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The fickle "empty self" view is finally being challenged by enduring preferences - C C - Nov 4, 2026
How psychology’s classic studies misled us about the self
https://psyche.co/ideas/its-time-to-ditch-the-empty-self-view-of-human-psychology
EXCERPTS: Imagine a creature that is like humans in every way, except that it has no enduring inner self. The behaviour of this hypothetical species – which we will call Homo vacuus – would be driven not by their private beliefs and inclinations, but rather by knee-jerk responses to their immediate environment. Lacking an enduring web of preferences, attitudes and proclivities, the contents of the H vacuus character would be filled by whatever situation they find themselves in. As a result, their behaviour would vary dramatically as they moved from one situation to the next.
Scrutiny of H vacuus would reveal a host of curious behaviours. Their attitudes towards others would be shaped by random factors that unconsciously influence their thoughts. They might feel ‘warmer’ toward others when they handle a hot cappuccino, and ‘colder’ when clasping an iced latte. Their political decisions would hinge on seemingly innocuous details. For instance, turnout in their elections would surge if they were affirmed as being ‘voters’, rather than merely people who vote. And on morality, their views on topics from abortion to pornography could depend on something as mundane as whether they had washed their hands, making them feel ‘cleansed’ and in the mood for judging others.
Given the inherent fluidity of H vacuus, trying to predict their behaviour beyond the present moment would be pure folly. H vacuus would be so mercurial that when they wed, they would effectively be marrying a stranger. In the end, being the pawns of powerful environmental forces would compromise their ability to effectively plan and adapt. Others would recognise the impossibility of holding them responsible for their actions, as they could refuse to accept responsibility for their behaviour by claiming: ‘I was just responding to the situation!’ At the end of the day, religious, ethical and judicial systems would be largely irrelevant.
In light of the many challenges facing H vacuus, it may be surprising to learn that this fictitious creature is based on an implicit assumption about human nature suggested by the work of numerous influential behavioural scientists. This assumption is that if you were to peer into the contents of people’s selves, you would discover little that isn’t susceptible to the random influences of the situation. Indeed, the peculiarities of H vacuus life described above – including the ideas about ‘warm’ attitudes, election turnout and moral cleansing – are based on claims that have been made about real humans.
We label this view of human psychology the empty-self metaphor. Although it has fostered an erroneous understanding of human nature, the empty-self metaphor has inspired a large following. These followers embrace an optimistic view in which human foibles can be readily vanquished through systematic manipulation of the social environment. However alluring it may be, we suggest that it is time to replace this Panglossian view with one that acknowledges the importance of enduring psychological structures.
The empty-self view has a long history in psychology, arguably tracing its origins to the behaviourist movement at the beginning of the 20th century. The behaviourists were almost entirely focused on ‘the situation’, eschewing speculation about what they considered the ‘black box’ of the mind.
[...] In recent years, however, the evidential tide has turned against the empty self. Social priming and other areas of social psychology have struggled in the wake of the ‘replication crisis’ – the unfortunate realisation that a surprising number of psychological findings could not be independently replicated. [...] Classic evidence for the primacy of the situation has also lost force.
[...] The idea that the human mind is so fickle should have attracted more scepticism than it has often received. First and foremost, it is at odds with other evidence. The entire field of personality psychology – which investigates the unique qualities of people that persist across situations – informs us that the self is not empty at all.
Measures of personality such as the Big Five traits (openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) are remarkably stable and predictive of behaviour and long-term life outcomes. In fact, research suggests that the average effects of personality and situations on behaviour are similar in magnitude. Elsewhere, there is ample evidence for an enduring self: for example, self-esteem is largely steady over the lifespan, and attempts to break habits frequently fail, highlighting that personal tendencies impede many people’s efforts at self-change.
[...] It is not difficult, though, to understand the appeal of the empty-self metaphor. The idea that our thoughts and behaviours are dictated by banal aspects of daily life, such as the temperature of our coffee, offers a tantalising glimpse at ‘hidden’ causes of behaviour.
[...] The empty-self metaphor also lends itself to an admittedly admirable progressive agenda (popular among social psychologists) that is focused on addressing inequality in the social environment and avoiding victim-blaming. If the plight of the have-nots is primarily attributable to the harsh social conditions that society unwittingly thrusts upon them, then the obvious solution is to change those social conditions. Ultimately, the empty-self metaphor teases the provocative possibility that society could be righted if only we determine how to control the social environment. But reality is much messier.
[...] The good news is that psychology appears to be slowly moving toward increased acceptance of what’s called ‘interactionism’: the view that the person and the situation interactively dictate behaviour.
[...] Interactionism likewise paves a more realistic path forward for social change. Rather than assuming that one size fits all, an interactionist approach acknowledges that individual differences inform the way people respond to social situations. Any social movement to reduce harmful behaviour or improve wellbeing needs to meet people where they are at. That means acknowledging that different individuals will respond to the same policies and political messages differently, and in accordance with their own perspectives.
Rebuking the empty-self view recognises that, far from being the dithering shells that psychology studies have often suggested we are, most of us are loyal to a reasonably clear and coherent self-concept... (MORE - missing details)
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"Empty self" also seems to accommodate the traditional idea of free will revolving crucially around invasive randomness and significant unpredictability. Rather than the autonomy or self-determinism of the organism itself (being regulated by lasting predilections or configurations). In the latter, a liberated will (apart from the body not being controlled by external agencies) is the capacity of an individual (due to belief in free will) to re-program to new habits if the old ones are detrimental. Slight randomness can still contribute to decisions and actions, but it's no longer the necessary ingredient.
RE: The fickle "empty self" view is finally being challenged by enduring preferences - Syne - Nov 4, 2026
Free will based on randomness is a strawman by free will deniers.
RE: The fickle "empty self" view is finally being challenged by enduring preferences - Magical Realist - Nov 4, 2026
Quote:The empty-self metaphor also lends itself to an admittedly admirable progressive agenda (popular among social psychologists) that is focused on addressing inequality in the social environment and avoiding victim-blaming. If the plight of the have-nots is primarily attributable to the harsh social conditions that society unwittingly thrusts upon them, then the obvious solution is to change those social conditions. Ultimately, the empty-self metaphor teases the provocative possibility that society could be righted if only we determine how to control the social environment.
And yet the notion of self-determination and free choice common among religious and rationalist thinkers enables the incessant moralization and condemnation of people as blameworthy choosers of their own fate that we find so popular among conservatives. Yet another extreme on the spectrum of degrees of human agency. I like this idea though of interactionism in which we are both somewhat indeterminant self-motivated beings as well as somewhat passive victims to overwhelming circumstances at the same time. A possible escape from either a typology of generic passive subjects or a typology of equally generic free and moral agents.
"Rather than assuming that one size fits all, an interactionist approach acknowledges that individual differences inform the way people respond to social situations."