Wilson Timothy D, Dunn Elizabeth W
University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904-4400, USA.
Annu Rev Psychol. 2004;55:493-518. doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.55.090902.141954.
Because of personal motives and the architecture of the mind, it may be difficult for people to know themselves. People often attempt to block out unwanted thoughts and feelings through conscious suppression and perhaps through unconscious repression, though whether such attempts are successful is controversial. A more common source of self-knowledge failure is the inaccessibility of much of the mind to consciousness, including mental processes involved in perception, motor learning, personality, attitudes, and self-esteem. Introspection cannot provide a direct pipeline to these mental processes, though some types of introspection may help people construct beneficial personal narratives. Other ways of increasing self-knowledge include looking at ourselves through the eyes of others and observing our own behavior. These approaches can potentially promote self-knowledge, although major obstacles exist. It is not always advantageous to hold self-perceptions that correspond perfectly with reality, but increasing awareness of nonconscious motives and personality is generally beneficial.
由于个人动机和心理结构的原因，人们可能很难了解自己。人们常常试图通过有意识的抑制，或许还通过无意识的压抑来屏蔽 unwanted thoughts 和 feelings，不过这种尝试是否成功存在争议。自我认知失败的一个更常见原因是，大脑的许多部分无法进入意识层面，包括感知、运动学习、个性、态度和自尊等心理过程。内省无法直接通向这些心理过程，尽管某些类型的内省可能有助于人们构建有益的个人叙事。增加自我认知的其他方法包括通过他人的视角审视自己以及观察自己的行为。这些方法有可能促进自我认知，尽管存在重大障碍。持有与现实完全相符的自我认知并不总是有利的，但提高对无意识动机和个性的认识通常是有益的。
