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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 6, 2026

A Modified Mirror Test as a Visual Guide for the Self-awareness Trait in Wild Antarctica Penguins, Pygoscelis adeliae
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On knowing oneself directly and through others.

Lucy La Farge1

  • 1Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, USA. lafzim@earthlink.net

The Psychoanalytic Quarterly
|April 5, 2008
PubMed
Summary

Patients with a shadowy sense of self struggle with direct self-knowledge. Understanding their self-perception requires examining both direct self-awareness and how they learn about themselves through others. This approach offers insights into their subjective experience.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Psychoanalysis
  • Self-Psychology

Background:

  • Certain patients experience a lack of self-solidity and conviction.
  • These individuals struggle with direct self-knowledge, often relying on external sources.

Observation:

  • Patients may seek self-understanding through interactions with others and fantasy.
  • A "shadowy sense of self" characterizes these individuals' subjective experience.

Findings:

  • The author proposes analyzing "direct self-knowledge" and "knowledge of the self through others" as two distinct storylines.
  • Attention to these storylines and their interplay is crucial for understanding the "shadowy self".

Implications:

  • This framework offers a novel perspective on understanding patients with a fragile sense of self.
  • Clinical analysis of these "storylines" can illuminate the patient's internal world and therapeutic process.