoroughly familiar phenomena in the field of psychotherapy and with contemporary life generally. In fact, they give a new angle on the whole process of self‐actualization, which throws light on many topics in humanistic psychology.     

Creativity and the subliminal manipulation of projected self‐images

Abstract:

This is a report of two experiments on the relationship between creativity and the effects of manipulations of self‐image. Creativity was estimated with the Creative Functioning Test (CFT), an assessment of the tendency to bar the use of subjective interpretations when the support for a “correct” interpretation is being gradually eroded. Self‐image was manipulated in the Identification Test (IT). This involves a backwards masking design in which an ambiguous picture of a face is presented briefly on a viewing screen, preceded by either of two subliminal verbal messages. These were I SUPERIOR and I INFERIOR in a pilot study (n = 25) and I GOOD and I BAD in the main study (n = 33). In the latter, there was also an interview which served to further cross‐validate the CFT. In both studies, creative subjects alternated between reporting young faces and adult ones significantly more often than uncreative subjects. Their identity was not, then, fixedly adult. Creative and uncreative subjects also defended their projected self‐image in different ways against the subliminal manipulations. High and stable self‐confidence was typical of both highly creative and uncreative subjects, but not of subjects in the middle range. Still, the self‐confidence in the two extreme groups was only superficially similar.     

Creativity,chaos, and self‐renewal in human systems

The research findings from the psychology of creativity are shown to be of considerable relevance to the study of self‐organization and self‐renewal in human systems. The characteristics of the creative person, and the nature of the creative process, particularly as they have been elaborated by Barron, are shown to be remarkably congruent with recent findings and theoretical elaborations by Abraham, Jantsch, Laszlo, Prigogine, and others in the fields of evolutionary and chaos theory. The broader social implications of chaos and evolutionary theories are fleshed out through an understanding of their characteristics in creative human systems.     

Some thoughts on self‐disclosure and the danger‐safety balance in the therapeutic relationship

This paper examines the assumptions and recommendations of Irwin Hoffman on self‐disclosure and Jay Greenberg on the danger—safety balance in the therapeutic relationship. On the basis of this examination, alternatives to the ideas of Hoffman and Greenberg are offered for consideration.     

The ideal‐self inventory: A new measure of self‐esteem

This article reports on some research in progress developing a new measure of self‐esteem which we have called the Ideal‐Self Inventory (ISI). The inventory is based on a constructivist approach and simply asks participants to list ten characteristics to describe their ideal self together with the ten opposite characteristics to describe their not ideal self. The ISI has been tested on over 100 student volunteers and correlates significantly with the adult version of the Coopersmith Self‐Esteem Inventory. The applications of this new measure are discussed with particular reference to counselling and psychotherapy.     

II. Eisenberg and self‐obligations

Terms for the pitch of tones, such as ‘high‐low’ do not describe pitch and can interfere with our apprehending such data for what they are in their sensuous uniqueness. Very different alternatives such as ‘narrow‐broad’ or French aigu‐grave serve equally well. In listening to music the first requisite is the apprehension of ‘uncategorized’ tones, the words for them serving only as a way of marking the fact of their differences. This must lead us to reaffirm what was said by Gorgias about what language can and cannot do in respect of such data.     

The subjective–agentic personality sector (SAPS): Introduction to the special issue on self,identity, and psychopathology

This special issue is predicated upon the premise that there exists a subjective–agentic personality sector (SAPS) that is crucially relevant to the understanding and treatment of psychopathology. SAPS is often overlooked by “trait” models in personality psychology. It is comprised of “hot” cognitions about one's self and identity as they unfold throughout the life span and are brought to bear on interpersonal relationships. There are four ways in which SAPS may be involved in psychopathology: (a) inherently, as a component of psychiatric disorders, (b) as a passive vulnerability dimension, namely by interacting with life stress, (c) as an active vulnerability dimension, that is, by propelling external situations that culminate in psychopathology, and (d) by constituting a central consequent of psychopathology (i.e., the scarring pattern, see below). In this Journal of Personality special issue, experts in personality and psychopathology demonstrate the centrality of SAPS in unipolar depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar spectrum disorder, eating disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, complex trauma and borderline personality disorder, social anxiety disorder, suicidality in the context of mood disorders, and recovery from schizophrenia. A commentary by Dan McAdams, a leader in the study of self and identity, concludes this special issue.     

The creative thinking,environmental frustration,and self‐concept of left‐ and right‐handers

Abstract:

Left‐ (n = 12) and right‐handed (n = 12) college students were compared on creative thinking, environmental frustration, and self‐concept. It was hypothesized that because left‐handers regularly encounter equipment designed for right hand use, these individuals must use creative thinking to successfully interact with the environment. Results indicated that on the Environmental Frustration Questionnaire, left‐handers indicated significantly greater frustration with two of the six categories of objects, namely household tools (p < .005) and classroom desks (p < .005). On the Verbal and Figural Forms of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, lefthanders scored significantly higher on the figural elaboration measure (p < .05). Finally, the hypothesis that handedness plays a larger role in the self‐concept of left‐handers than right‐handers was confirmed. Left‐handers were significantly more likely than right‐handers to mention their handedness when asked to describe themselves (p < .05).     

