ABSTRACT
Few topics have spilled more social psychological ink than has the self (Baumeister, 1995). Researchers interested in justice and affect have only scratched the surface of this vast literature, though even in so doing they have already produced a sizable body of research. The present chapter will review this work, beginning with some basic definitions. Following from Baumeister (1998) we use the term selfconcept to refer to a person’s cognitive understanding and description of whom and what he or she is. A similar term is self-identity, though we emphasize that people have multiple identities and these are not always well integrated (cf. Sedikides & Gregg, 2003; Skitka, 2003). Finally, self-esteem refers to one evaluation of the self as good or bad (Brockner, 1988; Pierce & Gardner, 2004). Self-esteem is often affectively laden so it is important for understanding the relationship between justice and affect. Pulling these ideas together, we can say that people have a self-concept, or cognitive image, of themselves that is divided into a number of separate identities. These identities can then be evaluated positively or negatively, resulting in higher or lower self-esteem. We also use the term self-image, which we view as a global concept that accounts for the system that is represented by the constructs of self-concept, self-identity, and self-esteem and the links between them.
