PSYC 3520 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Secondary Consciousness, Facial Recognition System, Intersubjectivity
Document Summary
The ability to identify with others and to distinguish between self and other plays an important role in inter-subjective relationships. Human adaptation involves an understanding of others, but also an understanding of the self as different from others. Indeed, the self cannot be viewed in isolation from our view of others, but relies deeply on how we represent people. Thus the self is perceived in relation to the other. The development of a concept of self is seen as a pivotal aspect of social development, and is an important and necessary condition in the identification of others and self as social. The concept of self is a multifaceted phenomenon. It involves more than recognition of perceptual features of the self and a differentiation of animate and inanimate objects in the environment. Thus, an understanding of the self must involve an awareness of the physical, social/mental, and representational aspects of the self.
