self-knowledge

Self-knowledge is a term in psychology, describing the information needed for an individual to answer the questions "Who am I?" and "What am I like?".

Self-knowledge requires both self-awareness and self-consciousness (aware of the fact that one is self-aware). While young infants and chimpanzees display some of the traits of self-awareness, agency, and contingency; they are not considered to be self-conscious. At some greater level of cognition, however, a self-conscious component emerges in addition to an increased self-awareness component, and then it becomes possible to ask "What am I like?", and to answer with self-knowledge, though self-knowledge has limits, as introspection has been said to be limited and complex, such as the consciousness of being conscious of oneself.