Аннотация
The concepts of “cultural skin” and “second skin” are discussed as two behavioral patterns of Ego protection and representation of the boundaries of the bodily Self based on the relationship to nails. Two forms of manifestation of the second skin (encapsulation/fusion) are distinguished. The phenomenon of representing the bodily Self boundary as a combination of encapsulation/fusion is obtained. The online study involved 464 women who first answered the questions and identified themselves in three categories (nail biting, long nails, neat nails). Then it was necessary to perform blank methods: “Diagnosis of the bodily Self” (I.V. Lybko), “Self structural test of G. Ammon” (ISTA). According to the results of the analysis, the sample was divided into four categories depending on the measure of affective attitude towards nails and patterns of behavior towards the nail plate (nail care/self-harm). Using the Kruskal-Wallis test, it is proved that the attitude to nails is associated with different ways of representing the boundaries of the bodily self.