Self constructing activities

AbsTrAcT. classic research and contemporary scholarship suggest that the self cannot be understood apart from the activities of people within specific contexts. The current conceptualization of self constructing activities is derived from James ’ distinction between representations of one’s character-istics and the process of constructing those representations. It is argued that this distinction has been obscured in generations of self scholarship by attributing the process of self construction to “I”s and selves. The paper clar-ifies the distinction between self constructing activities and the constructed self, and ultimately offers a conceptualization of the forms, constituents, and functions of self constructing activities. focusing on self constructing activ-ities provides a way to address some of the complexities of the self by directing theoretical and empirical attention towards considering how selves emerge dynamically as people participate together in cultural practices. Key WorDs: the self, self constructing activities, social cognition As a construct in psychology, the self has been essential. however, the self is also about as vexing a construct as there is in psychology. Indeed, it seems almost de rigueur to begin discussions of the self by lamenting the difficul-ties of defining it. As bruner (2002) puts it, “‘self ’ is a surprisingly quirky idea—intuitively obvious to common sense yet notoriously evasive to defini-tion by the fastidious philosopher ” (p. 63). confusion regarding self issues is further exacerbated by hyphenating the self into terms such as self-concept, self-esteem, self-understanding, and self-regulation. In addition, treatments of identity encompass many of the same issues that are covered in consider-ations of the self. building on some classic theorists of the self, such as James and Mead, several themes pervade much recent self scholarship. for example, it is read-ily recognized that the self is multidimensional or multifaceted, making i