1. WHAT IS SELF AWARENESS ?

Self Awareness is having a clear perception of your personality, including strengths, weaknesses, thoughts,
beliefs, motivation, and emotions. Self Awareness allows you to understand other people, how they
perceive you, your attitude and your responses to them in the moment.

Self-Awareness is the thinking skill that focuses on a child's ability to accurately judge their own performance and
behavior and to respond appropriately to different social situations. Self-Awareness helps an individual to tune
into their feelings, as well as to the behaviors and feelings of others.

Self-awareness involves being aware of different aspects of the self including traits, behaviors, and feelings.
Essentially, it is a psychological state in which oneself becomes the focus of attention

2. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

Self awareness is important because when we have a better understanding of ourselves, we are able to
experience ourselves as unique and separate individuals. We are then empowered to make changes and to build
on our areas of strength as well as identify areas where we would like to make improvements.

3. HOW CAN WE DEVELOP SELF AWARENESS?

Introspection is the process of examining our thoughts, feelings, and motives. It can lead to self-awareness, or
having our attention focused on ourselves. Self-Awareness Theory states that noticing ourselves and our
behavior leads us to judging our behavior according to our internal standards.

1. Keep an open mind. When you have the ability to regulate your own emotional world, you can be attuned
the emotions of others. ...
2. Be mindful of your strengths and weaknesses. ...
3. Stay focused. ...
4. Set boundaries. ...
5. Know your emotional triggers. ...
6. Embrace your intuition. ...
7. Practice self-discipline.

 EMOTIONAL AWARENESS
 AWARENESS OF THOUGHTS & SENSATIONS
 AWARENESS OF STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSESS
 STAYING FOCUSSED
 SELF DISCIPLINE
 Self-awareness in cognitive perspective which means adolescence must focus
attention outwards(observe his/her self on environment) towards the
environment (consciousness)
 they must focus attention inwards (observe their self-awareness within
himself/herself)towards the self (self-awareness).
 Firstly, from own angle(inner-self).
 Secondly, from environment/ circumstance (outward self) angle one’s own
ideas ,concepts, assertive, creativity, extravert
 they must do realize his/her own status, stability altruism, risk, leadership, weak
in life balance, these things helpful to become socially valuable person
 conscious in sports, music and games these things helpful to become life
interested person.
 realize their analytical, communication, technical,problem-solving, motivation,
decision making capacity, teamwork these thing helpful to become skilled
person
 Life has offered me until now the privilege to meet and to observe people having
various status more or less important in this society. In these interactions, in my
mind it often appeared two questions: they are enough “interested” to have a
realistic self-perception? If, at a certain moment, they discover that they have a
utopian but positive self-perception will they make the effort to change it for the
real one no matter what?
 For someone to reach and to keep a realistic self-perception is helpful to better
understand the types of the perceptions involved in. The real self-perception can
be “found” somewhere between our perception on us and others perception on us
because the objectivity is obtained from every one’s subjectivity.
 No one knows us more than we do. The first notable element is our perception
on us based on our abilities to self-knowledge and also on our interior demands.
So, is necessary for every person to avoid not only high estimation but also the
low one to be able to distinguish a realistic self-perception from a utopian one.
This mean we have to maintain our self-appreciation to the most reasonable level
even our tendency to present us in a positive light is tempting.
 To get to know ourselves we can also make us of others perception on us. This
aspect depends not only on our abilities to make ourselves well-known by showing
relevant behaviors but also on other ones abilities to correctly decode the
 observed attitudes. Sometimes an attitude could be incorrectly comprehended by
a social partner and therefore any of us has to make sure his “message” is totally
understood.
 As we know the social has a major influence on our behaviors and perceptions and
it’s like a marker for us. The psychologist L. Festinger explained in his social
comparison theory that we elaborate our perception on us by comparing our own
abilities and attitudes with other one’s, by evaluating our own opinions depending
on what the others think.
 Living in a society it’s “forcing” us to participate to this comparison process, but in
the same time it puts us in a vulnerable position by being all day under external
influences which increase internal psychical pressure. The influence we talk about
is also revealed by the “looking glass self” concept of the psychologist C.H.
Cooley. According to him we think about how we appear to others, how they
consider our appearance and of course about the pride or shame we feel as a
result of an interaction.
 So, someone next to you can induce yourself a positive or negative utopian self-
perception from different reasons. Think about this situation: you are constantly
hearing appreciations like “you are so intelligent /so beautiful” or the reverse “you
are so stupid /so not so beautiful”. Even some of these remarks are not real you
could end up believing it. In cases like this, if you are a responsible person, either
you honestly introspect yourself looking for the truth or you pay more attention to
what other people around you has to say.
 Getting back to my initial questions, not all of us are willing to give up on an
idealistic self-perception even it affects us by believing in something that’s not
real. A positive self-perception even unrealistic is flattering for our ego and that is
more difficult to give it up for the real one when we have a high self-esteem level
and a social position and an image to protect.
 Personally, I consider it’s healthier for our long-term mental evolution to know the
real us, our skills and our limits too, even truth doesn’t always give us a
psychological comfort. We owe ourselves to find out who we really are and never
to consciously fool ourselves for immediate goals or for gaining someone else’s
pleasing opinion. – Psychologist, Nicoleta Cramaruc
 Self-concept is defined as an individual's belief and evaluation about
himself or herself. Included in this definition are one's beliefs about
attributes (both physical and mental), likes and dislikes, and strengths and
weaknesses.

