A process that lasts a lifetime. Therefore, it is important to learn to enjoy it yourself. And having realized who you are and where you are going, you need to continue to rethink and improve knowledge about yourself and the world. In this article, we will look at several ways of self-knowledge, describe their advantages and show how to apply them.

Self-knowledge is the study by a person of his mental and physical characteristics, understanding himself. It is formed gradually as knowledge of the surrounding world and one's own personality. This is a very slow, but at the same time exciting process. At some stage, a person can understand that he made a mistake about himself and rethink, clarify his values ​​and goals. This is also part of the work and should be treated with understanding.

Why do you need to know yourself at all?

In short, self-knowledge will allow a person to find happiness and peace. It is sad when a person has been doing something for several decades, and then realizes that he wasted his time and that he was actually interested in completely different things. But if these regrets are not pronounced on the deathbed, then there is time to make things right.

To answer in more detail, this gives the ability for self-improvement, personal growth and self-actualization. A person who is at arm's length from understanding himself feels the fullness of life and realizes its meaning. We are talking about arm's length because, as mentioned in the first paragraph, this process takes a lifetime. And there is no problem in this. We can be in an eternal search and at the same time feel the world as it is, enjoy every moment of our lives.

Well, in the end, when you understand who you really are, there are no deep and painful conflicts inside you. Household ones will arise every day, but you will cope with them, because you have resolved the main ones. You will take actions only because you clearly know that they completely fit into your value system and understanding of yourself. You will not take senseless actions and be in unconscious states when a variety of situations lead you, and not you yourself control your life.

The prospect is tempting, and every person understands that he needs to strive for this. He feels he needs it. Let's look at effective methods and learn how to use them.

Ways of self-knowledge

Before proceeding with the analysis of the tools, it is worth saying that using them, you can learn not the most pleasant things about yourself. Therefore, prepare in advance to evaluate yourself objectively. If it helps, then imagine that you are evaluating a complete stranger in order to exclude increased emotionality and self-flagellation.

Introspection

This is the first step on the path to self-knowledge. As already mentioned, you must evaluate yourself completely objectively. You observe yourself, your behavior and your reactions to external stimuli. Self-observation involves constantly raising your level of awareness.

There are several ways. For example, you can hang stickers above your desk (or wherever you spend the most time) asking questions such as:

• What am I doing now and why?
• What am I thinking about now?
• What do I feel now? What can you call this feeling or sensation?
• What makes me feel alive and real?
• When do I act hypocritically?

You must focus on five points: feelings, sensations, thoughts, images and actions. Remember that you should not judge yourself, you only know yourself. You need to see the real picture, not the one you want. If you often feel insecure, admit it. Remember that this prevents you from gaining an understanding of yourself and your goals.

You can write down everything you do now or did today. If possible, you should keep such records at least once every 2-3 hours. After a while, you will realize that you are monitoring your emotions and actions and have stopped responding on autopilot. This is a sign that the first step was successful. However, it is worth returning to it again and again, as over time you will change or gain a deeper understanding of your motives and values.

Introspection

Now you are ready to analyze the observations. With this method, you begin to reflect more on your behavior and reactions. You see the consequences of actions and try to determine their causes. This stage is very important and psychologically difficult. You may realize that more than half of your reactions are rooted in childhood as well as in your subconscious mind.

And you have a serious choice - do it yourself or contact a specialist. If you feel like you can do it yourself, start taking notes.

Concentrate on the negative emotions and thoughts that arise in you day after day. These can be resentment, a desire to criticize others and the rejection of this by people, increased irritability, anger and apathy. If you, for example, have dealt with your grievances, this will greatly change both your understanding of yourself and your life. Surely there were periods when you were not offended by anyone and you were in a great mood, but on other days it was the other way around. Wanted to know why? After all, you realize how much better you will feel and understand yourself if you learn not to be offended by the words and actions of other people.

Most of us simply do not have enough experience and knowledge to properly assess our personality. Therefore, we recommend that you read more books on the subject. In addition to giving you a framework for assessing your personality, they often contain a list of questions that you can answer to help you get to know yourself better.

