Aims and Scope:

Among the members of the animal kingdom, human beings are uniquely able to take themselves as the object of their own thoughts — to think consciously about themselves, form images and concepts of what they are like, evaluate their characteristics and capabilities, plan deliberately for the future, worry about how they are being perceived by other people, and direct their own behavior in line with personal standards. Because this ability to self-reflect has important implications for understanding human behavior, the self has emerged as a central focus of theory and research in many domains of social and behavioral science.

Self and Identity is devoted to the study of social and psychological processes (e.g., cognition, motivation, emotion, and interpersonal behavior) that involve the human capacity for self-awareness, self-representation, and self-regulation. The Journal aims to bring together work on self and identity undertaken by researchers in social, personality, developmental, and clinical psychology, as well as sociology, psychiatry, communication, anthropology, social work, and other social and behavioral sciences. Examples of topics appropriate for the Journal include self-attention, self-perception, self-concept, identity, self-knowledge, self-evaluation, self-esteem, self-consciousness, motivation, emotion, self-regulation, self-presentation, role of self in perception of others, self-processes in interpersonal behavior, and cultural influences on the self.

Readership:

Practitioners and scholars of social, personality, developmental, and clinical psychology, as well as professionals in sociology, psychiatry, anthropology, social work and other disciplines with an interest in the study of self and identity.