A Reward-Recognition Model of the Self: The Development and Maintenance of ‘I’

Abstract

The nature of the self—the enduring sense of “I”—remains one of the central challenges in both psychology and philosophy. Existing accounts, from neural mechanisms to narrative identity, often describe aspects of consciousness but do not fully explain how the self is experienced as continuous and reflexive. This paper introduces the Reward-Recognition Model of the Self, which argues that selfhood arises from recursive recognition processes reinforced by reward mechanisms. Recognition provides the structural act of binding perception to memory and identity, while reward sustains and stabilizes this act over time. To illustrate this dynamic, the Cabinet Model of Mind is proposed, describing how perception is continuously compared with stored representations, producing awareness of both the object and the perceiver. Together, these models explain how the “I” develops, maintains itself, and adapts to changing contexts. The framework aims to bridge psychology and philosophy by offering a unified account of the self as a process that is at once cognitive, motivational, and experiential.