“An individual’s self concept is the core of his personality. If affects every aspect of human behaviour: the ability to learn, the capacity to grow and change. A strong, positive self image is the best possible preparation for success in life.” – Dr. Joyce Brothers

WHAT IS SELF CONCEPT?

Self-concept is our personal knowledge of who we are as individuals, an encompassment of all our thoughts and feelings about ourselves physically, personally and socially. It includes our knowledge of our behaviour, our capabilities and our individual characteristics that make us stand out in a crowd.

Our self-concept develops very rapidly during our early childhood and adolescence, but it keeps changing and taking different forms over time as we grow and learn and discover more about ourselves.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS ARTICLE:

Self-concept is the basic knowledge of an individual regarding his/her/their own self.

Carl Rogers states that there are three components of self-concept: self-image, self-esteem and ideal self.

Self-concept is active, dynamic, and malleable. It can be influenced by social settings or situations and even one’s own motivation for seeking self-knowledge.

DEFINITION OF SELF CONCEPT

Social psychologist Roy Baumeister says that self-concept should be understood as a knowledge structure. People pay attention to themselves, they notice their internal state and their responses to external behaviour. This self-awareness helps us collect information about ourselves. Self-concept is built from this information and continues to develop as people grow throughout their lives and as their ideas expand regarding who they are.

CARL ROGERS COMPONENTS OF SELF CONCEPT:

1. Self Image: Self image is the way in which we see ourselves. Self image includes our knowledge about ourselves physically, (eg. the colour of our eyes, the length of our hair, etc) our roles in society (eg. sister, friend, mother, etc), and our own personality traits (eg. funny, outgoing, shy, etc).

Self image doesn’t always match reality. Some people have have a different perception of one or more of their characteristics. These perceptions may be positive or negative, and an individual may have a more positive view of certain aspects and a more negative view of others.

2. Self Esteem: Self Esteem is our value which we place upon ourselves. Our individual levels of self esteem depend on the way in which we evaluate ourselves. These evaluations include personal comparisons to others as well as other’s responses to us.

When we compare ourselves to others and find that we are better at something than others and if people respond favourably to something that we do, our self esteem in that area grows. On the other hand, when we compare ourselves to others and find that we are not as good at others and we find if people respond negatively to what we do, our self esteem decreases. We can have high self esteem in some areas (eg. I am a good actress) while simultaneously having negative self esteem in others (eg. I am not well liked by people).

3. Ideal Self: The ideal self is the self that we would like to be. There’s often a difference between one’s self-image and one’s ideal self. This difference can negatively impact one’s self-esteem. to Carl Rogers, self-image and ideal self can be congruent or incongruent. Congruence between the self-image and ideal self means that there is a fair amount of overlap between the two. While it is difficult, if not impossible, to achieve perfect congruence, greater congruence will enable self-actualization. Incongruence between the self-image and ideal self means there’s a discrepancy between one’s self and one’s experiences, leading to internal confusion (or cognitive dissonance) that prevents self-actualization.

DEVELOPMENT OF SELF CONCEPT

Self Self concept begins to develop in early childhood years. While the process continues throughout a person’s lifespan, it experiences maximum growth during early childhood and adolescence.

CHILDHOOD:

By age 2, children start differentiating themselves from others.

By ages 3 and 4, children understand that they are individual and unique selves.

At this stage, a child’s self image is mostly descriptive, based on physical characteristics and/or concrete details.

They start to pay attention to their capabilities.

By the age of 6, they are able to communicate about their wants and needs and begin to define themselves in terms of social groups.

Between the ages 7 to 11, they begin to make comparisons socially and begin considering how they are perceived by others.

This is when their descriptions of themselves become more abstract. They begin to describe themselves in terms of abilities and not just concrete details. For example, a child will be able to tell if he or she is more or less athletic than someone instead of simply describing oneself as athletic.

At this point, ideal self and self image begin to develop.

ADOLESCENCE:

It is a key period for self concept.

Self concept established during adolescence is the basis for the self concept for the remainder of one’s life.

During adolescent years, people experiment with different roles, selves and personas.

For adolescents, self concept is influenced by the success achieved in areas valued by them and the responses of those whom they value.

Success and approval can build a greater self esteem and strengthen the self concept while entering into adulthood.

THE 3 MOTIVATIONS TO SEEK SELF KNOWLEDGE:

Social psychologists have found 3 motivations that people usually pay attention to, to seek self-knowledge:

To discover a certain truth about oneself, regardless of the result.

To discover favourable, self-enhancing information about oneself.

To seek confirmation regarding the knowledge one already possess about themselves.

Self-concept is known to be MALLEABLE. This means that a person may be able to recall times when they behaved in opposing ways but are able to define themselves as one or the other. For example, you may be able to recall a time when you worked very hard, but also a time when you were lazy. But you will always define yourself as one or the other and act in accordance to that perception. This is how self-concept can be altered or adjusted.

In conclusion,

I would like to lay emphasis on the fact that Self Concept is the key to discovering our inner potential and knowing ourselves completely. It is essential for an individual’s person perception of themselves and is the defining factor of one’s personality. No matter what you do, nobody will know you the way you know yourself. People may be able to recognise parts of your potential to a certain depth of your being, but only you can reach within yourself and discover parts of yourself that everybody, including yourself, was unaware of.

Invest the time and efforts required to recognise yourself and give full priority to your SELF and your personal SELF CONCEPT in the early years of your life, as it lays the foundation for the rest of it.

Source: thoughtco.com