Comparison

People love comparisons by nature. Both comparisons of oneself with others, and categories (“best” - “worst”). But it can both prevent you from knowing you and help you.

Comparing yourself to other people is not an unambiguous evil. If after that you feel overwhelmed, worthless and envious, then yes, you need to change your approaches. If comparison with other people inspires and makes you become even better, then you are doing everything right. As has been said, self-knowledge helps to determine who you really are. However, this does not mean that it is not necessary to develop and become better. The biography of a successful person will help you understand and perhaps even reveal hidden talents and resources in yourself that you did not know about.

Comparison by categories is likely to lead to bad consequences. By calling one person lazy and the other hardworking, you impair communication and criticism, which can also result in internal conflicts. After all, by such standards, you are lazy if you woke up in the morning and do not want to get to work. This leads to unnecessary stress and the development of complexes.

Therefore, we can give you two pieces of advice. First: comparing yourself with other people is good if you do it in the right way, inspired by other people's actions. Second, since category comparison is sometimes unavoidable, use all points of view, or at least don't judge yourself or other people. If your friend cannot get to work, this does not mean at all that he is lazy. Just like in your case.

self-acceptance

At this stage, you accept yourself for who you are. This does not mean that you should be satisfied with this, because self-development is necessary for any person. But now you know what to build on. You understand your strengths and weaknesses, aspirations and motivations, values ​​and goals. It is also important to look for advantages in your shortcomings, because this allows you to reduce the pain in their perception.

At this stage, self-examination is indispensable, because you can be wrong about yourself, and besides, you are constantly changing. Therefore, you should not be satisfied with the picture that you have. Develop, change, but constantly observe yourself and try to understand yourself and the changes that are happening inside you.

In conclusion, I would like to advise you to study, in particular, such sections as social psychology and personality psychology.

For a more detailed understanding of the topic, go through, which will help you analyze more than 50 characteristics of your personality and learn how to apply this knowledge in life.

We wish you good luck!

To date, the most popular and sought-after word among healthy people is “improvement”. In every sphere a person must move, grow, develop. However, few people understand how to do it, which is why they do not achieve it in the end. All people would like to develop as individuals, but they do everything that does not contribute to this. One of the important stages of development is self-knowledge, of which there are several types.

What role does self-knowledge highlight online magazine site in the development of oneself? A person is able to develop only when he knows what shortcomings he has in order to change and improve them. What do people usually do? They change those around them and the world as a whole, forgetting that the development and achievement of happiness, success, love begins with the development of themselves. People change and influence anything but themselves. And here psychologists identify two main reasons for this:

1. It is difficult for a person to know himself, because he has been taught all the time to know the world around him. Moreover, self-knowledge will make a person see himself not as he used to see himself, but finally be convinced of his own imperfection and the presence of many shortcomings.
2. Development requires change, and it is difficult for a person to change himself, because it requires effort, time and effort. It is easier to force someone else to change and be offended if this did not happen than to develop yourself.

A person "slows down" himself in his development, self-improvement, until he notices his weaknesses, patterned behavior, wrong actions and is not determined with the actions that he needs to take in order to correct them. As long as a person is deaf to the advice of other people, blames others for his troubles (and troubles are the answer of the world to human actions) and does not decide to change himself, he continues to fall into the same troubles and receive the same misfortunes as before. To change, you need to see your own weaknesses, wrong actions and patterned behavior, which leads to problems.

The most important step is to start changing yourself. People have already learned to see their shortcomings. But that is not all. We need to work on removing these shortcomings and developing virtues in ourselves. And this is a much more complex and difficult process that requires willpower and complete control over oneself.

To develop, you need to change yourself. It seems to sound quite natural, understandable. But for some reason, many people still believe in the illusion that it is possible to somehow develop without changing their habits, actions, lifestyle. How can you make yourself different without changing? It sounds quite natural, but when it comes to immediate actions, a person begins to hope that, without changing himself, he will be able to deceive fate and become perfect.

Don't deceive yourself. Development is possible only when you yourself see your weaknesses, patterned behavior and wrong actions that give you the life that you eventually live. You do not need to change all of yourself, but only a part of it. But even that is hard to do when you don't want to, deceive yourself and try to fool the whole world.