 Children tend to behave in ways that mirror their beliefs about

themselves. Children who have positive self-concept are more likely to
succeed and persist at difficult tasks, while children with low self-
concept tend to give up more easily and fail more often.
 One's self-concept is largely self-constructed; therefore, self-
assessments may be inaccurate, leading to views of skills and abilities
being slightly inflated or slightly underestimated.
 Factors that Influence Self-Concept
 Three main factors influence one's self-concept. Simply telling a child they are
good in a particular skill or that they are attractive or popular will not influence their
self-concept. Researchers have identified previous performance, the behavior of
others, and group membership and achievements as key influencers of self-
concept.
 Previous Performance
 A child's self-assessment of skills and abilities depends on how successful
their actions have been in the past. For example, children are likely to believe they
will do well in future science courses if they have been successful in science
courses in the past.the present performance increases the likelihood (positive
prediction)of positive outcome.so the ind. Has the confidence to approach..

 Behaviors of Others

 The second influencer is the behavior of others. Children's self-concept can be

influenced by others' behaviors in two ways. First, children evaluate their
performance based on the performance of other children around them. How their
performance compares to their peers will influence their self-concept. For example,
receiving a 90 on a test when all other classmates received an 80 or below would
be evaluated by the child as successful. Receiving a 90 on a test when all other
classmates received a 95 or above would be deemed as a failure, despite the fact
that 90 is a high score.
 Group Membership and Achievements

 Membership in a group can impact sense of self-concept because it allows an

individual to take pride in being part of larger successes. For example, if an entire
class earned an award for raising the most money in a school food drive, a child
would feel a sense of pride by contributing to the success of the group, no matter
how much he or she actually individually contributed.
(sense of belonging to a successful group or sense of shame or alienation
when ur group is made of people who always fails in academics)

 Self-Concept at Different Grade Levels

 Self-concept develops and changes as a child matures and ages.

