The Psychology of Closeness

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The self is constantly shifting, you just don't experience it that way. The self changes over time. How should we think of ourselves at one time versus another time? Is that something that the psychologist has figured out? That's my question. I love that question because I think that the self is fluid. This is the most extreme version. Hume argued there is no self, there's just the illusion of continuity of self. Maybe all he wants to have boundary issues, maybe that makes humans humans. My cat's definitely a boundary issue, so I don't know.

There is an image, especially in Western cultures, of the rugged, authentic, self-made individual choosing how to navigate the intricacies of the social world. But there is no mystical soul within us, manifesting as the immutable essence of self. What we think of as our "self" is shaped by our environment and our genes, and most of all by our interactions with other people. Psychologist Brian Lowery argues for a strong version of this thesis, positing that our sense of self is largely a social construct. We talk about the implications of this idea, and what it means for shifting notions of personal identity.

Post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/06/12/239-brian-lowery-on-the-social-self/

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Brian Lowery received his Ph.D. in psychology from the University of California Los Angeles. He is currently Walter Kenneth Kilpatrick Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford University Graduate School of Business. His new book is Selfless: The Social Creation of "You."

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