Residual self image
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Residual self image is the concept that individuals tend to think of themselves as projecting a certain appearance. In psychology, use of the term is often linked with periods of radical transformation, in which a person may still see themselves as occupying their pre-transformative role - for example, a soldier returning from a war may have a difficult time remembering that he has become a civilian, no longer in uniform, and not accorded a treatment based on his rank. Similarly, some persons suffering from depression tend to cling to unrealistically harsh self-assessments.
The term was popularized in fiction by The Matrix, where persons who existed in a digitally created world would subconsciously maintain the physical appearance that they had become accustomed to projecting. Within that genre, the term refers to:
- Your projected self-image inside the Matrix - what you look like while in the Matrix
- Your character on The Matrix Online
It has since been applied in this sense to ghosts (who have no corporeal form, but maintain their appearance because they still think of themselves as appearing as they did in life), and to similarly deceased Jedi who continue to manifest themselves in Star Wars.
[edit] External sources
- Literature and Psychology No. 4, Vol. 49; Pg. 43; ISSN 0024-4759
- Story as Ritual, review of Mullhuland Drive
- TV Scripts, Treatments, Proposals, Etc.
- Psychic detective
