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The term <i>[[self]]-[[image ]]</i> has entered common usage. Initially referred to by psychologists, it was then taken up by [[psychoanalysts ]] without really [[being ]] theorized. The self-image is ostensibly the [[representation ]] that everyone has of themselves, in [[physical ]] as well as [[physiological]], sociological, and [[mental ]] [[terms]], envisioned through the prism of each [[individual ]] self-evaluation at different [[stages ]] of [[development ]] and in different situations.Formerly, this [[notion ]] was often considered to be the equivalent of the [[body ]] scheme, postural scheme,somatopsyche, image of body-ego, or even somatognosia, although each of these notions had its own characteristics in terms of both its limits and its basic conception. Within this current of [[thought]], the self-image can be seen as the representation of one's own body, as both body-[[object]] within one's [[environment]] and body in relation to [[others]]; or as the [[totality]] of a body that is initially experienced as being fragmented; or, finally, as a body that is experienced as [[autonomous]], upon emergence from the period of non-differentiation.When used in [[psychoanalysis]], the self-image brings together the notions of body image, self-[[consciousness]], the [[concept]] of the self, self-[[identity]], and ego-identity. Self-image is constructed through imitations of (for [[psychology]]), or identifications with (in psychoanalysis), [[people]] around the [[subject]] or [[real]] or heroic [[imaginary]] [[figures]], throughout the development of [[narcissism]] and the setting up of the [[ideal]] ego, the [[ego ideal]], and the [[superego]].The self-image is dependent as well upon the type of [[object relations]] established.The notion of the self-image emerged in and was refined through the [[work]] of a [[number]] of authors, in [[particular]] that of Henri Wallon, who described the emergence, during the fifth [[stage]] of development (personalism), of self-[[awareness]], which can only occur if the [[child]] is capable of having a self-image. This ability is related to the [[test]] in which the child recognizes itself in a [[mirror]], whereas previously it had mistaken its [[specular]] image for [[another]] person. Heinz [[Hartmann]], founder of the [[ego psychology]] movement, introduced the [[distinction]] between the ego, as [[psychic]] [[agency]], and the self, in the [[sense]] of the person or [[personality]] proper.[[Paul]] Schilder posited that the [[formation]] of body image plays a determining [[role]] in the genesis of the representation of self that follows organization of the ego and the evolution of narcissism. In the view of Donald [[Winnicott]], the [[mother]] and the primary mothering environment mirror (or do not mirror) back to the child an image of itself with which the child can (or cannot) [[identify]]. In this view, the self is an agency of the personality in the [[narcissistic]] sense, a representation of self for the self, a [[libidinal]] investment of self. Heinz Kohut, in self-psychology [[theory]], proposed the self as a notion that relates to the personality in its entirety, to psychic functioning as a [[whole]], to the [[bodily]] self, as well as to more clearly defined elements such as [[self-representation]]. Jacques [[Lacan]] returned to the "[[mirror stage]]" to show that the young child's [[recognition]] of its own [[specular image]] founds the [[dual]] relation, the [[dimension]] of [[the imaginary]], and the [[ideal ego]]. In the view of Françoise Dolto, body image plays a part in the subject's [[identification]] and determines the possibility of a [[feeling]] of self—of self within a body. Here, the body is the basis for the [[construction]] of the subject's identity in relation to others, and the [[unconscious]] image of the body is the forgotten ([[repressed]]) bodily foundation for the feeling of self.It is important, too, to make clear that the self-image also depends on how others see and assess us. We should perhaps add to the notion of the self-image the feeling of competence that is the cognitive construction corresponding to the opinion that each of us is subject to on the cognitive, [[social]], and physical levels, and the relational feeling of self-esteem.