SELF

Module 1: Self: Core Competency

Understanding Self
Components of Self
Self Concept
Self Confidence
Self Image
 Self: Introduction
• Have you ever been at a noisy gathering—struggling to have a
conversation over music and the chatter of voices—and yet managed to
hear someone at the other end of the room mention your name? If so,
then you have experienced the “cocktail party effect”—the tendency of
people to pick a personally relevant stimulus, like a name, out of a
complex and noisy environment (Cherry, 1953; Wood & Cowan, 1995).
Even infants who are too young to walk or talk exhibit this tendency
(Newman, 2005). To the cognitive psychologist, this phenomenon shows
that human beings are selective in their attention. To the social
psychologist, it also shows that the self is an important object of our own
attention.
• The self is first and foremost the collection of beliefs that we hold about
ourselves.
• What are our important characteristics? What are we good at? What do
we do poorly? What kind of situations do we prefer or avoid?
 Understanding Self
• Self Understanding is the awareness of and
ability to understand one’s own thoughts and
actions.
• To attain the insight into your attitudes, motives,
defences, reactions, weaknesses and strengths.
• It is a subjective sense of the self & a complex
mixture of unconscious & conscious thoughts,
attitudes & perceptions.
 Understanding Self: Definition
• Understanding self represents the sum total of
people’s conscious perception of their identity as
distinct from others. It is not a static
phenomenon, but continues to develop & change
throughout our lives. - George Herbert Head
• The understanding self is thinking about what is
involved in being? What distinguish you from
being an object, an animal or different person? -
Richard Stevens
 Understanding Self: Importance
• Self-understanding has been recognized as a
key competency for individuals to function
efficiently in organizations.
• It influences an individual’s ability to make
key decisions about self, others around.
• Understanding the self equips individuals with
making more effective career & life choice, the
ability to lead, guide & inspire with
authenticity.
 Self Concept
• The set of beliefs that we hold about who we are
is called the self concept.
• It can also be defined as the sum total of an
individual’s beliefs about his or her own personal
attributes.
• It is basically the individuals image of the kind of person
he or she is. Especially included in this are the awareness
of being (What I am) and awareness of function (What I
can do).
• Self concept includes not only our perceptions of what
we are but also what we think, we ought to be and would
like to be. This latter component of the self is called the
ideal self. The ideal self represents the self concept that
an individual would ideally want to posses.
Two ways in which WE perceive Ourselves
• POSITIVE SELF CONCEPT: People with positive self
concept believe in themselves, are confident about
their ability to deal with problems, make decisions, feel
equal to others, have respect for themselves and expect
it from others. These are people who are realistic in
their assessment of themselves and can admit to a wide
range of feelings, behaviours and needs.
• NEGATIVE SELF CONCEPT: If people see themselves as
failures and have a negative, pessimistic image of
themselves, they will begin to act the part. Negative
feelings feed on themselves and become a downward
spiral, gradually encompassing all of the people’s
thoughts, actions and relationships. People with
negative self concepts tend to complain constantly and
find it difficult to accept criticism.
 Self concept includes: 1. Cognitive Aspect,
2. Affective Aspect, & 3. Behavioral Aspect

1. Cognitive Aspect: Self Schema

• Self schemas are “cognitive generalizations about the self,
derived from past experience, that organize and guide the
processing of self-related information”

2. Affective/evaluative Aspect: Self Esteem

• “self esteem reflects the perceived difference between an
individual’s actual self concept (who I think I really am) and
some ideal self image (who I would really like to be).”
• William James (1890) expressed the relationship this way.
Self esteem= success/pretension (where, Pretension refers
to ideals against which individuals assess their actual self
image)
 Behavioral Aspect : Self Perception
• Daryl Bem’s (1972) influential theory of Self
Perception posits - we observe our behavior
and the situation in which it took place, make
attributions about why the behavior occurred,
and draw conclusions about our own
characteristics and dispositions.
• In other words, we come to understand
ourselves the same way we perceive and
understand others.
 Components of Self

Self
Identity

Self Body
Esteem SELF Image

Role
Performance
 Factors Affecting Self-Concept

Factors across the

Life Span

Psychological SELF Physiological

Factors CONCEPT Factors

Cultural & Life

Style Factors
 Building up Self Concept
• Building up self concept is primary factor of
effective personality and behaviour. The four
steps to build-up self concept are as follows:

1. Self awareness
2. Self acceptance
3. Self realization
4. Self disclosure
 Self Awareness
• Our attention is sometimes directed outward towards the
environment and sometimes it is focused inward on ourselves.
• Certain experiences in the world automatically focus attention
inwards, such as catching sight of ourselves in the mirror, having
our picture taken, or, more subtly, being evaluated by others.
• We begin to think of ourselves not as moving actors in the
environment but as objects of our own and others’ attention.
Experiencing oneself as an objects of our own and others’
attention is called self awareness.
• It leads people to evaluate their behavior against a standard
(standards for physical appearance, intellectual performance,
athletic prowess, or moral integrity) and to set an adjustment
process in motion for meeting the standard.
 Self Acceptance
• Having being aware of who we really are, rather than
the person we would wish to be, the next step on our
journey to self concept is to accept ourselves.
• According to Shepard (1979), self-acceptance is an
individual's satisfaction or happiness with oneself, and
is thought to be necessary for good mental health.
• Self-acceptance involves self-understanding, a
realistic, though subjective, awareness of one's
strengths and weaknesses. It results in an individual's
feeling about oneself, that they are of "unique worth".
 Self Realization

• The term self realization means to fulfilment

of one's own potential.
• It is realizing our inner potentialities.
• This step on self concept route involves
growth and development motivated from
within.
• It is a willingness to pursue our ideal-self on
our own, to grow and to change because we
think it is important.
 Self Disclosure
• Self disclosure is the process of letting another person know
what we think, feel and want, that is telling others about
ourselves.
• It includes all kinds of information: life experiences, personal
circumstances, feelings, dreams, opinions and so on.
• It involves disclosing our innermost thoughts and feelings.
• The final stage towards a mature self concept is how we are
going to reveal our ‘self’, and this is where self awareness plays
an important role. We need to know ourselves well before we
can disclose or reveal anything to others about our ‘real self’
• Research indicates that self-disclosure leads to self-
contentment, helps a person to be more perceptive, adaptive,
competent, trusting and positive towards others.
 Self Confidence
• A feeling of trust in one's abilities, qualities, and judgement
is self confidence.
• The belief that you can achieve success and competence. In
other words – believing yourself to be capable.
• Self-confidence might be in reference to specific tasks or a
more wide ranging attitude you hold about your abilities in
life.
• Both self confidence and self esteem relate to your
perception of yourself, the former relates to your
perception of your abilities and the latter relates to your
perception of your worth or value.
• Both concepts are closely related and those with low self
confidence will often have low self esteem and vice versa
Comparison between Persons with
High vs. Low Confidence
 Self Image
• Self-image is how you perceive yourself.
• It is a number of self-impressions that have built up over time: What
are your hopes and dreams? What do you think and feel? What have
you done throughout your life and what did you want to do?
• These self-images can be very positive, giving a person self confidence
in their thoughts and actions, or negative, making a person doubtful of
their capabilities and ideas.
• Surprisingly, your self-image can be very different from how the world
sees you. Some people who outwardly seem to have it all (intelligence,
looks, personal and financial success) may have a bad self-image.
Conversely, others who have had a very difficult life and multiple
hardships may also have a very positive self-image.
• Some believe that a person's self-image is defined by events that affect
him or her (doing well or not in school, work, or relationships.)
• Others believe that a person's self-image can help shape those events.
• There is probably some truth to both schools of thought: failing at
something can certainly cause one to feel bad about oneself, just as
feeling good about oneself can lead to better performance on a project.
 Self Image (contd.)
• It cannot be denied that your self-image has a very strong
impact on your happiness, and your outlook on life can
affect those around you. If you project a positive self-
image, people will be more likely to see you as a positive,
capable person.
• However, it's important that your self-image be both
positive and realistic.
• Having a self-image that is unrealistic can be a drawback,
whether that self-image is negative OR positive.
• Sometimes having an occasional negative thought or
criticism about oneself can encourage change, hard work,
growth and success. Sometimes having too positive an
image of oneself can encourage complacency,
underachievement, and arrogance. Finding the balance
between feeling positive about oneself but having realistic
goals is important.