Great article. The notion of "short-term self" vs. "long-term self", the self which wants to blow the pay cheque on booze, and the self which wants to save some of it for a rainy day, explains much internal conflict. My complaint though is it presents the "multiple selves" idea as in some way different from Freud's "superego. vs. ego. vs. id" model. I do not believe these are contradictory. The "short-term self" can be part of the id, I would think. The "long-term self" can be manifestations of the ego or the super-ego, it seems. The Freudian model is simpler, and still valid. However in some cases, the "multiple selves" model can be used to enhance the Freudian model. To me, just as a layman's opinion, it seems the Freudian model might be like Newtonian gravity - works in most situations, except in "corner cases" like the orbit of Mercury, where we need general relativity. Similarly, the Freudian "id/ego/superego" model of personality should still work in most cases, but there might be "corner cases" where a more complex "multiple selves" model might come in handy. By the way Robert Louis Stevenson in 'Jeckyl and Hyde' comes to this same model himself. Dr. Henry Jeckyl at last realizes that in each man there are many men, not just two.
Freud hasn't really been taken seriously in the psychological community since the middle of the 20th century. The only place where psychoanalysis still has much credibility is among a subset of literary theorists.
The Freudian model isn't simpler: it postulates three "selves" with constant, fixed agendas. This model talks about arbitrary numbers of selves with arbitrary agendas which pop into existence all the time.
The "short term self" vs "long term self" conflict is unlike the id vs ego conflict in that there isn't a "superego" to adjudicate it. The no-superego model fits better with my subjective experiences.
Of course the "long term self" and "short term self" are themselves composed of multiple selves... for instance I have one long-term self who is working towards one set of goals, and another who is working towards another set of semi-contradictory goals.