Verbal encouragements help keep students determined to finish tasks

 In the early years (kindergarten through second grade) children tend to have a
concrete self-concept limited to easily observable characteristics. They also tend to
overestimate their abilities and future successes.
 From third grade to fifth grade, children are increasingly aware of their
strengths and weaknesses. They also begin to incorporate feelings of pride,
shame, and other emotions with self-concept.
 During middle school (grades six through eight) there is an increase in abstract
conceptions of oneself. There is also an increased awareness and sensitivity to
what others think. There is excessive belief in one's own uniqueness, as well.
 In high school, there is a gradual increase in overall positive self-concept.
Students begin to search for who they are and who they will become.
 Self-Efficacy Defined
 Self-efficacy is the belief that one is capable of organizing and executing
certain behaviors or reaching certain goals.eg..ronnie scoring in prmo..he is
believing in his capabilities of doing maths…self efficacy in facing a dog…??
  Self-efficacy affects choice of activities, effort, and persistence. For example,
people who hold a low self-efficacy for accomplishing a task may avoid it; those
who believe they are capable are likely to participate.
 Differences between Self-Efficacy and Self-Concept
 Self-efficacy and self-concept are similar in that both constructs account for
one's judgments of their capabilities. However, self-efficacy is different from self-
concept in several ways.
 First, the definition of self-efficacy includes 'organize and execute,' which
specifically focuses on the perceived competence in terms of including the
behavioral actions or cognitive skills that are necessary for performance for a given
skill or ability. For example, self-efficacy isn't simply the recognition of 'I'm good in
sports,' but rather, explicit judgments of having the necessary skills and physical
fitness level to do well in those types of activities.
 Second, self-efficacy is used in reference to a specific goal. For example, a
student that usually does well in math may experience low self-efficacy toward a
particular problem set or equation because of the difficulty of the material
compared to previous material learned.

Chart of self-efficacy outcome expectations

 Third, a student may have an overall self-concept for a skill or ability while
holding a differing perceived self-efficacy for a specific task within that area. For
example, a student may hold a negative self-concept for science classes, but have
high self-efficacy for a particular project or task. They still think of themselves as
being poor science students, but feel particularly apt in one area within the class.
 Definitions of self constructs
Self-esteem: Self-esteem refers to general feelings of self-worth or self-
value.
Self-efficacy: Self-efficacy is belief in one's capacity to succeed at
tasks. General self-efficacy is belief in one's general capacity to handle
tasks. Specific self-efficacy refers to beliefs about one's ability to perform
specific tasks (e.g., driving, public speaking, studying, etc.)
Self-confidence: Self-confidence refers to belief in one's personal worth
and likelihood of succeeding. Self-confidence is a combination of self-
esteem and general self-efficacy.
Self-concept: Self-concept is the nature and organization of beliefs about one's
self. Self-concept is theorized to be multi-dimensional. For example, people have
separate beliefs about physical, emotional, social, etc. aspects of themselves.

RISK TAKING BEHAVIOUR-

A deficit in the development of the teenage brain has been blamed for teens’ behavior in recent years,
but it may be time to lay the stereotype of the wild teenage brain to rest. Brain deficits don’t make
teens do risky things; lack of experience and a drive to explore the world are the real factors.

As director of research at a public policy center that studies adolescent risk-taking, I study teenage
brains and teenage behavior. Recently, my colleagues and I reviewed years of scientific
literature about adolescent brain development and risky behavior.

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We found that much of the risk behavior attributed to adolescents is not the result of an out-of-control
brain. As it turns out, the evidence supports an alternative interpretation: Risky behavior is a normal
part of development and reflects a biologically driven need for exploration – a process aimed at
acquiring experience and preparing teens for the complex decisions they will need to make as adults.

Stereotypes of adolescence
We often characterize adolescents as impulsive, reckless and emotionally unstable. We used to
attribute this behavior to “raging hormones.” More recently, it’s been popular in some
scientific circles to explain adolescent behavior as the result of an imbalance in the development of the
brain.
According to this theory, the prefrontal cortex, the center of the brain’s cognitive-control system,
matures more slowly than the limbic system, which governs desires and appetites including drives for
food and sex. This creates an imbalance in the adolescent brain that leads to even more impulsive and
risky behavior than seen in children – or so the theory goes.

This idea has gained currency to the point where it’s become common to refer to the “teenage brain” as
the source of the injuries and other maladies that arise during adolescence.

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In my view, the most striking failure of the teen brain hypothesis is its conflating of important
differences between different kinds of risky behavior, only a fraction of which support the notion of
the impulsive, unbridled adolescent.

