The ecology of the self

Stability and change in a person's answer to the question 'Who am I? ' vary throughout the life cycle. While at some points in life continuity may prevail, at others this question requires radically new answers. The loss of another person, a change in living conditions, or entrance into a new life stage can change the self-concept. The study of the processes of the self-concept undergoing change also provides information about the nature of the selfconcept. I will present here the idea of the self-concept existing as part of an ecological system, and describe and study the processes of continuity and change under changing person-envi ronment relationships. A summary of the ideas and bases of the research programme will be given first. It should help evaluate the relevance of later, more detailed discussions of theories and findings from psychological and sociological social psychology and their implications for an ecological approach to selfconcept change. A person's understanding of self is acquired and developed through social experience. This basic idea has guided almost all theory and empirical research on the self-concept in modern psychology, beginning with William James 's (1890) discussions of the self, and elaborated upon by Cooley's (1902) conception of the 'looking-glass self and G. H . Mead 's (1934) major work Mind, self, and society. Recently, more empirical tests (Shrauger & Schoeneman, 1979) and theoretical elaborations (Stryker & Statham, 1985) build on these foundations. F rom this common basis, psychologically orientated social psychologists are concentrating on the relationship between 'mind ' and 'self, i.e. cognitive structure and self-concept, whereas sociological social psychologists are interested in 'self and 'society', i.e. self-concept and social structure.