To develop, you need to change yourself. And this desire should be personally yours. It's up to you to want to change. It is up to you to engage and control yourself. Life will not change without your changes. You will not deceive fate. And you can understand this if you analyze your past, where your attempts at deception failed.

What is self-knowledge?

Self-knowledge is an important stage in development and improvement. This term implies a person's knowledge of his personality in any of its perspectives:

1. The biological sphere is the knowledge of one's body, one's physical capabilities, the functions of the body, its changes.
2. Social - the ability to gain knowledge, develop skills, contact people.
3. Personal - the ability to make decisions, dream, draw conclusions, etc.

Man is a whole system that consists of body, soul and mind. If a person begins to know himself, then he specifically considers his body, his life, qualities of character and behavior, complexes and fears, advantages and disadvantages, etc.

Self-knowledge is very difficult for a modern person, because no one teaches him this. Moreover, each individual is faced with the fact that thinking about yourself, caring for and loving yourself is considered selfish manifestations that are not accepted and condemned by society. If a person does not have to take care of himself and think, then he does not need to know himself. And what kind of development can there be if a person does not even know what to change?

From childhood, people are taught to think about others, to help and take care of others. So it turns out that people know each other, but not themselves. And they try to influence their own lives by changing others or the outside world. Let's take an example that is offered to everyone who wants to change something in their life: it is recommended to change the place of residence, work, change the circle of acquaintances and even a loved one, if something does not suit the individual. But, as the sages say, wherever a person goes and runs away, he always takes himself with him.

Just as a pig finds dirt everywhere and everywhere, so a person will not change his life as long as he continues to have the same qualities and perform the usual actions with which he had brought himself to trouble before.

It is easiest for any person to be himself. By the way, people who accept this way of life often use the expression: "Accept me the way I am." But what happens when you do the same actions? You get the same result. And therefore, it is up to you to decide whether you will remain the same in order to stumble upon the “same rake”, or start developing in order to achieve new results.

You can be whoever you want to be and achieve whatever you want. To do this, you just need to organize your life so that it brings you what you want. In other words, develop in yourself such habits, way of thinking, life, worldview, so that all this leads you to what you want to achieve.

Many people are used to living like a Tetris game: the experience remains the same, but the number of errors increases. That is, time passes, but a person goes through life's difficulties with the repetition of his experience, accumulating mistakes. But life's problems are given in order for a person to develop, evolve, change, become better.

Why keep in yourself something that does not lead you to the desired result? You understand, for example, that alcohol does not benefit you, but only harms your health. Then why do you continue to develop the habit of drinking beer or vodka at the end of the working day, if you want to be healthy and successful people at the same time? Stop cherishing those habits in yourself that do not lead you to your goals. Rather, spend some time developing new habits and habits that will benefit and even benefit you.

A lot can be changed in this life, especially in your own. And it's up to you to decide whether to stay the same or develop in order to eventually get what you deserve.

Self-knowledge and personal development

There is a close relationship between self-knowledge and personality development. Since childhood, a person has a desire for self-knowledge in order to improve his skills and abilities. Self-knowledge is the recognition of one's abilities and qualities. Development is the improvement of one's capabilities and qualities.

As every child goes through a process of upbringing, at some stage he is faced with the fact that he should think about the people around him and the world, and not about himself. On this, the process of self-knowledge stops, which leads to a lack of development.

To develop, you need to know yourself. An amazing process is observed here: when a person finally begins to see himself in a real light, he has an energy that makes him develop. He begins to understand why he is faced with those troubles that constantly haunt him. He understands why he made certain mistakes. Now it becomes clear what needs to be done to achieve success in those areas where a person sets goals and does not achieve them.

Self-knowledge already gives energy to a person so that he begins his development, as he begins to understand, and not to hover in his own illusions.

Illusions are inherent in all people who were forced to forget about themselves and start thinking about everyone else. Each person has a personal idea of ​​himself. And here there is some dissonance:

1. "I"-ideal - this is what a person wants to be.
2. "I"-real - this is what a person really is, but he does not know himself that way.
3. "I"-social - this is how a person is seen by people around him. Often, they also do not know a person well in real life, because they know him only as long as it is interesting and profitable for them.

