Our interpersonal self is the self that is composed of norms for how we should behave in certain social scenarios. For instance, how we behave as a daughter is different for how we behave as a friend. These behaviors that we exercise in certain social situations are indications of our "interpersonal selves".

The process of introspection is an essential process is the development of one's sense of self. Usually, introspection involves reasoning about why we do things, why we make certain decisions, and general self-questioning. Introspection is not always accurate, however, and we may have a more accurate view of ourselves from other people.

Social psychology emphasizes how people are affected by social interaction on both micro and macro scales. These interactions have a deep impact on how we as people feel about ourselves. What happens in our interactions with others will become apart of how we view ourselves. For instance, if a lot of people do not view you as being very smart and convey this in their interactions, you may tend to think of yourself as not being smart.

Current views in the psychology of self claim that the self plays an integral role in social identity, cognition, affect, and human motivation. That is, one's own perceptions and definitions of who they are will influence us in a variety of important ways. How we define ourselves can influence where we position ourselves socially, how we reason about the world and our environment, our feelings, and what we are motivated to do in life. If we perceive ourselves to be intelligent, for instance, we may identify with a more intelligent group of people, and this would be our social identity.

As opposed to other theories, which define the sense of self as belonging to our perceptions or otherwise, John Locke viewed the self as heavily bound with our episodic memories. This is because our episodic memories help us create a narrative about our lives and ourselves and thus creates a sense of continuity that, for instance, the semantic memory would not. 

Our interpersonal self is composed of the rules of behavior, or "norms," that guide us to act in certain ways in particular social situations. For instance, the norms for how we behave will guide us to act one way as a student in school and another as a friend to someone. These norms constantly change but no matter what it is expected to adapt in order to get along in society. People who defy norms are referred to as "deviant," though this is not at all a negative term. Some social norms can be harmful, such as racist attitudes, and acted deviant towards them can drive social change.

Our interpersonal self is composed of the rules of behavior—norms—that guide us to act in certain ways in particular social situations. For instance, the norms for how we behave will guide us to act one way as a student in school and another as a friend to someone. These norms constantly change but no matter what people are expected to adapt in order to get along in society. People who defy norms are referred to as "deviant," though this is not at all a negative term. Some social norms can be harmful (e.g. racist attitudes) and deviant actions against them can drive social change.

One of the surprising but very positive outcomes of having a strong sense of self is potentially becoming more intrinsically motivated. For instance, a person who identifies themselves as a "good artist" will devote hours practicing their craft to reinforce this sense they have of themselves. Not only is it a source of pleasure, but it also reinforces who that person thinks they are, IE their sense of self. If a person doesn't think of themselves as a good artist, they most likely will need some reward to feel motivated to do art. This would be extrinsic motivation.

Children gradually start to become of aware of themselves as an object in the world. Objects are experienced and evaluated (tall, short, tiny, huge) children become aware of how they, as objects in this world, are experienced and evaluated. These words are "categories", and as a child knows further what categories they belong to they are becoming more aware of their categorical self. These categories would be age, gender, height, and more. So the girl who says "I am a girl" has discovered this dimension of her categorical self.

Young people have a strong tendency to identify more with their personality traits than with their proscribed social roles. That is, they'll identify themselves with various adjectives--"I'm smart, funny, attractive, impulsive, excitable." As people age, they think more about their social roles and what they perform for others. Roles are much more active, in the sense that person does things to perform them. For instance, a father provides resources for his children.