Representing Oneself and Others

Abstract

Abstract. Human beings are assumed to own a concept of their self, but it remains a mystery how they represent themselves and others. I shall develop a theoretical framework, inspired by the Theory of Event Coding, of how people represent themselves and others, how and under which circumstances these two kinds of representations interact and what consequences this has. In a nutshell, I shall argue that self- and other-representations can overlap to the degree that they share features, that the shared features are particularly relevant or salient, and that the individual is under a particular metacontrol state. Then I shall argue that self-concepts emerge through active exploration of one’s physical and social environment during infancy and childhood, as well as through cultural learning, and that their main purpose is related to social communication but not online action control.

Self-prioritization during stimulus processing is not obligatory

“…Together with related research, the current findings underscore the malleability of self-prioritization (Constable et al, 2019;Dalmaso et al, in press;Falbén et al, 2019;Siebold et al, 2015;Stein et al, 2016;Wade & Vickery, 2018). Far from depicting a mandatory effect, the benefits of selfrelevance appear sensitive to how stimuli are encountered, encoded, and evaluated (Bargh, 1989;Hommel, 2004Hommel, , 2018Moors & De Houwer, 2006). Of particular importance is the manner in which self-relevance is established.…”

“…It would therefore be somewhat cumbrous if the mind was to prioritize this currently insignificant stimulus based only on its possible self-relevance. Under attentional control, self-relevance can guide cognition in a strategic, adaptive manner (Hommel, 2004(Hommel, , 2018.…”

“…In particular, whereas self-relevance should facilitate performance when task sets yield access to shape-target associations in memory (Janczyk et al, 2019;Sui et al, 2012Sui et al, , 2013Sui et al, , 2014; absent these specific processing conditions, self-prioritization is unlikely to emerge (Constable et al, 2019;Dalmaso et al, in press;Falbén et al, 2019;Siebold et al, 2015;Stein et al, 2016). Functioning in this way, self-prioritization is consistent with Hommel's (1998Hommel's ( , 2004Hommel's ( , 2018 Theory of Event Coding (TEC). According to this account, processing episodes generate event files whereby elements of the experience are associated and stored in memory (e.g., self-is-a-square).…”

“…Crucially, re-experiencing any of these stimuli (e.g., a square) at a later date can trigger partial or complete retrieval of the event file (e.g., the self-square association), thereby impacting task performance to varying degrees. In this way, the TEC provides a useful framework for understanding the generation of self-prioritization effects during stimulus processing (Hommel, 2004(Hommel, , 2018.…”

Dual-Task Performance: Theoretical Analysis and an Event-Coding Account

“…I would like to emphasize that this theoretical framework was originally developed to account for phenomena that are entirely unrelated to multitasking, and with a rather strong emphasis on representations (as a counter-reaction to the previously rather exclusive focus on processing stages). However, the framework has been developed over the years to become more balanced with respect to both representations and processes, to become more explicit with respect to the questions how the interactions between representations and processes is controlled by tasks and goals, among other things, suggesting that it may be of rather general use for various purposes (Hommel, 2009(Hommel, , 2018(Hommel, , 2019Hommel & Wiers, 2017). This does not necessarily make TEC the only or the best framework for guiding our theorizing towards a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying dual-task performance, and I do not even claim that it is particularly suitable.…”