Self-esteem is just based on how a person looks at himself and from what position he evaluates. Often a person's self-esteem is based on the opinion that he hears about himself from other people. For some people, self-esteem is built on the ideal image that they would like to be, because of which it falls every time they notice that they do not live up to their ideals. And only a small part of people have a healthy self-esteem when they really look at themselves, without inventing anything and without being influenced by the surrounding opinion.

When a person knows himself, he has a chance to improve his own and make it adequate. Adequate self-esteem depends on how realistic a person evaluates himself and does not demand the impossible from himself. With a decrease in self-esteem, a person tries to be perfect, which she does not succeed in, and also the people around her constantly suppress her with their criticism. Inflated self-esteem is the result of the fact that a person already considers himself ideal, of course, in fact, he is not.

Self-knowledge helps to form a stable and adequate self-esteem. This does not mean that you will not have flaws. On the contrary, you will be aware of your weaknesses, but will not be upset because of them. Now you will face a choice: to change your shortcomings for virtues or to keep them in yourself without criticizing yourself for their presence?

Types of self-knowledge

The types of self-knowledge are:

1. Self-observation is the observation of internal processes, thoughts and one's behavior.
2. Introspection - the discovery of cause-and-effect relationships in ongoing events, the motives of one's own behavior, the selection of features based on the identified relationships.
3. Comparison - comparing yourself with other people or images.
4. Modeling is the creation of a new image based on existing characteristics.
5. Awareness of opposites - a vision of the existing qualities and those that he would like to possess. If a person learns to see in his qualities, which he previously perceived exclusively negatively, also positive phenomena, then he will treat them less critically, which will make him stronger.

For self-knowledge, you can use the services of a psychologist who will become an objective observer.

Outcome

To change anything in your life, you need to know what to change. In the meantime, a person is afraid to look at himself, he will direct his forces to change the people around him or the world as a whole, which is absolutely impossible and even meaningless.

self-knowledge is the process of self-realization. Through self-knowledge, a person comprehends himself as a person, cognizes his “I”, studies his psychological and physical abilities. Self-knowledge is a mental process that ensures the integrity, unity and development of the individual. This process begins in infancy and continues throughout life.

To understand what self-knowledge is, one should trace the main aspects of its formation. The process of self-knowledge is formed in stages as the external world is displayed and the gradual knowledge of oneself as a unique person.

Self-knowledge of the personality includes three levels, which correspond to the three spheres of the organization of the individual. At the biological level, knowledge of oneself is accomplished as a separate, autonomous organism. The social level expresses the ability to study, master skills and master the norms of behavior in society. The personal level represents the ability to make choices, make decisions, coordinate one's behavior, organize one's life.

Self-knowledge and personal development

Self-knowledge and personal development are categories that ensure the success and effectiveness of human self-realization.

Self-knowledge of a person is a person's assessment of himself, the ability to objectively look at himself and the ability to treat himself as an object of knowledge.

Development means the ability to improve one's potentialities on one's own in order to reach the highest level of development.

In psychology, there is a scientific concept, according to which the process of self-knowledge has some semantic characteristics, represented by certain aspects: human health (psychological and mental); personal potential (optimal realization of potential); harmony (inner peace and psychological maturity). All these aspects interact and work holistically, causing the high efficiency of self-knowledge of the individual.

Self-knowledge, as well as self-development of a person, is a fairly long-term process. They are carried out during the whole conscious life.

Self-knowledge begins at an early age. Children develop, learn what they are capable of, learn to distinguish themselves from other objects of the outside world, get acquainted with the world around them using imitation mechanisms. The psyche of a young child is so receptive that, like a sponge, he absorbs literally everything that happens around him, all the information about objects and processes, while making no difference in content (does he need this kind of information, what is bad, what is good and what he needs). The child begins to realize the meaning of objects and share the perceived information when the self-development of the personality becomes even more formed, approximately after the age of three.

