| I. the self-concept (human/dolphin/chimp consciousness) | |
| a. brain area | hippocampus, occipital lobe |
| b. organ system | the face |
| c. neurotransmitter(s) | serotonin |
| i. psychological construct(s) | social identity, uncertainty, personality, theory of mind |
| ii. emotional spectrum | happiness-sadness |
| iii. diseases/disorders | mood disorders; PTSD |
| d. developmental stage | adulthood; aesthetic (Maslow) |
| e. lifecycle stage | adulthood |
| f. evolutionary grouping | social animals, self-aware animals, tools & language |
| g. cosmological stage | death of all stars |
| h. space-time/information/learning/ | episodic memories/implications for social health – social environment; short term acquisition-long term retention |
| i. Behavior | will I treat a person like an in-group member |
| j. person | socially (un)healthy |
| k. environment | people |
| l. chakra | 7. sahasrara |
| m. sephirot | 1. keter – crown |
| n. color | purple/blue |
| o. Freudian concept | superego |
| p. OCEAN trait | E |
The most advanced self-awareness, this is the identification of the self as more or less similar to other people in the same and different social categories as you. This self is the one that can project itself back and forward in time and think about itself as a concept. Evolutionarily speaking it tells us how socially integrated and therefore happy or depressed about our pasts and futures we should be; being part of a group means one’s survival chances as long as adhering to group norms are better. Depending on how much like themselves they have treated you, the serotonergic self will have a different assessment of how one is doing in life.
This self is associated with what I have coined flashbulb learning, which is short-term info gain during existentially important or intense times and long-term memory and long-term implications for personality and behavior. Serotonin, as such, according to my theorizing, has to do with making new episodic memories that can be depressing or uplifting; flooding the system with serotonin won’t make one happy; it will make the moment have more importance existentially and allow for the reforming of our interpretation of our social and therefore social identity’s wellbeing. Depression is feeling utterly unlike anybody and mania is feeling like the everyperson, and healthy living has one having an accurate perception of where they are on this spectrum.
This is also the system that, in my theorizing, is responsible for social learning and recognizing emotions in others to let us know what others are thinking or seeing from their perspective. According to synthesism, the dual function of the part of the visual cortex devoted to encoding lines at different angles of rotation is to also sense changes to the lips and other natural lines of the face that change orientation when for instance we smile or scowl.
Distance in this space refers to how much a person in the social environment fits into the same category of person. Time’s passing in social time refers to whether one has a bleak or optimistic view of past and future based on their memories.