Self-Cognition

Abstract This chapter focuses on cognition of the self, describing four primary observations. First, although people believe they perceive the self directly, many of their conclusions are based indirectly on inference. Consequently, many of their self-beliefs are malleable and diverge from objective reality. Second, people respond to many variants of self, including of their current self but also their future and possible selves. Third, self-cognition differs from social cognition in fundamental ways. People have information about the self, such as internal reactions to events, that differs fundamentally from information available about other people. They are also motivated to maintain a positive self-image. That said, and fourth, social cognition is entangled with self-cognition. People base their judgments of others on self-beliefs. They also distort judgments about other people to maintain positive self-image. The chapter ends with examples of questions about self-cognition for future scholarship to address.