There are many different theoretical approaches and concepts of human self-development. For example, self-concept, it implies the ability and readiness of a person for the process of self-development.

In the process of age formation, a person creates a number of his own beliefs about himself and finds such a personal motive that becomes the main motivation for self-development and determines human behavior. Regarding this motive, a certain content of a person’s thoughts and feelings is created, the specifics of his behavior, personal attitude to the world around him and his worldview are developed. From this theory it follows that each individual creates his own life scenario and can improve it through a change in consciousness and way of thinking.

The theory of self-concept lays down the structure of the personality, which consists in the triplicity of the image of the human "I".

"I" - the ideal - is a clear idea of ​​​​a person about his uniqueness, his personal characteristics, dreams, ideals and hopes. "I" - the ideal is an integrated image of the ideal person for a particular person. Such an ideal combines the best qualities, desirable character traits, optimal behavioral patterns and life values.

"I" - the real - is a person's own image, the way he sees himself, as he really is in reality. This is a kind of internal mirror that reflects the real person, her behavior, worldview, and so on.

How a person evaluates himself, displays his level, gives a feeling of attractiveness or expresses dissatisfaction with himself. Depending on the level of self-esteem, it either supports individuality or drives a person into a framework, which causes great personal discomfort.

Self-development of a person in the presented concept occurs as a process of interaction and integration of all components of the "I".

The initial stage involves the creation of one's own ideal image of a perfect person according to certain characteristics, which makes it possible to see the tasks of self-development as accurately as possible and select the necessary optimal methods for this. The thinking of a self-developing person is aimed at analyzing his own opinion at least within 15 minutes every day. Thus, the idea of ​​ways to approach the desired ideal (how to behave, with whom to communicate, what to do) gradually develops. If a person observes all these rules and tasks, then he is getting closer and closer to his ideal, and the distance between the "I" - ideal and "I" - real is gradually decreasing. The component “I, how I evaluate myself” will help to see if a person is moving in the right direction.

Self-knowledge and human development are two inseparable processes that take place in a person. When a person does not understand and does not perceive himself as a unique personality, he will not be able to develop himself in a constructive way, he will not know in which direction to move and he will not have a corresponding one either.

Self-knowledge arises and develops as a person matures and matures, also under the influence of how mental functions develop and contacts with the outside world expand.

Self-knowledge and self-esteem are also closely related and together influence the process of self-development. There are three main motives through which a person turns to self-esteem: self-understanding; growth of self-importance; . The level of self-esteem also has a connection with the degree of satisfaction of a person with himself and what he does.

Adequate self-esteem corresponds to the actual possibilities, and contributes to a better self-development of a person, a distorted self-esteem prevents this.

Self-esteem rises if a person succeeds in some business or as a result of lowering the requirements for the ideal. If self-knowledge is realized and self-esteem of the personality is adequate, a person will develop a positive image of himself than if a person had low self-esteem and gave almost all his qualities a negative assessment.

To understand what self-knowledge is, you need to consider this process in stages.

The process of self-knowledge has several stages. At the stage of primary self-knowledge, self-knowledge of a person occurs with the help of other people. Such self-knowledge is receptive and constructive. Here a person trustingly perceives the opinions of others, his “I-concept” is created, which is formed under the influence of the assessments and judgments of others. At this stage, there may be problems of inconsistency between the views of other people and the person himself.

After primary self-knowledge, the second stage is the crisis of primary self-knowledge. At this stage, inconsistent judgments about the personality appear that come from the surrounding people, there are internal changes that do not fit into the usual image of the personal "I" - all this causes the emergence of cognitive dissonance, which also requires resolution. Perhaps self-knowledge, as knowledge of oneself, and not of others, arises precisely from a meeting with experience that is not included in the usual “I-concept”. Also, the crisis leads to the fact that the role of the opinions of others in self-knowledge is changing. The personality is no longer guided by the judgments of others, and the person moves to self-determination.

The third stage of self-knowledge is secondary self-knowledge. This stage is represented by a change in the person's ideas about himself. Here the process of self-knowledge is quite active, since a person has learned to fully define himself. The opinion of others now plays a passive role, since a person gives preference to his own ideas. Such knowledge is reconstructive, since the “I-concept” is redefined on the basis of the existing idea, and the person questions the truth of the habitual construction, he remakes himself according to his own plan.

