The Self Explained

1. What Is the Self?

2. The Self in Social Context

3. How the Modern Western Self Took Shape

4. Different Societies Make Different Kinds of Selves

5. Four Pitfalls of Self Theories: No Self, Multiple Selves, Authentic True Selves, and Self-Actualization

II. Why Do We Have Selves?

6. Some Beginnings of Self

7. How Baby Grows Up to Have a Working Self

8. Human Groups Need (and Shape) Selves

9. Moral Reputation as a Foundation of Self

10. The Unity Project: The Unfinished Business of Stitching the Self Together

III. Know Thyself

11. Self-Awareness

12. What Sort of Knowledge Is Self-Knowledge?

13. Why Know Thyself?

14. Building Self-Knowledge: How People Learn about Themselves

15. Self-Esteem

16. Accuracy and Illusion in Self-Beliefs

IV. The Self as Active Agent

17. The Self in Action

18. Self-Regulation and Self-Control

19. Decision Making, Autonomy, and Free Will

V. The Self in Relation to Others

20. The Interpersonal Self

21. The Self as Group Member

22. Self-Presentation

23. Self as Close Relationship Partner

VI. Problems of Self

24. Problems of the Modern Self

25. The Stress of Self, and Some Escape Routes

26. Selves and Mental Illness

27. The Deep Puzzle of Self-Defeating Behavior

28. Ways the Mind Can Organize Self-Beliefs

Epilogue. The Self: A Summary