What do 'the self' and 'the multiple self' mean? - Chapter 7

Questions about the nature of consciousness are closely tied to questions about the nature of the self. The 'self' we experience seems to be central to everything we are aware of at every moment. As a result, the self has both uniqueness and continuity. The problems start when you ask what kind of thing that experience might be.

How is it that we feel that there is a 'self' that has all kinds of experiences? There are two ideas about the self in psychology:

1. there is such a thing as a self that has all kinds of experiences and makes decisions, and   

2. it seems as if there is a self, but this in reality, this is not the case

From the first vision the egotheories arise and from the second vision the bundling theories originated. In many religions the first vision is assumed. Only in Buddhism is it denied that the self exists. Many forms of substance dualism are egotheories, because they state that the mind equals the self. An example is the theory of 'dualist interactionism' by Popper and Eccles. According to this theory, the self-conscious mind has control over the brain. The distinction between monists and dualists is not the same as the distinction between egotheories and bundle theories. There are materialists (monists) who believe that there is a self.

Bundle theories are based on the work of Hume that states that the self does not exist, but that there is a bundle of sensations. The life of a person would consist of a succession of sensations, impressions and ideas, which follow each other in a continuous flow at lightning speed, for a lifetime. Hume and Buddha share the idea that there is no self. Hume, however, admitted that bundle theories go against something that we perceive as normal. We all have the feeling that there is a self.

Multiple personality 

 In people with multiple personalities, it seems that several selves live in them. For example, someone can have the self of a small child, an old woman, a general and a teacher. The personalities alternate and they have different skills, different levels of intelligence and different memories. They can not remember memories of each other.

The most famous example of a person with multiple personality disorder (now: dissocitive identity disorder) is described by Prince who treated Mrs. Beauchamp. This lady had a terrible childhood, had pain and was very tired. Prince used hypnosis to reduce pain and fatigue. During the hypnosis, a second, passive personality emerged, called BIII, and one day Mrs Beauchamp started to talk about herself in the third case, due to her third personality, Sally. Mrs. Beauchamp and BIII had no knowledge of each other or of the third personality, and each life had voids in the memory which corresponded to the times when the other personalities were active, but Sally seemed to know the other personalities and claimed to be able to remember events when the personalities lost control. Prince called Sally a 'subconscious' self, and he wanted to find the 'real' Miss Beauchamp and stated that the other selves (like Sally) stand for a split of conscious states. Prince managed to bring all the personalities together into the real self of Miss Beauchamp.

Prince was clearly a supporter of the ego-theories. He believed not only in the 'true Mrs. Beauchamp', but also in various other different selves who were different states of consciousness with a separate will. James believed that the existence of people like Miss Beauchamp provides evidence for the fact that the same brain can create more than one self. Harré and Gillett argue that several of them existed in the body of Miss Beauchamp, but not because Miss Beauchamp herself had several selves, but because the multiple selves had arisen through reasoning.

Split Brain

In the case of multiple personality, the brain of the person in question remains intact and the dissociation is more mental than physical. The reverse seems to happen when a person has a brain divided into two.

Around 1960, operations were performed in which the passage(s) between both hemispheres was cut to reduce symptoms of epilepsy. A person in whom this operation was performed is called a 'split brain patient'. Normally information goes from the left visual field to the right hemisphere and information from the right visual field to the left hemisphere. If you put a split brain patient in front of a computer screen and show two images, something interesting happens. The picture on the left of the screen is processed by the right hemisphere and this ensures that someone can not say what he or she has seen. The right image is processed by the left hemisphere. Since the left hemisphere is specialized in speech, someone can name what he or she has seen on the right picture. Sperry states that one brain hemisphere does not know what the other one is doing in the case of a split brain patient. So every hemisphere has its own memories and these memories can not be passed on to the other brain.

Gazzaniga initially believed that there is a 'double conscious system' in split brain patients. So there would be two different forms of consciousness among these people. Later, Sperry changed his opinion because he believed that there is a kind of 'interpreter' in the left hemisphere. If a patient sees a snow-covered house on a screen on the left and sees a chicken leg on the right, something crazy happens. If he or she then has to point out which objects belong to these pictures, the patient points to a chicken (because it belongs to the chicken leg) and also points out a shovel. However, he does not say that the shovel is needed to remove the snow. He says he has chosen the shovel because a shovel is needed to clean the chicken shed. 

Based on his experiments, Gazzaniga believes that the left brain uses language, organizes convictions and attributes actions and intentions to people. Only the left hemisphere would be responsible for high-level consciousness.

Research shows that both hemispheres have different functions. The right hemisphere is responsible for facial recognition, while verbal skills are in the left hemisphere. If the left hemisphere of a person is removed, then this person still maintains his or her consciousness. This could mean that Sperry was right when he stated that there are two different forms of consciousness present in both hemispheres.

MacKay believes, however, that there is no evidence for this assumption. He distinguished between executive parts of the brain ('executive levels of brain function') and supervising parts of the brain ('supervisory levels of brain function'). Executive parts of the brain can lead to targeted activities and they can evaluate these activities in terms of priorities set.

Supporters of the bundle theory claim that the discussion of split brain patients having one consciousness or two is unnecessary, because according to them there is no separate 'self'.

Resources: Blackmore; Susan. (2010). Consciousness, Second Edition An Introduction. Abingdon, Oxon: Taylor & Francis.