ABSTRACT
T he past 30 years have witnessed several periods of great progress in the study of the self. One was in the mid- to late-1970s, when researchers explored quite fruitfully the status of the self as a cognitive representation (see Kihlstrom & Cantor, 1984, for a review). Then again, in the mid- to late-1980s, the view of the self as a motivated agent spawned a sizable body of research (see Banaji & Prentice, 1994, for a review). Now, investigators are again working very productively on the self, this time conceiving of it as a tripartite entity comprised of an individual self, a relational self, and a collective self. The present volume offers an excellent survey of this recent wave of research. My task, in this commentary, is to highlight the major themes and insights that emerge from this collection of chapters. Fortunately, the authors, with their clear and thoughtful reviews and analyses, have made this task quite easy. I will begin by revisiting the notion of a tripartite self-concept in light of their contributions. Then I will explore the implications of this research for several enduring questions about the self.
