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Self-Concept

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Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science
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Synonyms

Identity formation; Fluidity in self perception and expression; Social identity formation; Context-dependent self-conceptualization

Definition

Self-categorization theory posits that self-conception is formed through the process of categorizingor cognitively grouping the self, as either similar to or different from another class of stimuli. Contextual salience of various categories, ranging from personal (self-concept in terms of idiosyncratic attributes) to social (self-concept in terms of social category membership), and their relative influential strength at a given moment underlie the possibility for categorization at different levels of inclusiveness. The theory posits that different levels of self-conception are not only distinct from each other but also represent equally valid and authentic expressions of the self. Self-concept is characterized as an on-the-spot reflexive categorizing of the self in relation to an ever-changing and contextually-dependent frame of...

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References

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Correspondence to Niloufar Lueke .

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© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

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Lueke, N. (2017). Self-Concept. In: Shackelford, T., Weekes-Shackelford, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2427-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2427-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-16999-6

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Self-Concept
    Published:
    08 February 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2427-2

  2. Original

    Self-Concept
    Published:
    19 December 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-16999-6_2427-1