science

Self-as-context

Self-as-context is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Self-as-context rather than just read about it. In short: Self-as-context, one of the core principles in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), is the concept that people are not the content of their thoughts or feelings, but rather are the consciousness experiencing or observing the thoughts and feelings. Self-as-context is distinguished from self-as-content, defined in ACT as the social scripts people maintain about who they are and how they operate in the world.

Key takeaways

Self-as-context belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Self-as-context to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Self-as-context from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Self-as-context, one of the core principles in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), is the concept that people are not the content of their thoughts or feelings, but rather are the consciousness experiencing or observing the thoughts and feelings. Self-as-context is distinguished from self-as-content, defined in ACT as the social scripts people maintain about who they are and how they operate in the world. A related concept is decentering, which is a central change strategy of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, is defined as a process of stepping outside of one’s own mental events leading to an objective and non-judging stance towards the self.

Buddhist influence Buddhist mindfulness practices, in conjunction with functional contextualism, deeply influenced the formation of ACT and its concept of self-as-context. The approach was originally called comprehensive distancing and was developed in the late 1980s by Steven C. Hayes, Kelly G. Wilson, and Kirk D. Strosahl.

Self-as-context vs. self-as-content To differentiate self-as-context from self-as-content, ACT presents the conceptual self (participant), the thinking self (participant observer), and the observational self (observer).

Conceptual self The conceptual self is a person's self-as-content. A personal narrative, the conceptual self includes objective facts (name, age, sex, cultural background, marital status, occupation, etc.), subjective details (likes, dislikes, hopes, fears, and perceived strengths and weaknesses), social roles (friend, spouse, parent, child), and gender roles (mother, father, daughter, son). When a person "holds" their conceptual self lightly then their identity construct is adaptable, however, should a person become unable to differentiate themselves from the rules and restrictions comprising their conceptual self then, according to ACT, they may struggle in different areas of their life. Examples include saying things like "I wish I could, but I'm not the sort of person to _____" or "I'm a strong person, I don't need any help."

Thinking self The thinking self is the inner monologue actively assessing, questioning, judging, reasoning, and rationalizing any given moment, situation, or behavior. The relationship between the participant and participant-observer is described in Russ Harris' The Happiness Trap (2007) as being like that of an actor and director: Out of an entire lifetime of experience—literally hundreds of thousands of hours of archival "film footage"—our thinking self selects a few dramatic memories, edits them together with some related judgments and opinions, and turns it into a powerful documentary, entitled "This Is Who I Am!" And the problem is, when we watch that documentary we forget that it's just a heavily edited video. Instead, we believe that we are that video! But in the same way that a documentary of Africa is not Africa, a documentary of you is not you.

Observational self The observational self is defined in ACT as a transcendent state of self-awareness accessible through mindful expansion of awareness. In ACT cognitive defusion exercises are utilized to demonstrate how thoughts have no literal power over action, thereby increasing mental flexibility. If someone thinks "I am the worst," for example, a cognitive defusion exercise would observe "I am having the thought that I am the worst." Other exercises demonstrating how thoughts have no actual power include saying "I can't walk and talk" while proceeding to walk and talk, or saying "I have to stand up" while remaining seated. Experientially, the observational self is the part of consciousness that hears one's inner voice, and sees images in the mind's eye. ACT presents the idea that the more practiced a person is at accessing their observational self, the easier it is to perceive emotions within their situational context, remain mentally flexible, and commit to value congruent action.

Additions to self-as-content

Somatic self Self-as-content also includes the nonverbal sense of self experienced through physiological responses, including instinct, attraction, repulsion, and emotional affect. In ACT for Gender Identity: The Comprehensive Guide, Alex Stitt differentiates the somatic self from the thinking self and says that a person's relationship with their body begins to develop before their inner monologue. Since gender is more than just a thought, and identity is often described in "felt" terms, the somatic self accounts for the sense of "resonance" and "dissonance" either attracting or repelling people to certain aspects of gender and gender expression. Unlike the observational self, which is able to step back and see self-as-context, the somatic self can be as unreliable as the thinking self. Examples of this include when a person's physiological fear response is triggered in moments of safety, when a person is in a dissociative state, or when a person's affect is incongruent with their content of speech.

See also Metacognitive therapy Metacognition Relational frame theory

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Self-as-context

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Self-as-context claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Self-as-context before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Self-as-context ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Self-as-context

In research: Self-as-context appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Self-as-context in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Self-as-context is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Cognitive behavioral therapy, Mindfulness (psychology), so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Self-as-context outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Self-as-context in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Self-as-context means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Self-as-context out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Self-as-context in simple terms?

Why does Self-as-context matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Self-as-context?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Self-as-context.