Self as Functional Fiction Swann and Buhrmester self as functional fiction

Beginning with James, self-theorists have entertained two complementary visions of the self. The me has denoted people’s representations of themselves, or the characteristics that they impute to themselves. The I has referred to the sense of self, the homunculus-like entity that experiences and reacts to the world, constructs mental representations and memories, guides action, and so on. here we contend that both the me and the I are cognitive constructions or fictions. People rely on these reality based fictions to know what is expected of them, to understand how they fit into the world, and to guide behavior. We review past and contemporary work through the lens of our self as functional fiction perspective. Finally, we discuss the implications of this perspective for several issues, including the nature of accuracy in social perception and the experience of free will.