Aspects of the self.

Abstract

Recently there has been a resurgence of interest in the self. Social cognitive psychologists have defined various aspects of the self and devised instruments to measure them, but they have not examined how those various aspects of the self interact within the individual. Psychoanalytic psychologists, especially object relation theorists, have posited an essential link between the self and object relations, but they have not provided empirical support for this assertion. Theorists from both camps assume the self to be central in mental health. This study explored the interrelation of self concept, self-esteem, self concept discrepancies, self complexity, and continuity and integration of self. The correlations between the aforementioned aspects of self with level of object relations and with symptomatology were also examined. The following measures were administered to a sample of 83 undergraduates: Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Higgins Selves Questionnaire, Linville Self-Complexity Measure, Wiss Continuity and Integration of Self Scale, Bell Object Relations Inventory, Westen Social Cognition and Object Relations Scale, SCL-90-R, and a developmental history questionnaire. There was a strong pattern of correlations among the measures of self-concept, self-esteem, continuity and integrity of self, one of the measures of object relations, and symptomatology, and a weaker pattern of correlations with self-concept discrepancies. The findings provide preliminary evidence supporting the conceptualization of the self as a multidimensional structure consisting of many distinct, but interrelated aspects, and provided justification for assigning the self a central role in our functioning. Several aspects of the self were correlated with a measure of object relations. A type of self-concept discrepancy hypothesized to be reflective of superego functioning appeared distinct from measures pertaining to the self-structure. The construct of continuity and integrity of self was outlined and a measure was devised to assess it. The results showed this construct to be a significant aspect of the self, correlated with object relations and symptomatology.