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In psychology, the answer is decidedly both, not one or the other. People define themselves in many different ways. But I think what this was meaning to get at is not that we sometimes have behaviors that we are not consciously aware of, but that behaviors speak louder than our own self-concept. That's only one interpretation of it, though.

You're missing an option on the poll: all of the above.

But anywho. In this day and age, I believe in what is said in Fight Club -- the movie and the book, mind you --: you are what you own (or vice versa) (being the actual sentence: the things you own end up owning you) (too many parenthesis).

To the eyes of the world (and, more often that not, to one's own eyes), one is what kind of car they have, where they live, what job they have and so on. You are what you own. And, wanting to be a "better person" -- or a more "fulfilled", "complete" or whatever other obtuse adjective you may come up with -- one will strive towards more and more belongings. The things you own end up owning up.

Of course, sometimes someone can choose a career in which he claims to be made for; a career for which he has a passion for. But in most cases, a "career" is just an euphemism for a job that pays handsomely, even if it demands too much time and/or effort.

I beg to differ and I stand to ask you this: What do you stand for really? The mind is VERY easily persuaded to stand against what you could have years stood to protect. We are defined by what we do. I'm majoring in computer sciences and on the weekends I play DDR and RPGs...so you call me a nerd. If I played football and dated some slutty cheerleader, would you call me a jock? I bet you would.

If it is how others see you I should think the answer is obvious. We are how others see us.

On a deeper level this subject is far more complicated than a simple if/then question. In fact this is one question that I have never found to be stasfactoraly answered. (not that any have been). But if pressed I would hold that we are what we think on a mental level. What we do on a phisical level. What we feel on an emotional level. ect.ect.

Do you mean that who we are changes from social gruop to social group, from envirnment to envirnment, year to year, month to month,day to day?

We are who we are when we are with what ever social group we are in at the moment. Last year I was who I was last year. If you want to know the real you stop and think about what you are doing,thinking, and saying this is the real you at this moment. The real you in the next moment may be diffrent but it will be no less you than the you now is you.

Despite the wordplay, we're just ourself. We just aren't completely static. If I'm me right now, but I change two minutes later, the me from two minutes ago is gone, but the one that remains is still myself.

A very confusing topic. I'm not sure I see a significant difference between the two options. Like saying "White is not black." vs "Black is not white." Well, obviously more philosphical than my example there... but I'll take a stab at answering this one.

I said "You are what you do." Why? Well... you don't always have total control over what you do. I'm thinking in terms of your job or your friends, namely. Say I meet a new friend, and that friend is into something I've never done before... I'll use music as an example. I play guitar. Say I meet a friend who is into death metal, and I've never been into that type of music before. After listening to his music for a while, I decide that I also like death metal, and this then affects how I play my guitar. I was not originally a death metal fan, but by listening to it, it has changed who I am to some extent.

Okay, that was kind of a bad example, but I think you get where I'm going. An external force affects you, and causes you to change. I believe this happens from the day you're conceived. xd