The relational self: an interpersonal social-cognitive theory.
The authors propose an interpersonal social-cognitive theory of the self and personality, the relational self, in which knowledge about the self is linked with knowledge about significant others, and each linkage embodies a self-other relationship. Mental representations of significant others are activated and used in interpersonal encounters in the social-cognitive phenomenon of transference (S. M. Andersen & N. S. Glassman, 1996), and this evokes the relational self. Variability in relational selves depends on interpersonal contextual cues, whereas stability derives from the chronic accessibility of significant-other representations. Relational selves function in if-then terms (W. Mischel & Y. Shoda, 1995), in which ifs are situations triggering transference, and thens are relational selves. An individual's repertoire of relational selves is a source of interpersonal patterns involving affect, motivation, self-evaluation, and self-regulation.
Andersen
Susan M
SM
Department of Psychology, New York University, New York 10003, USA. andersen@psych.nyu.edu
Chen
Serena
S
D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D010551:Personality; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012649:Self Concept; D014167:Transference, Psychology