Self-concept clarity and the bodily self: Malleability across modalities

Résumé

The self has fascinated scholars for centuries. Although theory suggests that the self-concept (cognitive self-understanding) and bodily self (pre-reflective awareness of one’s body) are related, little work has examined this notion. To this end, in Study 1, participants reported on self-concept clarity (SCC) and completed the rubber hand illusion (RHI), a paradigm in which synchronous (vs. asynchronous) stimulation between a prosthetic hand and one’s own hand leads one to “embody” the prosthetic hand. Whereas participants were equally susceptible to the RHI during synchronous stroking, low-SCC individuals were more vulnerable to the illusion during asynchronous stroking, when the effect is unwarranted. Conceptually replicating and extending this finding, in Study 2, low-SCC individuals were more susceptible to the body-swap illusion—the impression that another person’s body is one’s own. These findings suggest that a clear sense of self implies clarity and stability of both the self-concept and the bodily self.

Publication
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 46(5), 808-820. doi.org/10.1177/0146167219879126
Rémi Thériault
Rémi Thériault
Étudiant au doctorat (Psychologie sociale)

Mes intérêts de recherche incluent la cognition sociale/implicite, l’altruisme, et les rêves.

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