UNDERSTANDING UNDERSTANDING SELF FOR EFFECTIVENESS
The self concept is how we think about and evaluate ourselves. ou rselves. To be aware of oneself is to have a concept of oneself. The term self-concept is a general term used to refer to how someone thinks about or perceives themselves. It is an important term for both social psychology and psychology and humanism humanism.. Lewis (1990) suggests that development of a concept of self has two aspects: (1) The Existential Sel
This is the most basic part of the self-scheme or self-concept; the sense of being separate and distinct from others and the awareness of the constancy of the self” (Bee self” (Bee 1!". The child realises that they e#ist as a se!a"ate entity from others and that they continue to e#ist over time and space. $ccording to %ewis awareness of the e# istential self begins as young as two to three months old and arises in part due to the relation the child has with the world. &or e#ample' the child smiles and someone smiles back' or the c hild touches a mobile and sees it move. (#) The Cate$%"i&al Sel
aving realised that he or she e#ists as a separate e#periencing being' the child ne#t becomes aware that he or she is also an ob)ect in the world. *ust as other ob)ects including people have properties that can be e#perienced (big' small' red' smooth and so on" so the child is becoming aware of him or her self as an ob)ect which can be e#perienced and which has properties. The self too can be put into categories such as age' gender' si+e or skill. Two Two of the first categories to be applied app lied are age (,I am " and an d gender (,I am a girl". In early childhood the categories children apply to themselves are very concrete (e.g. hair colour' height and favourite things". %ater' self-description self-description also begins to include reference to internal psychological traits' comparative evaluations and to how others see them. /arl 0ogers Believes 0ogers Believes that the self concept has three different components: • • •
The view you have of yourself (Sel i'a$e" ow much value you place on yourself (Sel estee' or self-worth" hat you wish you were really like (Ieal sel "
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Sel I'a$e (what you see in yourself"
This does not necessarily have to reflect reality. reality. Indeed a person with anore#ia who is thin may have a self image in which the person believes they are fat. $ person2s self image is affected by many factors' such as parental influences' friends' the media etc. *hn (19+0) investigated the self-image by using The Twent, State'ents Test .
e asked people to answer the 3uestion 2-h% a' I.2 in !4 different ways. e found that the responses could be divided into two ma)or groups. These were social were social roles (e#ternal roles (e#ternal or ob)ective aspects of oneself such as son' teacher' friend" and personality and personality traits (internal traits (internal or affective aspects of oneself such as gregarious' impatient' humorous". The list of answers to the 3uestion ,ho $m I5 probably include e#a mples of each of the following four types of responses: 1) /h,si&al Des&"i!ti%n : I6m tall' have blue eyes...etc. #) S%&ial R%les : e are all social beings whose behavior is shaped to some e#tent by the roles we play. 7uch roles as student' housewife' or member of the football team not only help others to recogni+e us but also help us to know what is e#pected e# pected of us in various situations. ) /e"s%nal T"aits : These are a third dimension of our self-descriptions. ,I6m impulsive...I6m generous...I tend to worry a lot...etc.
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Sel Estee' an Sel -%"th -%"th (the e#tent to which you value yourself" 7elf esteem refers to the e#tent to which we like accept or approve of ourselves or how much we value ourselves. 7elf esteem always involves a degree of evaluation and we may have either a positive or a negative view of ourselves. 2IG2 SELF ESTEE3 i.e. we have a positive view of ourselves. This tends to lead to • • • •
/onfidence in our own abilities 7elf acceptance 9ot worrying about what others think ptimism
LO- SELF ESTEE3 i.e. we have a negative view of ourselves. This tends to lead to • • • •
%ack of confidence ant a nt to be;look like someone else $lways worrying what others might think
There are several ways of measuring self-esteem. &or e#ample' arrill 7elf =steem Inventory is Inventory is a 3uestionnaire comprising 1> statements about a range of interest. $nother e#ample is the The'ati& A!!e"&e!ti%n Te Test st (T$T"' which is a neutral cartoon given to the participant who then has to devise a story about what2s going on. 3%"se an Ge"$en (1940) showed that in uncertain or an#iety arousing situations our self-esteem may change rapidly.
$" ?r. /lean - dressed in smart suit' carrying a briefcase opened to reveal a slide rule and books. B" ?r. @irty - dressed in an old T-shirt T-shirt and )eans' slouched over a cheap se# novel. 7elf-esteem of participants with ?r. @irty increased whilst those with ?r. /lean decreasedA 9o mention made of how this affected sub)ects6 performance in interview. %evel of self-esteem affects performance at numerous tasks though (/oopersmith 1C"
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the perseverance effect. R%ss et al (1945) showed that people who believed they had socially desirable characteristics continued in this belief even when the e#perimenters tried to get them to believe the opposite. @oes the same thing happen happe n with bad things if we have low self-esteem5 ?aybe not' perhaps with very low self-esteem all we believe about ourselves might be bad. A"$,le 6elie7es the"e a"e 'a8%" a&t%"s that inl*en&e sel estee' .
1" T2E REACTION OF OT2ERS . If people admire us' flatter us' seek out our company' listen listen attentively and agree with us we tend to develop a positive self-image. If they avoid us' neglect us' tell us things about ourselves that we don6t want to hear we develop a negative self-image. CO3/ARISON -IT2 OT2ERS . If the people we compare ourselves with (our !" CO3/ARISON reference group" appear to be more successful' happier' richer' better looking than ourselves we tend to develop a negative self image BDT if they are less successful than us our image will be positive.
" SOCIAL ROLES . 7ome social roles carry prestige e.g. doctor' airline pilot' TE. TE. presenter' premiership premiership footballer and this promotes self-esteem. ther roles roles carry stigma. =.g. prisoner' mental hospital patient' refuse collector or unemployed person. F" IDENTIFICATION. 0oles aren6t )ust ,out there. They also become part of our personality i.e. we identity with the positions we occupy' occupy' the roles we play and the groups we belong to. But )ust as important as all these factors' are the influence of our parentsA (7ee /oopersmith6s research."
Ieal Sel (what you2d like to be" If there is a mismatch between how you see yourself (e.g. your self image" and what you6d like to be (e.g. your ideal self " then this is likely to affect how much you value yourself. Therefore' there is an intimate relationship between self-image' ego-ideal and self-esteem. umanistic psychologists study this using the G-7ort ?ethod. ?ethod. $ person6s person6s ideal self may not be consistent with what actually happen s in life and e#periences of the person. ence' a difference may e#ist between a person6s ideal self and actual e#perience. This is called in&%n$"*en&e .
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here a person6s ideal self and actual e#perience are consistent or very similar' a state of congruence e#ists. 0arely' if ever does a total state of congruence e#istH all people e#perience a certain amount of incongruence. The development of congruence is dependent on unconditional !%siti7e "e$a" . 0oger6s believed that for a person to achieve self-actualisation they must be in a state of &%n$"*en&e . 3i&hael A"$,le sa,s the"e a"e %*" 'a8%" a&t%"s whi&h inl*en&e its e7el%!'ent • • • •
The ways in which others (particularly significant others" react to us. ow we think we compare to others ur social roles The e#tent to which we identify with other people
