Self-knowledge is one of the capacities of the human being that is defined by the ability to determine all those aspects that make up the essence of the individual himself, configuring his identity, his needs and concerns, as well as explaining the type of reasoning and reactions that the person puts into action when faced with a certain situation.

The ability to observe oneself allows for the possibility of predicting one’s behavior in a general way and brings the individual closer to forming a global idea of “who he is” and “how he is” . However, knowing oneself is not as simple as it may seem.

Why do we find it difficult to develop self-knowledge?

Contrary to a widely held idea about the ease with which human beings can define themselves in an objective way, the latest scientific findings seem to indicate the opposite .

The following are the various explanations that research has used to help us understand why we find it difficult to know ourselves.

1. Alteration of perspective in the face of discrepancy

Several studies seem to conclude that human beings tend to confuse the degree of objectivity with the degree of judgement on their own behaviour . With the aim of preserving a positive self-image, people tend to be benevolent with respect to what we think about ourselves and, moreover, are not aware of the subjectivity and partiality with which we interpret our attitudes or our behaviour.

In that way, we can more easily see a given mistake if a third party makes it than if the same mistake was made by us. In short, it seems that the capacity for introspection is an illusion, since is distorted by unconscious processes .

This was demonstrated by Pronin and his team at Princeton University (2014) with various samples of experimental subjects who were required to assess their own and others’ behaviour in different tasks: in the experimental situation, the test subjects continued to describe themselves as impartial even though they had to make judgements and criticisms of various aspects of the proposed task.

Likewise, this does not occur in subjects who have experienced an aversive event in childhood, which has led to the development of an insecure functioning based on a negative self-evaluation.

According to the “theory of self-affirmation”, people with low self-esteem seek to offer others a harmful image of themselves with the aim of making it coherent and reaffirming the self-image they have of themselves. This is related to the contributions proposed by Festinger (1957) on “cognitive dissonance”, by which the degree of discrepancy between one’s attitude and one’s behaviour produces such discomfort that the individual tends to make an effort to minimise it through different strategies, either by changing his behaviour or by modifying the beliefs on which he bases his attitude.

On the other hand, the studies by Dunning and Kruger in 2000 gave rise to a theoretical approach that they called the “Dunning-Kruger effect” from which the greater the incompetence of a person, the lower his or her capacity to realize it. According to this research, on the subjects who participated in the experimental situation, only a 29% correspondence was achieved between the correct self-perception of the intellectual capacity and the real value obtained in the individual IQ.

In other words, it seems that once again, in order to maintain a positive self-image, “negative” characteristics or traits tend to be significantly ignored. Related to this last issue, another team of researchers has found more recently that people with a moderate positive image (and not an exaggerated one, as noted above) tend to have higher levels of well-being and high cognitive performance on specific tasks.

2. Tests to assess personality traits

Traditionally, in some areas of psychology, techniques called implicit or covert have been used to define personality traits, such as projective tests or implicit association tests (TAT).

The basis of this type of evidence lies in its unreflective or rationed nature , since it seems to be more revealing about the subject himself those features or characteristics expressed in a reflective or automatic manner where there is no possible alteration influenced by the more reflexive or rational analysis that other evidence of a self-report or questionnaire type can provide.

Science has recently found a nuance in this respect, arguing that not all personality traits are objectively reflected in an implicit way, but that it seems to be the facets that measure extroversion or sociability and neuroticism the aspects that are best measured by this type of technique. This is explained by Mitja Back’s team at the University of Münster, since these two features are more related to automatic impulses or desire responses.

On the contrary, the traits of responsibility and openness to experience are usually measured more reliably through self-reporting and more explicit testing, since the latter traits are found in the area of the intellectual or cognitive, and not in the emotional as in the previous case.

3. Seeking stability in a changing environment

As previously stated, human beings tend to deceive themselves in order to achieve a state of coherence with respect to their own identity. An explanation of the motivations that lead the individual to adopt this type of functioning is related to maintaining a nucleus of stability (one’s own identity) in the face of the highly variable and changing environment that surrounds him.

Thus, an adaptive resource as a species lies in maintaining self-perception in such social contexts so that the external image offered coincides with the internal one. The experts seem to conclude that the perception of one’s own character as a rigid, immutable and static phenomenon gives security to the individual and facilitates the ability to orient oneself with a minimum of order within an uncertain context such as the outside world.

However, rigid functioning is often associated with a low capacity to tolerate uncertainty and frustration , which is generated when reality differs from personal expectations, leading to increased emotional distress. In short, under the pretext of providing themselves with a greater degree of security and well-being, today’s human being is achieving precisely the opposite effect: an increase in their own worries and anxiety levels.

As a last note, the above-mentioned lines provide a nuance to the so-called “Self-fulfilling Prophecy, according to which people are inclined to behave according to the image they present about themselves . The nuance lies in considering that the application of this theoretical principle takes place when the feature is variable, but not when it is static.

Thus, according to what Carol Dweck (2017) found in a study carried out by the Stanford University of California, when faced with innate personal characteristics (such as willpower or intelligence) the motivation invested to reinforce it is less than when faced with changing features (for example, as usually happens with one’s own weaknesses).

The Benefits of Meditation and Mindfulness

Erika Carlson studied the relationship between regular practice of mindfulness meditation training and the ability to be objective in one’s assessment of oneself, finding a positive correlation between both elements.

Apparently, this type of practice allows one to take distance from oneself and one’s own cognitions in order to be able to analyze more rationally the characteristics and traits that make up the “I” of an individual, since they make it possible for the subject to detach himself from these thoughts and messages, assuming that he can let them go without identifying himself with them in order to simply observe them without judging them.

Conclusion

The preceding lines have shown that human beings tend to alter the image they have of themselves as a defence or “survival” mechanism with regard to the demands of the environment in which they interact. The contributions of the theories of cognitive dissonance, the Self Fulfilling Prophecy, the Dunning-Kruger Effect, etc., are only some phenomena that show the scarce objectivity with which individuals elaborate the definition of their own identity.

Bibliographic references:

  • Ayan, S. The essence of self. In Mind and Brain. Vol 92 (2018), pp. 31-39.
  • Brookings, J. B., & Serratelli, A. J. (2006). Positive illusions: Positively correlated with subjective well-being, negatively correlated with a measure of personal growth. In Psychological Reports, 98(2), 407-413.
  • Hansen K., Gerbasi M., Todorov A., Kruse E., and Pronin E. People Claim Objectivity After Knowingly Using Biased Strategies Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. Vol 40, Issue 6, pp. 691 – 699. First Published February 21, 2014.
  • Pronin, E. (2009). The introspection illusion. In Advances in experimental social psychology, 41, 1-67.