Low self-esteem is directly

linked to a representation of the self that struggles with the fear of a narcissistic failure.11,12 Self-esteem is sensitive to challenges, and a critical function that is affected in various psychiatric disorders, from mood to anxiety and personality disorders.13 At the core of much psychiatric suffering (eg, depression, social anxiety, personality disorders) lies an attempt to cope with real or imaginary separation and rejection distress.6 Thus, self-knowledge Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and representations of others tend to be highly biased,14,15 because acceptance, rejection, and separation distress may have far-reaching consequences for the self. The infant self tends to be defensively structured to fend off challenges and attacks. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Without adaptive transformations involving reality appraisal, reappraisal, learning, and maturation, coping mechanisms can reach the magnitude of prevalent ideas, and even delusions, developed in order to protect the projected identity of the self. Under this view, self-awareness is the main hub of social cognition and inter-subjectivity. Psychiatrists and clinical psychologists often take care of individuals who struggle with their own relationship to their selves and the way their selves relate to otherness, at various real, imaginary, and symbolic levels. We Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical find that asking

what psychological mechanisms operate behind a person that sees his or her self as a failure, for instance, is a valid clinical question. We can wonder to what extent the patient’s view of his Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical or her self is a “social one” and what roles others (society?) play in the patient’s imaginary and symbolic relationships (either as judging and punishing or rewarding

agencies).16 Social cognitive neuroscience and the self Standard contemporary definitions of social cognition in cognitive neuroscience Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical emphasize the encoding, storage, retrieval, and processing of information relating to members of the same species. Social cognition encompasses elements of cognition until relating to information and knowledge, supporting and guiding adaptive behaviors of the individual as a member of a group or society. It is generally acknowledged that this information is often (but not exclusively) emotionally charged. Research in social cognitive neuroscience has been concerned with the mechanisms of social perception at the system level (eg, frontal lobes)17 and molecular (eg, neurohormones) level.18 Often the focus has been on the mechanisms of perception of certain categories of stimuli (eg, faces vs objects or scenes) and, more generally, on the correlates of the categorical apprehension of social attributes or emotions (eg, contempt, fear, empathy), but also on decision making and the ability for a Brefeldin A research buy theory of mind,19 attachment, and social exploration.