The self is a multifaceted phenomenon that manifests in a complex configuration of character traits, roles, orientations, and other psychological components. The entity that is binding these subcomponents together has mostly eluded systematic enquiry. In an effort to approach this Gestalt-like whole in an empirical manner, we here introduce the concept of the “peripheral self”: the moments of growth and expansion where the current self grows beyond the horizon of already successful mastery. Over the course of 1 year, we have pursued an empirical first-person approach to explore this continuously shifting horizon of self-development. Our main result is a collection of signature qualities—“experiential echoes”—that demarcate the peripheral self as it advances from potentiality to conscious insight. We provide a roadmap for other researchers to follow up on this approach and relate our findings to the still sparse literature on what constitutes the overarching character of the self.

自我是一个多方面的现象，表现为性格特征，角色，取向和其他心理成分的复杂配置。将这些子组件绑定在一起的实体大多没有进行系统的查询。为了以实证的方式处理像完形一样的整体，我们在这里引入“外围自我”的概念：增长和扩展的时刻，当前的自我超越了已经成功掌握的视野。在一年的过程中，我们一直采用经验第一人称方法来探索这种不断变化的自我发展视野。我们的主要结果是收集了一系列标志性特质-“体验性回声”-在外围自我从潜能发展为有意识的洞察力时对其进行了界定。