Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

The symbolic self in evolutionary context.

C Sedekides1, J J Skowronski

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill 27599-3270, USA. dionysus@unc.edu

Personality and Social Psychology Review : an Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc
|January 1, 1997
PubMed
Summary

The human symbolic self, a complex cognitive representation, likely evolved due to environmental pressures. This evolutionary adaptation in Homo erectus provided survival advantages.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Spontaneous trait transference to familiar communicators: is a little knowledge a dangerous thing?

Journal of personality and social psychology·1999
Same author

Spontaneous trait transference: communicators taken on the qualities they describe in others.

Journal of personality and social psychology·1998
Same author

Self-events and other-events: temporal dating and event memory.

Memory & cognition·1997
Same author

Savings in relearning: II. On the formation of behavior-based trait associations and inferences.

Journal of personality and social psychology·1995
Same author

Age and responses to the Love Attitudes Scale: consistency in structure, differences in scores.

International journal of aging & human development·1995
Same author

The use of partial temporal information in dating personal events.

Memory & cognition·1993

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Psychology
  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Paleoanthropology

Background:

  • The human capacity for a symbolic self (a flexible representation of one's attributes) is a widely shared trait.
  • Rudimentary elements of an objectified self are observed in some non-human primates.
  • The symbolic self serves significant adaptive functions for human survival and social interaction.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose that the human symbolic self is an evolutionary product.
  • To investigate the potential environmental pressures driving the evolution of the symbolic self.
  • To review the adaptive functions of the symbolic self in Homo erectus.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative analysis of self-representation across species.
  • Review of evolutionary pressures (ecological and social).

Related Experiment Videos

  • Hypothesizing the emergence of the symbolic self in the Pleistocene.

    • Main Results:

    • The symbolic self is a widely shared human trait with adaptive functions.
    • Ecological and social pressures are identified as key evolutionary drivers.
    • The emergence of the symbolic self is hypothesized for Homo erectus during the Pleistocene.

    Conclusions:

    • The human symbolic self is an evolved adaptation.
    • Environmental pressures, particularly ecological and social, were crucial for its development.
    • The symbolic self conferred adaptive advantages to Homo erectus.