Adolescents as explorers
What clearly peaks in adolescence is an interest in exploration and novelty seeking. Adolescents are by
necessity engaged in exploring essential questions about themselves – who they are, what skills they
have and who among their peers is worth socializing with.

But these explorations are not necessarily conducted impulsively. Rising levels of dopamine in the
brain during adolescence appear to drive an increased attraction to novel and exciting experiences. Yet
this “sensation seeking” behavior is also accompanied by increasing levels of cognitive control that
peak at the same age as adolescents’ drive for exploration. This ability to exert cognitive control peaks
well before structural brain maturation, which peaks at about age 25.

Researchers who attribute this exploratory behavior to recklessness are more likely falling prey to
stereotypes about adolescents than assessing what actually motivates their behavior.

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If adolescents were truly reckless, they should show a tendency toward risk-taking even when the risks
of bad outcomes are known. But they don’t. In experiments where the probabilities of their risks are
known, adolescents take fewer risks than children.

In experiments that mimic the well-known marshmallow test, in which waiting for a bigger reward is a
sign of self-control, adolescents are less impulsive than children and only slightly more so than adults.
While these forms of decision-making may place adolescents at a somewhat greater risk of adverse
outcomes than adults, the change in this form of self control from mid-adolescence to adulthood is
rather small and individual differences are great.
There is a specific kind of risk-taking that resembles the imbalance that the brain-development theory
points to. It is a form of impulsivity that is insensitive to risk due to acting without thinking. In this
form of impulsivity, the excitement of impulsive urges overshadows the potential to learn from bad
experience. For example, persons with this form of impulsivity have trouble controlling their use of
drugs, something that others learn to do when they have unpleasant experiences after using a drug.
Youth with this characteristic often display this tendency early in childhood, and it can become
heightened during adolescence. These teens do in fact run a much greater risk of injury and other
adverse outcomes.

But it is important to realize that this is characteristic of only a subset of youth with weak ability to
control their behavior. Although the rise in injurious and other risky behavior among teens is cause for
concern, this represents much more of a rise in the incidence of this behavior than of its prevalence. In
other words, while this risky behavior occurs more frequently among teens than children, it is by no
means common. The majority of adolescents do not die in car crashes, become victims of homicide or
suicide, experience major depression, become addicted to drugs or contract sexually transmitted
infections.

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Furthermore, the risks of these outcomes among a small segment of adolescents are often evident
much earlier, as children, when impulse control problems start to appear.

The importance of wisdom

Considerable research suggests that adolescence and young adulthood is a heightened period of
learning that enables a young person to gain the experience needed to cope with life’s challenges. This
learning, colloquially known as wisdom, continues to grow well into adulthood. The irony is that most
late adolescents and young adults are more able to control their behavior than many older adults,
resulting in what some have called the wisdom paradox. Older adults must rely on the store of wisdom
they have built to cope with life challenges because their cognitive skills begin to decline as early as
the third decade of life.

A dispassionate review of existing research suggests that what adolescents lack is not so much the
ability to control their behavior, but the wisdom that adults gain through experience. This takes time
and, without it, adolescents and young adults who are still exploring will make mistakes. But these are
honest mistakes, so to speak, because for most teens, they do not result from a lack of control.

This realisation is not so new, but it serves to place the recent neuroscience of brain development in
perspective. It is because adolescents are immature in regard to experience that makes them vulnerable
to mishaps. And for those with weak cognitive control, the risks are even greater. But we should not let
stereotypes of this immaturity color our interpretation of what they are doing. Teenagers are just
learning to be adults, and this inevitably involves a certain degree of risk.

