Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

This paper deals with ancient clepsydrae and water docks in Greece and Rome. While clepsydrae are very oíd time measuring instruments, the difíusion of water docks is strictly connected with the development of the mechanical studies. Ctesibius of Alexandria was the first one to understand the bind links between pneumatical toys and the water docks. Really interesting is the description of the Archimedes water dock, a complex device whose mechanical engine is just similar to the Vitruviu's odometer.

This paper analyzes the drive underlying the self-evaluation of opinions and capacities in an evolutionary framework. The social process that induces self-evaluation is social comparison. This paper proposes that the origin of social comparison and self evaluation comes from social competition through two self-concepts: the potential resource-holding and the social attention-holding power. The psychological equivalent of these two concepts is self-esteem. Self esteem evolved as a sociometer that makes Homo Sapiens gauge the degree of social belonging/social exclusion within reference groups. People are motivated to behave in ways that conserve self-esteem, because self-esteem maintenance behaviour usually reduces the possibility of being ignored, avoided or excluded by others. Self-evaluation is more sensitive to exclusion by people with a close relationship than to rejection by people from outside this close circle. This sensitivity is related to the level of closeness, performance and self-relevance. This self-evaluation maintenance model is a mechanism that solves an evolutionary pro blem which Homo Sapiens must have been faced with in some key moment of evolution.willingness to surrender illusions.

It is considered shared opinions about the diverse self-referents definitions and terms. This diversity is valued in its real scope, and interpreted as a necessary pluralism to analyze a complex phenomenon such as the self. In this sense, some self-referential analysis from linear and complex perspectives are considered, showing some of their main differences according to an epistemological standpoint. Following this, a theoretical complexity-based model of the self is presented; this model permit to explain the question of diversity in self research, and to set forth some criteria to develop an integrated self conception coming from different theories. Besides, considering self interactive aspect makes to propose an analysis of complex nuances in environmental influences that affect self-referents system; specifically, those related to an interactive power studied in Microphysics, and the asinthotic freedom -which contradicts the classical views about the load of the interaction strength. This analysis is translated into some complex elements in others’ influence in the self.

After a short review over the historical contributions made by various authors to the contents of the concept of “self”, some current directions of work are pointed out for they consider this psychological phenomenon relevant to the Health and Clinical Psychology. In particular, a revision of the characteristics of the self-concept and the self-view present at the diverse Personality Disorders according to Millon is expounded. The “self” is also propounded as a central element in the evaluation and treatment of the physical diseases in the biopsychosocial model, in which it could become a health mediator.

This work presents the objective self-consciousness (or self-focus or self-awareness). Before beginning with their exposition, it is located in historical and thematic context, for its best knowledge and understanding. Then, the first theory is presented, that of the objective self-consciousness (Duval and Wicklund, 1972, Wicklund, 1975, 1978). Next, some elementary concepts are exposed that help to understand it. Finally, the most outstanding theories under the generic name of self-consciousness will be exposed, not in all their extension, but standing out what they have of innovative or complementary regarding the original formulation.

“Know yourself!” says an old exhortation from the Greeks. Yet, it is worth asking for the boundaries of self-knowledge and the value of the self-consciousness. Psychology seeks to get knowledge about the consciousness not from an inner perspective, but rather from the outside, by the study of the behaviour. This paper presents some behavioural analysis of the processes and structures usually considered under labels such as “self” and “Ego” or “I”. It discusses the contrast between consciousness and science in the study of such processes.

In this study the relations among the style of family socialization, the family sports climate, the peers sports climate, the motivation towards the sports practice and the physical self-concept in teenagers are analysed. The sample is constituted by 105 family units integrated y father, mother and son or daughter, with a whole of 305 subjects. The results show that whereas the family sports climate and the peers sports climate an effect on the Motivation towards the sports practice in boys, but in the girls the above mentioned effects have not been situated, which indicates that the motivation towards the sports practice has different sources in case of the girls.

Los dos miembros del título pueden andar desparejados: el concepto de sí mismo se deja investigar mediante otras estrategias y mediante pruebas convencionales de personalidad, mientras, por su lado, el método de clasificación Q, creado por Stephenson (1953), puede extenderse a la evaluación de facetas de personalidad que no son el autoconcepto, y, en la intención de su creador, podría auxiliar incluso -aunque esto se halla ahora más bien abandonado- para la validación de teorías psicológicas generales. Entre el contenido (concepto de sí mismo) y el método (clasificación Q) hay, de todos modos, muy buena correspondencia, y ajustan el uno al otro como el guante a su mano.

The Social Identity perspective in Social Psychology tries to explain group phenomena (in-and out-group). Although originally, the theory of Social Identity by Tajfel (1984) studied the intergroup relationships, more recently, the Theory of Self-Categorization (Turner, 1999) analyzes group processes in either small or big groups. The Social Identity perspective has very important implications in the definition of the Social Psychology, since it provides significant means to comprehend group processes, collective behaviour, self-concept, and personality.

This article is a self identity theory review developed in a framework from socials models. It describes cognitive models, cognitive-social models and social models. The Tajfel ́s Social Identity Theory (Tajfel, 1981 y Tajfel y Turner, 1986) and the Deaux y Martin ́s new model that integrates Psychological and Sociological traditions are the main arguments along the paper.