Self-Concept

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. "

Recap
Our Self-
Concept
Self-Esteem
Self-Image
Our Self-Concept is made up of our self-esteem and our self-image
Definitions
SELF-CONCEPT
The sum total of the ways in which we think
about ourselves

SELF ESTEEM
- How highly we think about our abilities and
our self.

SELF IMAGE
- How we view our self based on others
reactions to us.

Self-Concept
Self-concept is an individuals perception
of self and is what helps make each
individual unique.
Positive and negative self-assessments
in the physical, emotional, intellectual,
and functional dimensions change over
time.
Self-concept affects the ability to function
and greatly influences health status.


Dimensions of Self-Concept
Self-knowledge Who am I?
Self-expectation Who or what do I want
to be?
Social self How person perceived by
others?
Self-evaluation How well do I like
myself?
Self knowledge
Global self: is the term used to describe the
composite of all basic facts, qualities, traits,
images and feelings one holds about oneself.
It includes:
1. Basic facts: sex, age, race, occupation, cultural
background, sexual orientation
2. Persons position with social groups
3. Qualities or traits that describe typical
behaviours, feelings, moods and other
characteristics (generous, hot-headed ,
ambitious, intelligent, )
Self expectations
Expectations for self flow from various
sources.
The ideal self constitutes the self one
want to be.
Self expectations develop unconsciously
early in childhood and are based on
image of role models such as parents
Self evaluation
Self esteem is the evaluative and
affective component of self concept
Maslows Subsets of Esteem Needs:
1. Self-esteem (strength, achievement,
mastery, competence, ..)
2. Respect needs or the need for esteem
from others


COMPONENETS OF SELF-CONCEPT
1. Self-
esteem
2. Body
Image
4. Role
performance
3. Personal
Identity
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 ones self, based
on ones perceptions of how one is viewed by
others as well as ones 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 persons 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.
Coopersmiths 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 childs 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 persons fulfillment of the roles & current
responsibilities in that persons 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 ones own body.
It is the physical dimension of self-concept, or how
one perceives and evaluates ones 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
Self
Concept
Factors
across
the life
span
Physiolo
gi- cal
Factors
Cultural
and life
style
Factors
Psycholo
gical
Factors
Factors Across the Life Span
Infants to Preschoolers
School-Age Children
Adolescents
Young Adults
Middle Adults
Older Adults
Psychological Factors
Depression
Stress
Loss
Abusive relationships
Cultural and Lifestyle Factors
Culture
Socioeconomic status
Living conditions