The growth hypothesis and self‐actualization: An existential alternative

Abstract

Examining the process of becoming from an existential perspective, we describe the existence of the self in non‐biological terms as a product of its own intentionality. In this context, there is no need to postulate a growth hypothesis in order to (1) to describe a person as a process of becoming, and (2) to explain self‐actualization. While the process of becoming is a static process, self‐actualization is a dynamic process. In the first case, the self deterministically and naively merely becomes. In the second, case, the process results from becoming the object of personal choices, whereby we become authentic. While the self is “a being in the process of mere becoming,” self‐actualization is “a being in the process of authentic becoming.” In this view, humanistic psychotherapy aims at making the self's mere becoming an authentic process. Existential crisis, in particular confrontation with death, is often the transformational medium.     

The growth hypothesis and self‐actualization: An existential alternative

Abstract

Examining the process of becoming from an existential perspective, we describe the existence of the self in non‐biological terms as a product of its own intentionality. In this context, there is no need to postulate a growth hypothesis in order to (1) to describe a person as a process of becoming, and (2) to explain self‐actualization. While the process of becoming is a static process, self‐actualization is a dynamic process. In the first case, the self deterministically and naively merely becomes. In the second, case, the process results from becoming the object of personal choices, whereby we become authentic. While the self is “a being in the process of mere becoming,” self‐actualization is “a being in the process of authentic becoming.” In this view, humanistic psychotherapy aims at making the self's mere becoming an authentic process. Existential crisis, in particular confrontation with death, is often the transformational medium.     

A motivational hierarchy within: Primacy of the individual self,relational self,or collective self?

The individual self, relational self, and collective self are important and meaningful aspects of identity. However, they plausibly differ in their relative importance such that one self lies closer to the motivational core of the self-concept, better represent the “home base” of selfhood, or, simply stated, is motivationally primary. Four multi-method studies tested the relative motivational-primacy of the selves. Despite their disparate methods, the studies yielded consistent evidence of a three-tiered hierarchy with the individual self at the top, followed by the relational self, and trailed at the bottom by the collective self. The same hierarchy emerged in the Eastern culture of China and the Western cultures of the US and UK. Such pancultural consistency suggests that the motivational hierarchy is a fundamental pattern of the human self.     

"Where are you really from?": Asian Americans and identity denial

Five studies investigate identity denial, the situation in which an individual is not recognized as a member of an important in-group. Asian Americans are seen as less American than other Americans (Study 1) and realize this is the case, although they do not report being any less American than White Americans (Studies 2A and 2B). Identity denial is a common occurrence in Asian Americans' daily lives (Study 3). They react to instances of identity denial by presenting American cultural knowledge and claiming greater participation in American practices (Studies 4 & 5). Identity denial furthers the understanding of group dynamics by capturing the experience of less prototypical group members who desire to have their common in-group identity recognized by fellow group members.     

Conscientiousness mediates the relation between perceived parental socialisation and self‐rated health

The pathways between parenting behaviours, personality and physical health have all been separately studied. Prior research has paid little attention to the indirect effects of personality in the path between parenting behaviours and better health. The purpose of this study was to explore the mediational effects of conscientiousness on the relationships between parental socialisation of responsibility and self‐rated health, and to examine potential age differences in this mediational pathway. In total, 736 female and 749 male members across Japan participated in this study. They were divided into three groups by age category: younger‐, middle‐aged and older‐aged. Conscientiousness and health were concurrently rated, while parental socialisation of responsibility was retrospectively assessed. Our analyses revealed that parental socialisation of responsibility is positively associated with conscientiousness and self‐rated health, that conscientiousness is positively associated with self‐rated health, and that conscientiousness fully mediated the effect of parental socialisation of responsibility on self‐rated health. The mediational links were consistent across younger, middle‐aged and older‐aged cohorts. Our findings suggest that greater parental socialisation of responsibility relates to higher conscientiousness, and consequently healthier adults. These findings imply that parental behaviours could be a plausible target for intervention to foster the development of conscientiousness and better health.     

Doing good,feeling good: Values and the self 's moral center

Rarely do social psychological treatments of the self highlight its moral dimension. We expect people with prosocial values to feel better about themselves when enacting such values. Social identities situate individuals within social groups and wider social structures; successfully enacting important identities increases feelings of self-esteem. This paper looks at individual differences and demonstrates that enacting a social identity (volunteering) contributes more to feelings of self-esteem for those individuals whose values align with that identity. Volunteering may increase self-esteem in general; but for those who claim the identity and hold especially prosocial values, volunteering becomes an important route toward positive self-evaluation.