Types of self-knowledge

The process of self-knowledge can be represented as a sequence of the following actions: revealing some personal quality in oneself, fixing this quality in the mind, analysis, evaluation and acceptance of the quality. If a person is characterized by high emotionality and non-acceptance of himself, he may develop complexes, and the process itself will turn into “self-digging”. Therefore, it is important that in self-knowledge, as well as in other processes, certain limits are observed.

The processes of self-knowledge and self-development become even more effective if a person has knowledge of the basics of personality psychology and the psychology of feelings.

There are such ways of self-knowledge of a person: self-observation (observation of one's behavior and thoughts, internal processes); introspection (those things that were discovered as a result of self-observation are analyzed, causal relationships are determined, a person analyzes those characteristics that were revealed to him); comparison (comparison of oneself with other people, with ideals, samples); personality modeling (a person models his own personality, through displaying his individual characteristics and relationships with others, using signs and symbols); awareness of opposites (a person is aware of the existence of opposites of some quality or behavioral characteristic).

The last method (recognition of opposites) is used at the later stages of self-knowledge, when a personal characteristic is singled out and analyzed. Individual personal qualities of a person can simultaneously have positive and negative sides. If a person has learned to find the positive side of a characteristic in which he previously saw only negative, then the pain of accepting it will be less, and the person will feel stronger. This last point is very important, because self-acceptance is very important in self-knowledge, self-development and.

Ways of self-knowledge contribute not only to a better understanding of oneself, but also to know other people. If a person is aware of himself as a person, endows himself with certain characteristics, he will also be able to compare himself with others in order to understand well what makes him different from others.

The following means of self-knowledge of a person are distinguished: self-report (for example, in the form of a diary); watching films, reading literature paying attention to the psychological images of the characters, comparing oneself with these characters; study of personality psychology, social psychology; passing psychological tests.

There are also special means of self-knowledge that make up various forms of psychologist's activity: individual counseling, where the psychologist competently draws up an individual plan of work with the client, as a result of which the client is able to open up as much as possible, understand problems and find internal resources to solve these problems; group work within the framework of socio-psychological training, in which relationships are built in such a way that in the group there is an intensification of the processes of self-knowledge and knowledge of others.

From early childhood, a person wonders who he is, trying to understand himself, in his inner world. This is how the process of self-discovery begins.. And this is not only contemplation of oneself, but also observation of one's actions, thoughts in order to improve them. After all, self-knowledge without inner work is meaningless..

One of the main requirements for this is recognition of one's own ignorance and desire to acquire this knowledge. It is impossible to know oneself by introspection alone. Logical reasoning or other mental activity is also not enough. It is necessary to awaken the consciousness of one's Divine nature and do it better under the guidance of an experienced mentor or a Teacher who has knowledge.

Each person is a separate world which holds many mysteries. And as difficult as it is to comprehend the outer world, it is just as difficult to know the inner world of a person. This is a very exciting, difficult, but achievable task.

An interesting fact is that this is not a one-time process, but a gradual one. Discovering one part of yourself, gradually a person learns something new. And in the end, it can take a lifetime, making it incredibly exciting.

In order to understand oneself, it is also necessary to be aware of what drives actions, what internal motives. Such an assessment must be objective.

With each stage of self-knowledge, a person changes himself, changes his attitude to life. He discovers in himself more and more new sides, new opportunities that he did not know about before.

In ancient teachings under self-knowledge understood the knowledge of its depth in which the divine nature of man was revealed. It was combined with the study of mental states. Such self-knowledge led a person beyond the limits of knowledge of his own Self.

To engage in self-knowledge, a person must have not only the desire, but also to know what ways of self-knowledge exist. It can be religion, philosophy, psychology, various meditative or bodily techniques. It is important to understand what result this or that way of knowing oneself leads to.

A person must constantly develop - this is another important condition for self-knowledge. Self-knowledge constantly lags behind the object of knowledge.

