Reading through the article at SCR NewsView: "Do you 'self-reflect' or 'self-ruminate'?" one is struck by the lack of basic division between self and personality. It is little wonder there are paradoxes and slow progress in the field of personality psychology if no divisions are made between the basic elements of self and personality.
Consider, for instance, the awareness one has of one's self when looking in a mirror and wondering about how one will present at an important meeting (which involves many attributes of the personality etc) and how one reflects when busily doing something, say negotiating the peak hour traffic.
Clearly there is a difference between an ongoing awareness of the self (the destination of perception and source of intention) and contemplation of one's personality. Just what *is* the 'self' to most people? Chances are you'll get a mix of outer personality/ies, internal personality and self.
The 'ruminators' mentioned in the article are most probably concerned with the inner personality, the "self reflectors" are more likely to be looking outwardly to themselves as presented: the outer personality.
Consider what one sees when looking in the mirror. The inner personality sees the naked body or a constant image that does not change according to the clothes worn. The outer personality sees the body as it presents clothed, so changing hair or clothes changes the way you feel about your self (ie, outer personality).
The self sees only the source of intention and the destination of perception - the body is merely the vehicle. Note that the inner personality, viewing the body, notes the change through life where as the self does not. There can be some confusion here if the skin IS the clothes, such as the sunbaked body presented on the beach.
Lets re-examine self reflection to see how it might be further defined:- By the mirror we see our physical selves; By other's opinions - what people say of us, how we are received, how we imagine we will be received (so we can also see ourselves in this way when looking in the mirror); By our works - well beyond those people who get to know us, see us or hear us are those who come into contact with our output - our writing, our art, our achievements (our children) and so on; By some 'essential other' - that I am an American, a Christian, a philosopher, an astronaut etc. In this we see ourselves by knowing the general category.
It is interesting to note that the essential level dictates the personality ie if I strongly associate myself with the "Aussie ocker", a curious variation of Australian, I will dress like an Aussie, eat what Aussies eat and so on.
The mirror/physical reflection is largely restricted by the actual appearance which is ultimately genetically based, though an enormous variation on the genetic predisposition is possible eg emaciated anorexic depressives seeing a fat person in the mirror :(
Details such as:
I'm concerned about my style of doing things.
I'm self conscious about the way I look.
I'm attentive to my inner feelings.
I'm constantly examining my motives.
I reflect about myself a lot.
all fall into different categories (see Box 1 at the SCR article). We have a mixture of inner and outer personality, self, and then the physical through to 'essential other' mentioned above all lumped in together (note that any of the four categories I mentioned above can apply to any of the personality/self/role playing).
And then we come to further divisions - what I would call the image and the transactional reflection. The self image is a snapshot of how you are now, the transactional includes your abilities, feelings and so on as they are when in action, so to speak. You can feel depressed, for instance, without seeing yourself as depressive. The feeling of depression and the self assessment of a depressive nature are both self reflections.
The self experiences pain from a cut, you can see the cut on your body, people at the hospital treat you as a patient, friends make allowances for your transient disability. These are all part of self reflection as well. We experience and are aware of each of the above. When we see ourselves as, say, an invalid we are doing something very different to the above. These two classes of self reflection should be among the first divisions.
I don't count the outer personality as an individual's exclusive thing and I don't think that individuals can be understood in isolation. Why would the member of a football club feel excited, depressed or insulted when it is their club and not them who win, lose or are harangued by the media? Clearly this individual takes on the personality of a member - a shared outer personality that has a centre (like 'self') that both is and is not concordant with that individual's self. One could learn about the personality of this individual by examining the generic club member who identifies with the club.
© Robert Karl Stonjek 2002