While the true self is represented by our real feelings and desires, while the false self is a side of us that has changed its behaviour, repressed feelings and pushed needs aside in order to survive. Winnicott, children are very attuned to their parents’ feelings and needs. …

transitive verb. : to treat or consider (a person or a group of people) as alien to oneself or one’s group (as because of different racial, sexual, or cultural characteristics) … we trace how in small rural communities these processes of othering the poor are racialized— Victoria Lawson et al.

We can use the other as a pronoun, especially to refer back to something which has been mentioned already in the sentence: He had his hat in one hand and a bunch of flowers in the other. She has two kittens, one is black and the other is all white.

Some proponents of the true self can also be found within psychology, but its existence is mostly rejected. Many psychological studies, however, have shown that people commonly believe in the existence of a true self.

They compose our personal identity. Research on people’s true self beliefs finds that these central aspects of the self tend to be moral in nature. They involve our values and virtues more than our other mental capacities, personality traits or bodily features. The true self is fundamentally a good self.

Updated May 15, 2018. From a classical sociological perspective, the self is a relatively stable set of perceptions of who we are in relation to ourselves, others, and to social systems. The self is socially constructed in the sense that it is shaped through interaction with other people.

The social aspect of self is an important distinction because other sociologists and psychologists of Mead’s time felt that the self was based on biological factors and inherited traits. According to Mead, the self is not there from birth, but it is developed over time from social experiences and activities.