STABILITY AND CHANGE IN THE SELF-SYSTEM

The relationships between the stability and flexibility of the self (self-system) is a much debated issue in self-psychology. Sometimes they are treated as contrary oppositions while they presuppose each other as a matter of fact: change is serving stability and stability emerges through changes. Dynamic stability is a basic feature of the self-system. This is provided for by the stability of ego-functions and by the continuous editing of the situation-dependent contextual self. Coherence of the self-system is provided by the evaluating–self-evaluating functions. Crucial events of the life history script as well as historical-social crucial events induce critical changes in the system. Resistance against the need for self-reflections in these cases is frequently observed. The most crucial functional moments in the stability of. the self-experience ands the self-system are the following: stability of the positive outcome of general self-evaluation; the realization of autonomy in peer selection and the balance in the social network around the individual; coherence and elaboration in life history narratives; the formation and reflectivity of somatic histories.