Abstract
The classic duality of self-subject and self-object is related to the linguistic duality of self as a pronoun of the first and the third person. The latter duality is related to alternative ways of categorising people either as self versus other (SO categorisation) or as objects conceived in the third person (3P categorisation). Research is reviewed showing that these categorisations underlie personalised and depersonalised representations, respectively. Nevertheless, depersonalising 3P categorisation has been found more prominent in self-other comparisons than in comparisons between hypothetical others. In search for an explanation Duval and Wicklund's theory of subjective and objective self-awareness as well as causal attribution theory are discussed. In an experiment it is shown that conditions associated with objective self-awareness (e.g., presence of a mirror, instructions stimulating self-evaluation) increase 3P categorisation in self-other comparisons. The results add to our understanding of the role of objective self-awareness in self-other comparisons and in causal attributions from actors' and observers' perspectives.
Highlights
The self-effect hypothesis concerned the presence of the basic phenomenon under investigation, which is the 3P enhancing effect of being involved as a target in an interpersonal comparison
It predicted that enhanced objective self-awareness (OSA) would involve enhanced 3P categorisation in self-other comparisons
The self-evaluation hypothesis predicted that in self-other comparisons more 3P categorisation is elicited when the self is taken as the subject of the comparison than when it is taken as the referent
Summary
The classic duality of self-subject and self-object is related to the linguistic duality of self as a pronoun of the first and the third person. SO categorisation has been connected with the establishment of a personalised discourse involving a concept of person “as person” and a related personality concept as it has been conceived by personalistic philosophers such as Martin Buber In this respect it is worthwhile that the above effect categories (good versus bad for self and other) have been found to define social perceptual dimensions (Peeters, 1983) that reflect dimensions of implicit personality theory in Western culture (Rosenberg & Sedlak, 1972) as well as universal social perceptual categories (White, 1982). If OSA in the self-other comparisons would induce an observer perspective, the self-other comparison would become like the other-other comparison marked with personalising SO categorisation rather than objectifying 3P categorisation
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