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The Sense of Self: Reflected Self-Appraisal and Social Comparison02:57

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Personal Identity01:25

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Personal identity is the deeply felt sense of self that individuals cultivate over time, intricately woven from intrinsic qualities they consider essential to their existence—qualities such as morality, intelligence, and friendliness. These attributes serve as vital internal benchmarks, guiding individuals in evaluating whether their actions resonate with their true selves.When personal identity takes center stage in one's life, individuals often emphasize their distinctiveness, highlighting...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Observing the Transformation of Bodily Self-consciousness in the Squeeze-machine Experiment
07:20

Observing the Transformation of Bodily Self-consciousness in the Squeeze-machine Experiment

Published on: March 8, 2019

The bodily self as power for action.

Vittorio Gallese1, Corrado Sinigaglia

  • 1University of Parma, Department of Neuroscience, Parma, Italy. vittorio.gallese@unipr.it

Neuropsychologia
|October 20, 2009
PubMed
Summary

This study reveals the body as an enactive source of action, forming the most primitive sense of self. This bodily self precedes and informs our sense of agency and ownership, especially through social interactions.

Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Embodied Cognition
  • Phenomenology

Background:

  • The self is often understood through cognitive processes.
  • A deeper understanding of the self requires considering the body's role in action and perception.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To propose an enactive sense of body as the foundation of the primitive self.
  • To demonstrate how this bodily selfhood influences agency and ownership.
  • To provide a framework for interpreting behavioral and neuropsychological data.

Main Methods:

  • Conceptual analysis integrating phenomenology and cognitive science.
  • Argumentation based on motor potentialities and action-oriented perception.
  • Review of behavioral and neuropsychological findings.

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 19, 2026

Observing the Transformation of Bodily Self-consciousness in the Squeeze-machine Experiment
07:20

Observing the Transformation of Bodily Self-consciousness in the Squeeze-machine Experiment

Published on: March 8, 2019

Virtual Hand with Ambiguous Movement between the Self and Other Origin: Sense of Ownership and 'Other-Produced' Agency
08:01

Virtual Hand with Ambiguous Movement between the Self and Other Origin: Sense of Ownership and 'Other-Produced' Agency

Published on: October 28, 2020

Visualization Method for Proprioceptive Drift on a 2D Plane Using Support Vector Machine
07:05

Visualization Method for Proprioceptive Drift on a 2D Plane Using Support Vector Machine

Published on: October 27, 2016

Main Results:

  • The body is fundamentally experienced as a source of motor potentiality and action.
  • This enactive bodily self precedes and shapes distinctions between agency and ownership.
  • A unified framework is offered for understanding self-experience.

Conclusions:

  • The primitive sense of self is rooted in an enactive bodily experience.
  • Interactions with others, mediated by mechanisms like the mirror neuron system, are crucial for developing self-awareness.