Selfcomplexity

Self-complexity is a concept in social and personality psychology that describes how differentiated an individual's self-concept is across its various self-aspects. A high level of self-complexity means a person possesses many distinct self-views—such as being a student, a sibling, an athlete—that are relatively independent of one another. Low self-complexity implies fewer self-views that are more overlapping or interconnected.

Originating with Susan Linville in 1985, the theory posits that self-complexity influences how people experience mood and stress. When a negative event affects one self-aspect, individuals with greater complexity are less likely to experience broad spillover of distress into other aspects, providing a cognitive buffer and potentially greater resilience.

Measurement typically relies on self-report inventories that ask respondents to list self-aspects and rate the perceived overlap among them. A complexity index is derived from the number of distinct aspects and the degree of overlap; higher scores indicate greater differentiation.

Empirical findings are mixed but generally support a modest link between higher self-complexity and more robust adjustment to domain-specific setbacks, especially in dynamic life contexts. Critics note measurement challenges, cultural variation, and that complexity can be adaptive only in certain conditions; in some contexts, highly partitioned selves may lead to fragmentation or internal conflict.