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date: 06 February 2025

Self-Observation in Psychologylocked

Self-Observation in Psychologylocked

  • Donald V. Brown Jr., Donald V. Brown Jr.CUNY Graduate Center, Department of Psychology
  • Karyna PryiomkaKaryna PryiomkaCUNY Graduate Center, Department of Psychology
  • , and Joshua W. CleggJoshua W. CleggCUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Department of Psychology

Summary

Self-observation, an umbrella term for a number of methods associated with first-order accounts of mental activity (e.g. introspection) and first-person reporting, has been a part of psychology’s investigative procedures since the inception of the discipline. It remains an integral, albeit contested, tool for psychologists to use across essentially every sub-field. In areas such as phenomenology, memory research, psychological assessment, and ethnography, among others, self-observation has been deployed to access information not readily acquired through alternative methods. Other names for introspective methods include self-report, retrospection, inner perception, and self-reflection.

Subjects

  • History and Systems of Psychology
  • Methods and Approaches in Psychology
  • Psychology and Other Disciplines

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