Self

An individual is one that exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of living as an individual; particularly (in the case of humans) as a person unique from other people and possessing one's own needs or goals, rights and responsibilities. The concept of an individual features in many fields, including biology, law, and philosophy. Every individual contributes significantly to the growth of a civilization. Society is a multifaceted concept that is shaped and influenced by a wide range of different things, including human behaviors, attitudes, and ideas.

In philosophy, the self is an individual's own being, knowledge, and values, and the relationship between these attributes.

thumb|The Painter and The Buyer|The Painter and the Buyer (1565). In this drawing by [[Pieter Brueghel the Elder, the painter is thought to be a self-portrait.]]

In Buddhism, the term anattā () is the doctrine of "non-self" – that no unchanging, permanent self exists, and is the absence of essence in any phenomenon. While often interpreted as a doctrine denying the existence of a self, anatman is more accurately described as a strategy to attain non-attachment by recognizing everything as impermanent, while staying silent on the ultimate existence of an unchanging essence. In contrast, dominant schools of Hinduism assert the existence of Ātman as pure awareness or witness-consciousness, "reify[ing] consciousness as an eternal self".

thumb|Ulysses and the Sirens (Draper)|Ulysses and the Sirens by H.J. Draper (1909) Self-control is the ability to regulate one's emotions, thoughts, and behavior in the face of temptations and impulses. It is an aspect of inhibitory control, one of the core human executive functions. Executive functions are cognitive processes that are necessary for regulating one's behavior in order to achieve specific goals.

is a Japanese concept of an individual's definition of the meaning of their life.

one of the Delphic maxims

thumb|300px|alt=A lady seated by herself|This next to last scene of the Admonitions Scroll shows a palace lady sitting in quiet contemplation, presumably following the admonitions in the accompanying lines: "Therefore I say: Be cautious and circumspect in all you do, and from this, good fortune will arise. Calmly and respectfully think about your actions, and honor and fame will await you."

understanding of a one's own needs and motives

behavioural technique

set of cognitive processes that are necessary for the cognitive control of behavior

thumb | right In psychology, self-efficacy is an individual's belief in their capacity to act in the ways necessary to reach specific goals. The concept was originally proposed by the psychologist Albert Bandura in 1977.

cognitive theory of human motivation and personality

any cognitive or perceptual process that is distorted by the need to maintain and enhance self-esteem, or to perceive oneself in an overly favorable manner

Self-care is the process of establishing behaviors to ensure holistic well-being of oneself, to promote health, and actively manage illness when it occurs. Individuals engage in some form of self-care daily with food choices, exercise, sleep, and hygiene. Self-care is not only a solo activity, as the community—a group that supports the person performing self-care—overall plays a role in access to, implementation of, and success of self-care activities.

2011 non-fiction work by Daniel Kahneman

Self-pity is an emotion in which one feels self-centered sorrow and pity toward the self regarding one's own internal and external experiences of suffering. Self-pity has also been defined as an emotion "directed towards others with the goal of attracting attention, empathy, or help"

Self-hatred is a state of personal self-loathing or low self-esteem.

Self-realization is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology, and spirituality; and in Indian religions. In the Western understanding, it is the "fulfillment by oneself of the possibilities of one's character or personality" (see also self-actualization). In Hinduism, self-realization is liberating knowledge of the true self, either as the permanent undying Purusha or witness-consciousness, which is atman (essence). In Buddhism, it is knowledge of the absence (sunyata) of such a permanent self.

conscious or subconscious process in which people attempt to influence the perceptions of other people about a person, object or event

Boasting or bragging is speaking with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities.

defines, among other things, the conditions of identity that make one subject of experience distinct from all others

in psychology, person's perception of the aesthetics or sexual attractiveness of their own body

Self-denial (related but different from self-abnegation or self-sacrifice) is an act of letting go of the self as with altruistic abstinence – the willingness to forgo personal pleasures or undergo personal trials in the pursuit of the increased good of another. Various religions and cultures take differing views of self-denial, some considering it a positive trait and others considering it a negative one. According to some Protestants, self-denial is considered a superhuman virtue only obtainable through Jesus. Some critics of self-denial suggest that self-denial can lead to self-hatred.

thumb|Image showing Egosurfing Egosurfing (also vanity searching, egosearching, egogoogling, autogoogling, self-googling) is the practice of searching for one's own name, or pseudonym on a popular search engine in order to review the results. Similarly, an egosurfer is one who surfs the Internet for their own name to see what information appears. It has become increasingly popular with the rise of Internet search engines, as well as free blogging and web-hosting services. Though Google is the search engine most commonly mentioned when referring to egosurfing, other widely known search engines

Self-disclosure is a process of communication by which one person reveals information about themselves to another. The information can be descriptive or evaluative, and can include thoughts, feelings, aspirations, goals, failures, successes, fears, and dreams, as well as one's likes, dislikes, and favorites.

cognitive bias wherein a person overestimates their own qualities and abilities

concept in developmental psychology

Self-righteousness (also called sanctimony, sententiousness, and holier-than-thou attitudes) is an attitude and belief of moral superiority derived from a person deeming their own beliefs, actions, or affiliations to be of greater virtue than those of the average person. Self-righteous individuals are intolerant of the opinions and behaviors of others that they deem to be less moral and virtuous. A self-righteous person will often exhort or rebuke certain behaviors and actions from others.

In psychology, self-compassion is extending compassion to one's self in instances of perceived inadequacy, failure, or general suffering. American psychologist Kristin Neff has defined self-compassion as being composed of three main elements – self-kindness, common humanity, and mindfulness. Self-kindness: Self-compassion entails being warm towards oneself when encountering pain and personal shortcomings, rather than ignoring them or hurting oneself with self-criticism. Common humanity: Self-compassion also involves recognizing that suffering and personal failure is part of the shared human

account of attitude formation developed by psychologist Daryl Bem

school of psychoanalysis

2002 film by Adam Curtis

The self-schema refers to a long lasting and stable set of memories that summarize a person's beliefs, experiences and generalizations about the self, in specific behavioral domains. A person may have a self-schema based on any aspect of themselves as a person–including physical characteristics (body image), personality traits, and interests–as long as they consider that aspect of their self to be important to their own self-definition.

difficulty with accessing executive functions such as organization, planning ahead, and self-monitoring

Self-monitoring, a concept introduced in the 1970s by Mark Snyder, describes the extent to which people monitor their self-presentations, expressive behavior, and nonverbal affective displays. Snyder held that human beings generally differ in substantial ways in their abilities and desires to engage in expressive controls (see dramaturgy). Self-monitoring is defined as a personality trait that refers to an ability to regulate behavior to accommodate social situations. People concerned with their expressive self-presentation (see impression management) tend to closely monitor their audience in

Self-experimentation refers to single-subject research in which the experimenter conducts the experiment on themself.

In philosophy and psychology, self-fulfillment is the realizing of one's deepest desires and capacities. The history of this concept can be traced to Ancient Greek philosophers and it still remains a notable concept in modern philosophy.

notion that a person has of the common expectations that others may have about actions and thoughts within a particular society

meditation device using flicker light stimulation

subjective awareness of initiating, executing, and controlling one's own volitional actions

the study of either the cognitive, conative or affective representation of one's identity or the subject of experience

non-fiction work by Douglas Hofstadter

Amour-propre (; ) is a French term that can be variously translated as "self-love", "self-esteem", or "vanity". In philosophy, it is a term used by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who contrasts it with another kind of self-love, which he calls amour de soi.

cognitive process in which an individual attributes the occurrence of a stressful event to oneself