Who is credited with developing the concept of "the looking-glass self"?

The concept of "the looking-glass self" is attributed to Charles Horton Cooley, who introduced it in his work "Human Nature and the Social Order" published in 1902. This sociological concept emphasizes how an individual's self-concept is influenced by the perceptions and reactions of others. According to Cooley, people form their self-identity based on how they believe others perceive them, effectively using social interactions as a mirror that reflects their self-image. The looking-glass self consists of three main components: how we imagine we appear to others, how we think others judge that appearance, and how we feel about these judgments. This theory illustrates the significance of social interaction in shaping personal identity and self-perception, highlighting that our understanding of ourselves is deeply interwoven with social contexts and relationships.

The other figures mentioned—Erving Goffman, Sigmund Freud, and Karl Marx—contributed to various fields of sociology and psychology, but their theories do not specifically address the concept of self-identity through social reflection as Cooley's looking-glass self does.