The Labyrinth of Self

Beyond philosophy and psychology, myriad other interpretations of the self exist in multiple fields of study and thought.

Sociological Perspectives

From a sociological perspective, a person's culture (thus, the environment they were born into) heavily impacts an individual's constructed idea of the self. Current, more mainstream views of the self are primarily influenced by Western ideologies and thinkers. As such, " psychologists' understanding of those phenomena that are linked in one way or another to the self may be unnecessarily restricted" (Markus & Kitayama 224); people's ideas of self may be restricted by this lack of cultural diversity.

One example of cultural differences affecting the perception of self occurs between America and Japan. America's individualist culture leads to a perception of self that prioritizes independence. Conversely, Japan's more collectivistic culture lends its people to a more interdependent perception of self that prioritizes an individual's place and function within a given group. While some thinkers have delved into theories of self beyond the individual (Watts' emphasis on the influence of the environment comes to mind), it is important to note the influence culture can have on the self.

Neurological Perspectives

Neurological perceptions of the self focus on integrating neuroscience into explorations of the abstract concept of the 'self'. One theory posits that interoception, the senses of the body's internal functions, is a critical component to the idea of 'self'. It states that "we think with our body and not just with our mind." (Monti, Porciello, Panasiti, et al. 1), indicating that bodily neurological functions have some sort of impact on an individual's sense of self. They claim that interoception helps provide and individual's concept of self with a stable bodily foundation that serves to further inform and strengthen the perception of self.