Meisya Anggraini

Self Concept

In dictionary, self-concept is an idea of the self constructed from the beliefs one
holds about oneself and the responses of others. In conversation, we often hear the
term self concept. It is said that there are more than 15 terms that can be found in
the literature for the concept of self. There are those who call self-concept, some
call self-esteem, some call self-worth, and some call self-acceptance. However,
there are also those that distinguish self-esteem terms from self-concept, by
looking at self-concept as part of self-esteem and self-esteem is a general self-
concept. For the sake of our learning activities, we use the term self-concept. With
this self concept, we can imagine how we reflect to know who we really are.
According to Rachmat (1985: 124) explains the process of reflecting oneself
through the following stages. First, we imagine how we appear to others, then we
imagine how other people judge our appearance. Last, we experience a sense of
pride or disappointment in ourselves.

Here are definition of self concepts according to experts,including:

a) Rochman Natawidjaya (1979)

According to Rochman Natawidjaya, the notion of self-concept is an
individual's perception of himself, his abilities and disabilities, his character, his
self-esteem and his relationship with others.

b) James F. Calhoun (1995)

According to James F Calhoun the notion of self-concept is an individual
mental picture consisting of knowledge about himself, self-expectation, and
self-assessment.

c) Stuart & Sundeen (2005)

According to Stuart & Sundeen the notion of self-concept is all thoughts,
beliefs, and beliefs that are individual knowledge about themselves and
influence their relationships with others.

d) Keliat (2005)
According to Keliat, the definition of self-concept is the way individuals
perceive themselves as whole, physical, emotional, intellectual, social and
spiritual.
 e) Potter and Perry (2005)
According to Potter & Perry, the notion of self-concept is a subjective
image of self and a complex mixing of unconscious and conscious feelings,
attitudes and perceptions. Self-concept gives individuals a frame of reference
that affects self-management of situations and relationships with others.

f) Burns
According to Burns in Pudjijogyanti (1993: 2) the notion of self-concept is
the relationship between attitudes and beliefs about oneself.

g) Clara R. Pudjijogyanti (1995)

According to Clara R. Pudjijogyanti, the notion of self-concept is one of
the determinants of a person's behavior, whether it is good or bad. A person's
negative behavior is a manifestation of a disturbance in the effort to achieve
self-esteem.

Thinking about itself is human activity can not be avoided. In general,

literally people will center on himself. So that self is the center of the world social
each person. Meanwhile, as we have seen, genetic factors play a role in self-
identity or self-concept. That mostly based on interactions with other people who
are learned starting with family members is close then goes into interaction with
them outside the family. By observing oneself, which comes to the picture and
self-assessment, this is called self-concept. William D. Brooks defines self concept
as, “Those who are psychical, social, and psychological perceptions of our selves
that we have derived from experiences and our interaction with other”.
So,my opinion about the self concept is views and feelings about yourself. This
perception of self may be psychological, social and physical. So the concept of self
includes what is thought and what is felt about themselves. self-concept is our view
of who we are, what and how we are. This view starts from identity self, actual
self, ideal self, private self and social self the role of ourselves, which is obtained
through the interaction of ourselves and with others. (my environment)
Self-concept is very influential on various aspects of life, ranging from social to
work environment though. A person has a negative self-concept when looking at
himself helpless, weak, poor, failed, disliked, incompetent and so on. As explained
in terms of self-concept, the formation of this mindset is influenced by many
things. Included in parenting parents and the environment, because this will be the
material for a child's information about the label given by others to him.
This experience will mostly be carried away to adult life. Examples of self-
concept; a child who is often beaten, yelled at, insulted and never praised will
generally have a negative self-concept because he accepts the treatment as a form
of punishment for his mistakes. Conversely, if he grows up in a good environment,
he will feel valued and grow more positive.

 Actual self-concept. This self-concept can be translated as a realistic

perception of ourselves. There are also those who say, the concept of self is
actually a perception of us today. Actual self-concept is also a true
perception of ourselves and perceptions that I describe to others, such as
social status, budget, gender, and level of education. If we declare, for
example I am a 3rd semester UT student, we have already revealed our real
concept.
 Ideal self-concept is someone who has a personality like that. When we
decide to complete education at the Open University this is an ideal result to
reflect the ideal self-concept. With the ideal self-concept to develop our
abilities and lives. Efforts to improve and improve can be done in the field of
work, skills or education. What can be done can be translated as an effort to
describe conditions that are behind the ideal self-concept. Allen (2000)
writes that ordinary people compare ideal self-concept with actual self-
concept values. Because humans who want their actual self-concept have the
same characteristics or tolerate their ideal self-concept. At the same time this
concept will become an individual who will achieve an ideal self-concept.
For example, at the Open University, we idealize good self-concepts that are
in the form of undergraduate education or have a bachelor's degree.
 Private self-concept is a picture of how we become ourselves. We strive to
show that we act as people who are friendly, friendly, creative or like
challenges. For example, in our personal self-concept we describe ourselves
as fond of challenges so that we attend communication science education at
UT. We feel challenged to cultivate this discipline because much is needed
in the world of work or draws us closer to the world we desire to be in a
career as a communications professional.
 Social self-concept is basically related to our relationships with others. We
want other people to view us as intelligent, attractive, kind, caring about the
fate of people or having the ability to carry out complicated tasks. Our desire
to be like that is a form of social self-concept. This social self concept is
reflected in how we want to be seen by others as part of a community group.
There are two groups that are considered to influence our self-concept:

 First, other people we consider important or ordinary are called the

significant others. Throughout our lives, there are always people we consider
important and influential on us. First of all, obviously, our parents. All
humans will see the importance of parents so that parents can be said to be
the first and foremost influencers of our self-concept formation. When we
begin to enter kindergarten age, we also recognize other others, usually
teachers. And so on, throughout our lives we meet people who we think have
a big influence on us.
 Second, the reference group (reference group) that provides direction and
guidelines so that we follow the behavior that is in accordance with the
norms that apply in the group. This is related to one of the human traits that
always live in groups. There are no humans who live alone, except because
they are forced. All humans need other people. We follow these groups
voluntarily. The reference group influences the formation of our self-
concept. For example, groups of nature lovers that we follow, groups of old
motorcycle enthusiasts, and groups that have the same hobby. All that will
have an effect on the formation of self-concept.

Self-concept is a process. This is part of ourselves in the process of

becoming (becoming). The process begins with gathering information. In Sumadi's
story above, the information was gathered from comments, criticisms, and
suggestions from his colleagues. The collected information is basically an
experience that we go through in life. Next, we give meaning, purpose or certain
characteristics to the experience. This is what then forms the impression in us.
Based on that impression we also learn who we are, who others are, and how the
world is. Who we are is what becomes our self concept. What someone
experiences in real life is often different from his ideal self. In other words, there is
a gap between the ideal self and real experience. This is also called incongruence.
Circumstances called congruence occur when a person's ideal self is consistent or
very close in common with his actual experience. But in fact, there is very little
total congruence where the ideal self and real experience are exactly the same.
Each individual experiences a number of incongruencies. According to Rogers, to
achieve self-actualization, a person must be in a state of congruence.