Self, EGO, and Identity: Integrative Approaches

In the midst of the "cognitive revolution," there has been a veritable ex- plosion of interest in topics that have been long banished from academic consideration under the intellectual hegemony of behaviorism. Most notably, notions of self, ego, and identity are reasserting themselves as fundamental problems in a variety of research traditions within psychol- ogy and the social sciences. Theoretical models, review articles, edited vol- umes, and empirical work devoted to these constructs are proliferating at a dizzying rate. This clearly attests to the renascent interest in these topics, the vitality of these research paradigms, and the promise that these constructs hold for explaining fundamental aspects of human development and behavior. Although the renewed academic interest in self, ego, and identity is obviously an exciting and healthy development, there is always the tenden- cy for research to take on a parochial character. When boundaries are erected among different theoretical perspectives, when empirical findings are viewed in isolation, when theories are too sharply delimited and segre- gated from other domains of behavior, then what may seem like progres- sive, healthy, and content-increasing tendencies in a research paradigm may turn out to be, on closer inspection, merely an inchoate thrashing about. Fortunately there is an internal dynamic to scientific investigation that tends to combat this degenerating tendency. There is something about the rhythm of science that bids us to transcend parochial theoretical in- terests and seek the most general theory.

Table of Contents:
I: Self.- 1. The Self, Adult Development, and the Theory of Biography and Transformation.- 2. A Social-Cognitive Account of the Self's Development.- 3. The Construction and Conservation of the Self: James and Cooley Revisited.- 4. The Adolescent Self-Concept in Social Context.- 5. The Embedded Self: I and Thou Revisited.- II: Ego.- 6. The "New Look" at the Imaginary Audience and Personal Fable: Toward a General Model of Adolescent Ego Development.- 7. Integrity and Aging: Ethical, Religious, and Psychosocial Perspectives.- 8. The Relationship Between Ego and Moral Development: A Theoretical Review and Empirical Analysis.- 9. Ego and Ideology: A Critical Review of Loevinger's Theory.- III: Identity.- 10. Common Processes Underlying Ego Identity, Cognitive/Moral Development, and Individuation.- 11. Identity and the Development of the Self.- 12. Self-Theorists, Identity Status, and Social Cognition.- 13. To Be or Not: Self and Authenticity, Identity, and Ambivalence.- Author Index.