The conceptual self in context

"What is the self-concept, and how does it develop? Do people in different cultures have sharply different concepts of self? Can we believe what our informants tell us on this point? What is known about the self-concepts of depressives and schizophrenics? How does meditation affect the sense of self? Is there an inner "self of selves," as William James once suggested? These are among the most hotly debated questions in the social sciences today." "In this book a prestigious group of psychologists, linguist, anthropologists, and philosophers addresses these questions and presents some surprising answers. This is the third volume organized around Ulric Neisser's cognitive theory of self-knowledge; it goes beyond The Perceived Self and The Remembering Self to deal with some of the oldest - as well as some of the newest - psychological and philosophical questions surrounding the self."--BOOK JACKET.