Integration and expression: The complementary functions of self-reflection

No construct is more central to personality than the person's self-concept. Higher-order domains of self-assessment, including self-perceived skills, traits, and values, are expressed in action and provide frames of reference for deciding whether to accept or reject personally relevant social feedback. To perform these functions in a consistent manner, the domains of self-concept need to achieve coherence, with the components of each domain sufficiently integrated to provide an unequivocal platform for decision making and behavior. This depiction implies two functions of self-reflection-one focused on forging coherence in self-concept and the other focusing on the expression of domains that have achieved coherence. We refer to these two modes of self-reflection, respectively, as integration and expression. Both modes can be understood in terms of a spotlight of attention that focuses on different regions of the self-structure. In the integration mode, the spotlight converges on incoherent regions of self-concept to eliminate inconsistencies among the lower-level components. In the expression mode, the spotlight converges on coherent regions of self-concept that can provide an unequivocal platform for decision making and effective action. Using agent-based modeling, we illustrate the operation of both modes, discuss the conditions that differentially activate them, and develop their implications for personality dynamics.