WAYS OF KNOWING - OBJECTIVE SELF-AWARENESS OR CONSCIOUSNESS

The first part of this article focuses upon and then links two primary themes: (a) subjective self-awareness (machinery of our body) and objective self-awareness (the ability to focus attention on our selves, thoughts, actions, and feelings) and (b) levels of self-development. Following, the discussion turns to specifics about levels of self: Sensorimotor affective ways of knowing, representational knowledge, and abstract knowledge. Lastly, objective self-awareness is discussed in relation to its role in the development of self-conscious emotions such as pride, shame, guilt, and embarrassment, and for its importance in providing us with the ability to talk about subjective processes. © 1991.