This volume pulls together research on several aspects of the self. One set of chapters deals with the importance of building a self based on authenticity and "Who I really am."; a second group deals with the ways in which we defend views of the self as positive and powerful; a third group is concerned with multiple aspects of self regulation. Each of the chapters is a well-written, non-technical description of an important, currently active research program. Abraham Tesser , Research Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia, is a former Editor of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and a former President of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology. Recognition of his research on self-evaluation and on thought and ruminative processes includes the Donald T. Campbell Award from the Society for Personality and Social Psychology and the Career Award from the International Society for Self and Identity. After completing her Ph.D. at UCLA, Joanne Wood has held faculty positions at SUNY-Stony Brook and at the University of Waterloo. She has served as an associate editor of Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin and on the editorial boards for Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and Self and Identity. Wood's publications concern affect regulation, social comparison, and mechanisms underlying the maintenance of self-esteem. Diederik Stapel , Professor at the University of Groningen, is a former Associate Editor of the British Journal of Social Psychology and has served on the editorial boards of Self and Identity, European Journal of Social Psychology, and Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin . For his research on knowledge accessibility effects he earned the Jos Jaspars Award of the European Association of Experimental Social Psychology. Stapel's publications concern person perception, unconscious emotional responses, and social comparison. "Much has been written on the self in modern psychology, but rarely are so many fresh perspectives found between the covers of a single volume. Tesser, Wood, and Stapel have organized some of the field's excellent thinkers and writers and produced a book that tackles enduring issues in new ways: How malleable is the self? What about one's identity is genuine? How tied up is the self in considerations of conscious experience? Under what conditions is the self defensive to the point of delusion? In the spirit of Narcissus, we all love to reflect on the self, and this volume will help students and investigators do so in intriguing new ways." - Peter Salovey, Yale University "In the last 20 years, research on the self has grown from street musician to corporate status. Abe Tesser and his colleagues are partly responsible for this explosion of interest. Now, with the publication of their most recent edited volume on the self, Tesser, Wood, and Stapel bring a structure to this increasingly complex research domain. The eleven chapters reflect three often-conflicting assumptions of the self -- self-as-good (Carl Rogers), self-as-bad (Freud), and self-as-self-regulating-blank-slate (Locke). The editors have assembled a phenomenal group of researchers in social psychology who are superb scientists and writers. This is an excellent book." - James W. Pennebaker, University of Texas at Austin About the Editors Contributors Introduction: Building, defending and regulating the self: An overview Abraham Tesser, Joanne V. Wood and Diederik A. Stapel I. Building the self: The Ideal, the authentic and the open self Chapter 1: The Michelangelo Phenomenon in Close Relationships Caryl E. Rusbult, Madoka Kumashiro, Shevaun L. Stocker, and Scott T. Wolf Chapter 2: From Thought and Experience to Behavior and Interpersonal Relationships: A Multicomponent Conceptualization of Authenticity Michael H. Kernis and Brian M. Goldman Chapter 3: Transportation into Narrative Worlds: Implications for the Self Melanie C. Green Chapter 4: Conflict and Habit: A Social Cognitive neuroscience Approach to the Self Matthew D. Lieberman and Naomi I. Eisenberger II. Defending the self Chapter 5: Ideal Agency: The Perception of Self as an Origin of Action Jesse Preston and Daniel M. Wegner Chapter 6: Reflections in Troubled Waters: Narcissism and the Vicissitudes of an Interpersonally Contextualized Self Frederick Rhodewalt and Carolyn C. Morf Chapter 7: Nagging Doubts and a Glimmer of Hope: The Role of Implicit Self-Esteem in Self-Image Maintenance Steven J. Spencer, Christian H. Jordan, Christine E.R. Logel, and Mark P. Zanna III. Regulating the self Chapter 8: Approach Avoidance Motivation and Self-Concept Evaluation Andrew J. Elliot and Rachel R. Mapes Chapter 9: Self Conscious Emotion and Self-Regulation Dacher Keltner and Jennifer S. Beer Chapter 10: On the Hidden Benefits of State Orientation: Can People Prosper without Efficient Affect Regulation Skills? Sander L. Koole, Julius Kuhl, Nils Jostmann, and Kathleen D. Vohs Chapter 11: The Roles of the Self in Priming-to-Behavior Effects. S. Christian Wheeler, Kenneth G. DeMarree, and Richard E. Petty Author Index Subject Index