In the process of knowing yourself, it is important not to belittle your qualities, and also not to exaggerate them. It is a sober assessment and acceptance of oneself as one is that is the key to the proper development of a person. Otherwise, arrogance, self-confidence, or vice versa, timidity, isolation, shyness may appear. These qualities will become an insurmountable barrier to self-improvement.

Some philosophers highly valued self-knowledge. So Socrates said that it is the basis of all virtue. Lessing and Kant argued that this is the beginning and center of human wisdom. Goethe wrote: "How can you know yourself? Through contemplation, this is generally impossible, it is possible only through action. Try to do your duty - and then you will know what is in you."

Self-knowledge of personality- a complex process of studying himself by an individual, as a result of which the entire continuum of his own properties and qualities is reflected in his mind.

In psychology, a consensus has been established that this process has a level organization. Disagreements concern only the number of such levels. Most domestic psychologists consider the development of self-knowledge as a two-level process. Cognition begins (according to A. Leontiev) with the allocation of external, superficial properties and is the result of comparison, analysis and generalization, the allocation of the most essential. In other words, at the first level there is an accumulation of primary fragmentary information about oneself through the correlation of oneself with the surrounding social world. This level, as it were, prepares the individual for intensive and deep self-knowledge, realized on the basis of introspection.

At the second level, the individual cognizes himself by operating with information about himself obtained at the first level. The greatest flow of information now comes not from the sphere "I - the surrounding social world", but closes on the sphere "I - I".

The mechanisms of self-knowledge include the processes of identification, reflection and attribution, which are closely interconnected with each other.

Identification (lat. identificare - to identify) is a mental operation (emotional-cognitive process) of varying degrees of awareness (from unconscious to fully conscious), with the help of which an individual:
- recognizes objects (phenomena, processes) by comparing them on some basis and, establishing the degree of similarity or difference between them, assigns them to some group, type, type;
- identifies (attributes to himself, transfers to himself) the characteristics of other people on the basis of the acceptance of their values ​​and norms (or direct imitation of them);
- projects himself onto another person, endowing him with his own personal characteristics;
- comprehends and penetrates into the other person's overturning, putting himself in his place and at the same time showing a readiness to emotionally respond to the problems that torment him (empathy).

Reflection (lat. reflexio - conversion; back, reflection) - self-knowledge by the individual of his internal mental states. It characterizes the ability of the individual's consciousness to focus on itself. In philosophy, this concept was associated with a person's reflection on what is happening in his mind, what is the content of his thoughts. Social psychology has expanded the scope of understanding reflection. Here it is transferred to the interaction of two people or the interaction of people within a larger group and acquires the character of mutual reflection by individuals of each other. Each individual not only strives to know himself, but also to understand how he is displayed in the minds of other people. This is displayed by a number of positions that form a reflexive process:
- individual A, what he really is;
- individual A's vision of himself;
- vision of individual A by individual B;
- individual B, what he really is;
- individual B's vision of himself;
- the vision of individual B by individual A.

Thus, reflection is not only an introspective immersion in the world of one’s mental processes, states and properties, but also an awareness of one’s goals, motives and behavior, as well as a vision of one’s image that is emerging in the thoughts of the interlocutor.

Attribution (English attribute - attribute, endow) - the process of endowing individual A with any characteristics to another individual B and attributing to him some personality traits, motives, goals, attitudes based on the perception of his current behavior. Most often, there is a stereotypical "completion" of the image of the interlocutor, attributing the reasons for his behavior. Attribution is considered as one of the main mechanisms of social perception, or perception of a person by a person, as a result of which the individual expands the scope of self-knowledge.

Attribution is due to three interdependent factors (according to A. Bodalev):
- features of the appearance and behavioral manners of the interlocutor to whom the attribution process is directed;
- personal characteristics of the subject of attribution (his character, worldview, attitudes, values, etc.);
- the specifics of the situation against which: the process of attribution unfolds.

In psychology, the concept of causal attribution (lat. causa - cause) is distinguished as the fact of interpretation by individual A of the reasons for the specific behavior of individual B on the basis of signs obtained in the process of interpersonal perception.