Cognitive Scaffold

Preparing your thinking workspace

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MENTAL MODEL · M2728

Looking-Glass Self

Looking-Glass Self
Learn & MetacognitionHigh supportCognitive Science
Included
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Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

A person's self-awareness is not formed in isolation but through imagining how others evaluate them. I am not what I think I am, nor what you think I am; I am what I think you think I am.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

- Self-reconstruction: Understand the root of inferiority or arrogance. Often it's not that you are truly inadequate, but that the 'mirror' in your mind (your imagined evaluation by others) is distorted. Changing your environment (changing the mirror) can instantly change your self-perception.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Cooley proposed that an individual's self-concept is shaped by 'imagining how others see and evaluate me,' akin to recognizing oneself in a mirror.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Source support: Explicit

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    en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looking-glass_selfZH · Explicit
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