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Self-Referent Cognitions

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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

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Synonyms

Self-referent information processing; Self-schemata

Definition

Self-referent information processing describes how information from the environment is encoded, processed, or retrieved and connected to the self. This takes place through an individual’s self-schema, which is a stable, cognitive structure of thought patterns that influence how a person codes and interprets external stimuli in relation to him-/herself (Beck 1964). Self-referent cognitions are thoughts an individual has regarding him-/herself. They are the outcome of self-referent information processing and the expression of self-schema.

Introduction

Information processing occurs when an individual receives information from the environment and then encodes, processes, or retrieves information from the memory. Many cognitive models of depression posit that biases in information processing are the principle cause of the development and maintenance of depression (for a review, see Jacobs et al. 2008). An important,...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Louisville, Louisville, KY, USA

    Patrick Pössel & Caroline M. Pittard

Authors
  1. Patrick Pössel
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  2. Caroline M. Pittard
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patrick Pössel .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. University of North Carolina-Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA

    Charlie Reeve

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Pössel, P., Pittard, C.M. (2016). Self-Referent Cognitions. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1000-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1000-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

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