Self, the (General)

Introduction

The self-system is very complex. It has become usual to distinguish between the self as subject (as Ego or I) and the self as object. The self-system assessment has been restricted to the latter. However, even when the self is considered as an object there are various domains to be assessed: the self as self-concept or, in general, self-representation, including schemas, contents and the structure of the self-knowledge (usually, with specific instruments to assess them); the self as a process, as a set of cognitive and behavioural activities, or instances related to oneself (mainly, assessed by techniques or procedures of functional analysis).

Sources in Self-Theories

Self-system assessment emerged originally rooted in phenomenological theories with emphasis on the self-concept. In these theories, the self-concept and the self-consciousness were assumed to govern the behaviour, to account for its consistencies, and, hence, to provide psychology with valid scientific explanations and predictions. However, in spite of their historical background, the instruments for assessment have become largely independent from the theories in which they are inspired, and are often used within other theoretical frames, e.g. trait models or in a highly atheoretical practice, where the self-concept is only assessed and described, but not alleged as a causal or explanatory factor.

A wide array of assessment procedures and tools have been designed. The most common procedures of self-concept assessment are based on self-reports, as rating scales, questionnaires, inventories, and adjective checklists. There are also other well known techniques, but rarely used in other fields, as Q-sort, semantic differential, grid-technique related to personal constructs, open-ended statements, and projective techniques. Most of the standardized instruments are supposed to be administered not only with a fixed content of items, but also by a specific procedure. Nevertheless, in some cases, the assessor can use an established set of items (adjectives, statements) in a format not previously foreseen by its designers, i.e. Q-sort.

Some more general personality repertoires and questionnaires include a scale or factor of the self-concept or of a quality of it, for instance the ‘strength of the self’. Here, only specific devices are reported. Among the best known and popular instruments, the reader can find those that, whether explicitly linked to self-theories or not, rely on self-reports as the data that provide objective bases for inferences about concepts, schemas, attitudes and feelings about oneself.

Standardized Instruments to Assess the Self-Concept

One of the first attempts to cover the domain of self-description was made by Sheerer (1949). This author extracted from protocols of cases at a counselling centre all the relevant statements for attitudes either to oneself or to other people. These statements served as input for a 101-item rating scale, that lies on the basis of other similar scales.

A similar attempt was made by Butler and Haig (1954) in a set of one-hundred self-referent items. Inspired in Carl Rogers' model of the self, they aimed to pinpoint an index of self-regard and self-acceptance in the correlation between the real and ideal self. Butler and Haig's list has been the source of the item content for various instruments. These items; anyway, can be assumed in other formats, for instance, those of scale, inventory, or questionnaire, subjects having only to answer yes or no. On the other hand, there are still other instruments based on discrepancy values taken as an index of self-regard or self-esteem. Thus, the Index of Adjustment and Values (IAV) (Bills, 1958) intends to provide a self-minus-ideal discrepancy score. It consists of a checklist with 49 adjectives reflecting desiderable or undesiderable traits. Discrepancy scores are obtained through the contrast of the three columns formed with the answers to these questions: (1) How often are you this way? (2) How do you feel about being this way? (3) How long would you like to be this way?

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