The first-person perspective

This entry presents the historical roots of the first-person perspective and its contemporary proponents in theoretically informed psychologies occupied with understanding the subject and subjective experience. Often the first-person perspective is associated with a methodological ambition, yet we argue that this must be connected with theoretical ideas about the experiencing subject, and concepts that address what a first person perspective is and means. As a starting point the insights of F. Brentano placing inner consciousness and the method of introspection as the center of psychological enquiry, we trace this inspiration into phe-nomenology and recent developments in phenomenological psychology, psychoanalysis and cultural-historical, critical psychological studies of the first-person perspective. Theoretical differences between these accounts are presented and discussed with a particular focus on their view of experience, human agency and ethics in the research practice pointing towards possible fruitful combinations between the re-search traditions and also potential limitations to first-person accounts in qualitative studies.