The Concept And Mechanism Of Self-integration And Its Influence On Self-composition Reference

The self is one of the important part of individual psychological activities and experiences.However,the study of the self in psychology has some obvious shortcomings in both theoretical construction and empirical research.James(1890)introduced the research subject of the self from philosophy to psychology,and his classification of the-me-self laid a foundation for empirical research in psychology.But,James' description ofthe I-self still followed the philosophical tradition,defining it as an actor or recognizer in the self-structure and emphasizing that the I-self,as the "observer",providing the individual with a sense of existence and continuity.This kind of philosophicaldefinition of the I-selfwas difficult to operate quantitatively,and it was difficult to carry out researcheswith empirical method,which led to the research of the I-selflag behind that of the Me-self.The desynchrony betweenthe study of the-I-self and the-Me-selfhave already made the study of self in psychology lack of wholeness and that of the perspective of the interaction between the I-self and the Meself.In view of these problems in the study of self,this research tried to definethe Iself from the psychological perspective and used a variety of methods to verify this theoretical conceptionin order to provide a theoretical basis and a new research perspective for the study of the I-self and even the whole self.Using the meaning of the I-self defined by philosophy as links,this essaycombed and analyzed the researches on the I-self in psychology.Existing literatures have shown that different dimensional self-components,such as self-aspects,hierarchical selves and temporal selves are all linked together in a specific way and affect individual cognition and adaptation.The integration of temporal selves is the enduring efforts of psychology to explore how temporal selves integrateeach other to form the self-identity and the sense of continuity.This essay hypothesizedthat all theseselfcomponents would be integrated into an organized and structured system to realized theirfunctions.Integration occurs not only among the temporal selves,but also among the self-aspects and hierarchical selves.On this basis,this study used self-integration as the conception ofthe I-self in psychology and defined it as the tendency and process of individuals to create connections between the continuously differentiated and proliferating self-components to improve the level of conceptualization and finally form a lasting and stable core self.On the basis of analyzing the mechanism of self-integration in different dimensions,this study suggested that self-integration has the characteristics of connectedness,conceptualization and stability.In terms of the research perspective,this study insists on the perspective of the Iself and the Me-self.From the perspective of self-integration and self-component interaction,present researchexamined the internal organization of the self and how the different components of this structural organization promote self-development and realize self-function.In terms of the specific research methods,questionnaire,narrative and behavioral experiments were employed to verify the concept and characteristics of self-integration.Present research used(1)the measurement process of self-concept differentiation to obtain the quantitative indicators of selfintegration;(2)the self-component as the reference object of the self-reference paradigm;(3)the R value as the quantitative index of self-component cognition;(4)personality traits and age traits as stimulus materials to activate different selfcomponents.The main results of the study are as follows:(1)Significant interaction effects between self integration and self components.There were significant interaction effects between self-integration and self-aspects,hierarchical selves,temporal selves and the types of self-defining memory.These results led to a consensus: there was no significant difference in the R value of self-component reference in the integrated group,showing a trend of concentration and aggregation.There was a significant difference in R value of selfcomponent reference in the differentiated group,presenting a state of discrete separation.These results supported our theoretical conception of self-integration.With the improvement of self-integration level,the self-components of different dimensions have more extensive and abundant connections,higher degree of conceptualization,and stability across time,hierarchy and situation.The integration of the internal structure and components of the self leads to the stability of the individual's cognition and behavior across time,hierarchy and situation,which is conducive to the maintenance and development of the individual's sense of existence and continuity.(2)The impact of self-integration on social cognition.Integrated group could identify others�(ordinary friends)different levels of informationbecause of their internal "Ming".However,differentiated group confused others' information because of their internal "conflict".The perception of "own person"(close friends of the same age andgender)was consistent with their self-perception.(3)Self-integration affected psychological adaptation.Self-integration was positively correlated with positive psychological adaptation(psychological well-being)and negatively correlated with negative psychological adaptation(anxiety).