Self-Concept Motivation and Identity

A volume in International Advances in Self ResearchSeries Editors Rhonda G. Craven University of Western Sydney; Herbert MarshUniversity of Western Sydney; and Dennis M. McInerney Hong Kong Institute of EducationThe concept of the Self has a long history that dates back from the ancient Greeks such asAristotle to more contemporary thinkers such as Wundt James Mead Cooley Freud Rogersand Erikson (Tesser & Felson 2000). Research on the Self relates to a range of phenomenaincluding self-esteem self-concept self-protection self-verification self-awareness identityself-efficacy self-determination etc. that could be sharply different or very similar. Despite thislong tradition of thinkers and the numerous studies conducted on the Self this concept is still not very well defined. More precisely it isnot a precise object of study but rather a collection of loosely related subtopics (Baumesiter 1998). Also in the philosophical literaturethe legitimacy of the concept of self has been brought into question. Some authors have argued that the self is not a psychologicalentity per se but rather an illusion created by the complex interplay between cognitive and neurological subsystems (Zahavi 2005).Although no definitive consensus has been reached regarding the Self we emphasis in this volume that the Self and its relatedphenomena including self-concept motivation and identity are crucial for understanding consciousness and therefore important tounderstand human behavior.Self-concept motivation and identity: Underpinning success with research and practice provides thus a unique insight into self-conceptand its relationship to motivation and identity from varied theoretical and empirical perspectives. This volume is intended to developboth theoretical and methodological ideas and to present empirical evidence demonstrating the importance of theory and research toeffective practice.