CONCEPT OF SELF

Prepared by

Anupama Tamrakar (Lecturer)

Pokhara University

Introduction

• The term self-concept is a general term used to refer to how someone thinks about or perceives themselves.

• The self-concept is the accumulation of knowledge about the self. The self-concept is composed of relatively permanent self-assessments such as beliefs regarding personality traits, physical characteristics, abilities, values, goals, and roles.

Contd….

• Beginning in infancy, children acquire and organize information about  themselves as a way to enable them to understand the relation between the self and their social world.

• The self-concept is not restricted to the present. It includes past selves and future selves. Future selves or "possible selves" represent individuals' ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, and what they are afraid of becoming. 

Definition

• Self-concept is a multi-dimensional construct that refers to an individual's perception of "self" in relation to any number of characteristics, such as academics, gender roles and sexuality, racial identity, and many others.

• Bums (1980) defines it as, 'the set of attitudes a person holds towards himself."

• Gross: 1992:607: “Me self-concept is basically each person's own subjective -view or image of him- or herself as a person. "

contd…

• Self-concept is a relatively enduring set of attitudes and beliefs about both the physical self and the psychological self. It sis the totality of ideas that a person holds about the self.

• Self-concept is not a static state but one that develops and changes over time with life experiences and relationships that influence beliefs about the self.

• It includes the person’s self-knowledge, self expectations and self evaluation.

• Self concept guides our actions, motivations, expectations and goals for future.

COMPONENETS OF SELF-CONCEPT

Self-Esteem

• The term “Self-esteem” means to regard favorably, with admiration or respect.

• Self-esteem can be defined as the degree to which one has a positive evaluation of one’s self, based on one’s perceptions of how one is viewed by others as well as one’s views about self.

• Self esteem refers to the extent to which we like accept or approve of ourselves or how much we value ourselves. Self esteem always involves a degree of evaluation and we may have either a positive or a negative view of ourselves.

Development of Self-esteem

• Two schools of thoughts of development of Self-esteem:

1. First: self-esteem forms early in life, is based primarily on relationships with early caregivers, and is relatively fixed throughout life.

2. Second: self-esteem fluctuates whenever life transitions, crises, or illnesses challenge the self-concept or alter the person’s status or role. - (Arnold & Boggs, 2006)

Important facts

• Having a high self-esteem leads to a high level of satisfaction with oneself.

• People who possess high self-esteem tend to be more content, in control, confident, accountable, and capable.

• Lack of self-esteem can result in lack of confidence, and inability to act in own interest, feeling of being over-whelmed, having decreased activity or energy, powerlessness, and reduced ability to function.

Contd…..

Men’s Self- Esteem Women’s Self-Esteem

more likely to base their self-esteem on their personal achievements in life.

more likely to base their self-esteem on the adequacy of their social support system.

Often greatly affected by having a sense of well-being, a positive outlook on life, and an ability to perform activities of daily living.

Often affected by whether they are content with their lives and have a feeling that they are needed.

Theories of Development of Self-Esteem

1. Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs

2. Erik Erikson’s Eight stages of Man

Maslow’s Hierarch of Needs (1954)

• Maslow described self-esteem as a requirement for reaching full personal development.

• Maslow has suggested that the people have “hierarchy of needs” of which physiological need form the foundation on which safety and security, love and belongings and others come respectively in the hierarchy. Unless the foundation needs are met, higher level needs receive less attention.

• Self-esteem develops after the need for belonging and being loved by others is met.

• A positive relationship with others leads to the development of a self-esteem.

Erikson’s Eight Stages of Man (1950)

• Described the development of self-esteem in eight stages, ranging from infancy through old age.

• A/C Erikson, in infancy the child develops trust through the concern of caregivers.

• 1-3 yrs the child develops autonomy by learning control of the body. After that through initiative and industry, the child develops broader control over the environment. By 12 yrs, child developed the ability to derive self-esteem from internal locus control (self).

• During Adolescent they develop identity.

Coopersmith’s 4 components of self-esteem

• Coopersmith in 1981 identified four important components in the development of positive self-esteem. They are:

a. Acceptance/worthiness

b.Power/Control

c. Moral worth/Virtue

d.Competence/Mastery

Acceptance/Worthiness

• It relates to the perception, attention and affection of others.

• It is the amount of concern and care that a person receives from significant others.

Power/Control

• It is the ability to influence and control others.

• This make child’s first appearance in toddlerhood and continues to develop in school-age.

• Toddler learns the concept of power/control by exploring their environment and manipulating objects within the environment.

Moral worth/Virtue

• It is the adherence to moral and ethical standards.

• The values and morals of significant others are internalized by the preschool-age and the school-age child.

• In early childhood the child adopts behaviors through identification with the same-sex parent and a desire to please that parent.

• As they are learning to adopt the behaviors of their same-sex parent, they learn both good or bad moral.

Competence/Mastery

• It refers to successful performance or achievement.

• It is marked by high levels of performance, with the level and the tasks varying depending on developmental stage. When abilities are sufficient to complete a task, competence/mastery is present.

• The development of initiative and industry leads to feeling of competence.

2. Personal Identity

• Personal identity is the organizing principle of the personality that accounts for the unity, continuity, consistency and uniqueness of a person. (Carpenito, 2005)

• The composition of personal identity are emotional images, cognitive images and perceptual images.

• Emotional images are those feelings about oneself that one experiences as being consistent with the self and that feel familiar and normal.

• Cognitive images involves intelligence, past experiences, educational experiences and the process of thinking.

• Perceptual images are derived from the external sensory data and are translated into mental pictures of reality.

3. Role Performance

• It refers to a person’s fulfillment of the roles & current responsibilities in that person’s life, and it includes the actions, thoughts, and feelings.

• A role is a homogenous set of behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, principles and values that are normally defined and expected in a given social position in a group. Role is defined in terms of relationship to others & prescribed by age, sex or position in the family and society. The ability to fulfill prescribed role behaviors can affect the self-concept.

4. Body Image

• Body image is the perception of one’s own body.

• It is the physical dimension of self-concept, or how one perceives and evaluates one’s appearance and function. It is closely related to personal identity, role performance and self-esteem.

• People can perceive their bodies as fat or thin, ugly or beautiful, etc.

• Body images changes with the conditions like physical growth, illness, aging, accidents and social/cultural influences.

Factors Affecting Self-Concept

Factors Across the Life Span

• Infants to Preschoolers

• School-Age Children

• Adolescents

• Young Adults

• Middle Adults

• Older Adults

Physiological Factors

• Fatigue

• Trauma

• Chronic illness

• Surgery

• Disability

• Obesity

Psychological Factors

• Depression

• Stress

• Loss

• Abusive relationships

Cultural and Lifestyle Factors

• Culture

• Socioeconomic status

• Living conditions