Changing Conceptions of Psychological Life is an interdisciplinary look at personal constructions of self. This book is a product of the 30th Annual Meeting of the Jean Piaget Society. The contributing authors constitute the original cast invited to speak on the theme of how individuals come to construe psychological lives--their own and others. Their concerns are how our sense of ourselves emerges developmentally, culturally, and historically, and the implications such constructions have for personal, social, and political change. Together, the authors compose an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars well regarded for their work on topics as diverse as adolescence, language, aging, romance, and morality.

Contents: Preface. Part I: Self as Known and as Experienced. A. Blasi, Neither Personality Nor Cognition: An Alternative Approach to the Nature of the Self. D. Polkinghorne, Ricoeur, Narrative, and Personal Identity. L. Nucci, The Promise and Limitations of the Moral Self Construct. Part II: Self and Mind. A. Demetriou, Unity and Modularity in the Mind and the Self: Towards a General Theory. D.M. Peterson, J.E. Marcia, J.I.M. Carpendale, Identity: Does Thinking Make It So? L.J. Moses, S.M. Carlson, Self-Regulation and Children's Theories of Mind. Part III: Self, Mind, and Culture. D. Holland, Self and Power in the World of Romance: Extending Sociogenic Theories. D. Moshman, Theories of Self and Theories as Selves: Identity in Rwanda. C. Lalonde, M. Chandler, Culture, Selves, and Time: Theories of Personal Persistence in Native and Non-Native Youth. Part IV: The Social Construction of Self. T.R. Sarbin, A Preface to the Epistemology of Identity. R. Harré, The Social Construction of Persons. A.O. Rorty, Improvisatory Accident-Prone Dramas of (What Passes for) a Person's Life.