Theoretical Background

Abstract

Rosenbaum and Dyckman (1995) recently declared that the self is not an object but a process, a statement probably difficult to put up with for ordinary personality (trait) psychologists. The present author and his colleagues would agree whole-heartedly, though not without further elaboration (e.g., Kragh and Smith, 1970; Brown, 1991a,b; Hanlon, 1991). But process is still an unusual word in personality psychology. In the following, so called perceptgenetic or microgenetic processes will command a considerable part of our attention. Still, we would like to give process a broader definition. Evolution excepted, process may be defined on at least three levels: ontogenesis, adaptation, and percept- or microgenesis.