Self-criticism (or auto-critique) refers to the pointing out of things critical/important to one's own beliefs, thoughts, actions, behaviour or results; it can form part of private, personal reflection or a group discussion.
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It is an essential element of critical thought.
Most people regard self-criticism as healthy and necessary for learning, but excessive or enforced self-criticism as unhealthy.
Under some totalitarian systems of communism, important party members who had fallen out of favour with the political elite were sometimes forced to undergo "self-criticism" sessions, producing either written or verbal statements detailing how they had been ideologically mistaken, and affirming their new belief in the party line. Self-criticism, however, did not guarantee political rehabilitation, and often offenders were still expelled from the Party, or in some cases even executed.
In the Soviet Union, self-criticism was known as samokritika. in People's Republic of Poland, it was samokrytyka.
In the People's Republic of China, self-criticism, called jiǎntǎo (检讨) in Chinese, is an important part of Maoist practice.
fMRI finds that engaging in self-criticism activates areas in the lateral prefrontal cortex and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex which are brain areas responsible for processing error detection and correction. In contrast, engaging in self-reassurance activates the left temporal pole and insula areas previously found to be activated in compassion and empathy. Those that as a psychological trait engage in self-criticism tend to show an activated dorsolateral prefrontal activity, while ventrolateral prefrontal cortex activity was found in those with the trait of self-reassurance.[1]