ABSTRACT
In this chapter we consider the self, located at the top level of personality (see Fig. 3.3). Rather than simply reviewing the self literature in conventional terms, I first propose a novel way of conceptualizing the self, based on the concept of a psychological homunculus. I then canvass the literature to show the consistency of this understanding with some existing social-and personality-psychological theories of self, and also with some recent neurobiological and philosophical approaches to the self. I also try to show that the conception helps with several perennial problems within self-theory, such as the nature of the psychological “I,” the question of the causal efficacy of the self, the potential functions of the self, and what it means to be “in touch with oneself.” Finally, I discuss the question of optimal human being in terms of the concepts developed during the chapter.
