Self-protective memory

A fundamental issue in the behavioral, educational, and social sciences concerns the intrapersonal and interpersonal struggle with the question "who am I?" This issue is reflected in such research themes as self definition, identity seeking, selfknowledge, search for identity, self seeking, identity quest, symbolic self-completion, and self-interpretation. For the purposes of this chapter, we will adopt the term self-definition, given that this term has enjoyed widespread use in social and personality psychology as of late. What do people want to know about themselves? What information are they likely to endorse or reject? For exactly what sort of self-definition do people strive and what land of self-knowledge will they store in their memory? Epistemic and pragmatic reasons suggest that people strive, or at least should strive, for a selfdefinition that is accurate, balanced, and truthful. Epistemic reasons date back to ancient Greek philosophers. Socrates, for example, advocated the pursuit of accurate self-knowledge (gnothi seauton) as the highest human virtue and value. Socrates prescribed selfscrutiny as the method to achieve truthful knowledge about the self, and he also guarded against the uncritical endorsement of desirable information. Importantly, the search for an accurate self-definition has pragmatic benefits. Such a definition informs and guides the individual in selecting environments that match her or his abilities, including appropriate positions in professional and social hierarchies. Hence, in the long run, an accurate self-definition