How I See Myself Seen

Abstract

This chapter introduces the idea of reputation as a social ego, a second self that guides actions sometimes even against interests. It analyzes the functioning of the management of social self as a fundamental social and cognitive competence. All people have two egos, two selves. These parallel and distinguishable identities make up who people are and profoundly affect how they behave. One is subjectivity, consisting of proprioceptive experiences, the physical sensations registered in the body. The other is reputation, a reflection of people's selves that constitutes social identity and makes how they see themselves seen integral to self-awareness. At the beginning of the twentieth century, American sociologist Charles Horton Cooley called the second ego the “looking-glass self.” This second ego is woven over time from multiple strands, incorporating how people think others around them perceive and judge them.