It is actually even better. The "Samkhya System" from Hindu philosophy posits a three-layer mental model as follows;

1) Buddhi - This is is discriminating and reflective part of consciousness. This can be called as the "observer".

2) Ahamkara - This is the individual ego part of the consciousness. This is the "I" which gives you identity.

3) Manas - This is the part of consciousness which takes in the sensory inputs, forms the impressions and feeds it to "Ahamkara".

"Samkhya" is THE oldest of the ancient Hindu philosophies and hence its mental model has influenced Vedanta, Buddhism, Yoga etc. which all came after it.