ABSTRACT

More recently, the concept of self has attracted an enormous amount of attention. Different conceptualisations have been put forward as to what exactly constitute its main components (see Box 9.1). However, as MacDonald (2007) illustrated, agreement on the definition of ‘self’ has proven difficult. It takes many forms and can be analysed from myriad perspectives (Sedikides and Spencer, 2007). As an illustration of this, one conceptualisation of the different sides to self is presented in Figure 9.1.