Investigations into the Human Self: A Naturalist Perspective

Abstract

This article provides an overview of theory and research on the self from a naturalist perspective. That is, we conceptualize the human self in the same way as any other natural phenomenon, seeking to understand its structure, ontogeny, evolutionary origins, and underlying neural, cognitive, and affective mechanisms. each section addresses a fundamental question about the nature and functioning of the human self: What is the self? how many selves do humans have? When does the self emerge? Do humans have accurate self-representations? Where is the self in the brain? how does emotion shape the self? And what are the adaptive functions of the self? For each question, we review relevant theory and research, with an emphasis on individual-differences in self-related processes.If Alien scientists from another planet were to study the inhabitants of the Earth, what would stand out about the human species? Our use of tools? Our leisure time and range of creative endeavors? Our complex social organization and interactions? Certainly all of these. But what would be perhaps most salient about the human species would be our inner world-the richness of our mental life. Tapping into the inner life of other species is unlikely to reveal the same complex stream of thoughts, feelings, and intentions.The capacity for self-awareness and self-representations seems to be a universal characteristic of humans. In all human cultures, people have an awareness of their internal thoughts and feelings and form relatively stable mental representations of themselves. The universality of these basic aspects of the self is a striking fact that is often overlooked in light of the substantial individual and cross-cultural variability that exists in the way the self is manifested.In our view, the human Self is responsible for many of the most perplexing and seemingly contradictory aspects of our species' behavior. Although most other

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