Understanding behaviour patterns among young people

During teenage years, there will be a noticeable change in the behaviour of young people.
Many mental illnesses have their onset in adolescence, including those that run a chronic
course resulting in significant disability.
So what is so distinct about this age group? Adolescence is the period in life marking the
transition from being a child to being an adult, and it overlaps with teenage. In other words, it
is a phase where one gradually moves from being a dependant to becoming an independent
person. This is the time when one’s personality starts to evolve. There is physical, social and
intellectual development. This period is one of the busiest times of life; there is so much
happening.
Using structural and functional MRI scans in their research on adolescents, a team of scientists
in London found that strangely the brain reduces in size by a tiny proportion, losing some
nerve cells during the phase. It is reported that some connections between nerve cells are
eliminated by discarding some neurons, while strengthening those connections is deemed
important. The brain development that is correlated with hormone-related to puberty, usually
occurs at the beginning of teenage for boys and just before teenage for girls. The scientists
rightly argue that there is a biological reason for what happens during the adolescent period of
life.
At this age they develop curiosity to explore and experiment. They have reduced
communication with parents and start spending more time with friends in school and college.
They come under peer influence easily. Scientists found that there is high risk-taking
behaviour, especially if they perceive motivation by peers watching them closely. However,
they seem to perform well when they are not being watched by peers. There is also an urge to
perform an act to stand out or do something exciting. Because the front part of the brain is
evolving, that creates inhibitions to certain kinds of behaviour. There will be mood swings,
and decision-making is likely to be inconsistent.
Fear of peer rejection
It is common for young people to start spending excessive amounts of time with friends, more
than with family members. Very few people prefer to remain aloof or alone during this period.
Peers can influence ways of thinking, although thoughts are generated in their own mind. In
fact, it is the individual who has to take responsibility for their own thoughts. If they feel they
are having frequent and excessive intrusive thoughts, termed automatic thoughts, then they
should seek advice without delay. Being hypersensitive towards the reaction of peers is very
common, but at the same time they can be hypersensitive in terms of emotional reactions
towards family members. It is believed that the commonly occurring mood swings around this
time can lead to conflicts about decision-making, hinder communication with family members
as they easily misread the expression and body language of the family members.
Another reason for this is that their social development is still taking place and they are
beginning to learn social interactions. Lots of activities occur as group activities and no one
likes to be left out of a group. The person feels indirectly forced to accept an offer of alcohol
or drug by peers, just to be part of a group, feeling that otherwise they will be isolated. There
is the risk of using the substance weighed up against the risk of being isolated. Individuals at
teenage may become extremely anxious over the prospect of being rejected, and this could
lead to using substances. Thus they become vulnerable to peer influence. On the positive side,
peer influence motivates the person to attend college regularly and take part in physical
activities such as sports or cultural activities. It can be difficult to pick and choose. Some peer
group behaviours and activities can be unpredictable.
Social development
There is a change in the social interaction patterns occurring due to changing roles. From
being daughter or sibling, roles change to being a friend, college student, then employee. The
individual is moving from dependency to independence during this time. The person is
expected to take up new responsibilities. There will be direct or perceived family expectations
that the person, after completing his or her education, could take up paid employment in the
next few years. This could even create a conflict if goals that are set are not in line with
expectations.
Impulse control and addiction
The urge to do an act develops through the stimulation of the limbic system, which is the area
that deals with emotions, with the intention of seeking instant rewards. Therefore the acts that
give instant fun to the individual through this process get reinforced. The person gets into the
vicious circle of seeking immediate reward and performs acts. This can be one of the main
reasons for behaviours such as smoking, and drug or alcohol use. Involvement in social media
groups for prolonged lengths of time that affects daily functioning, academic performance and
the ability to work towards their own goals needs early intervention. At this stage, the front
region of the brain that is to do with inhibition of impulses, called the pre-frontal cortex, that is
generally well-developed in humans, is slowly evolving, towards making a person’s mind
mature. Teens also go with the trend of phone use, gadgets, social media use and clicking
selfies. Several deaths have occurred during clicking of selfies due to risk-taking behaviour.
Alcohol or drug use could persist through adulthood, and often such behaviour has its
beginnings at this age.
Lots of change
There are changes in so many dimensions, that the person may struggle to adapt if not given
support. There is change in physical body structure in girls and boys. Girls start to have
regular monthly periods. There are hormonal changes that can lead to changes in emotions and
this in turn can affect thoughts. Sexual orientation develops and a few can have excessive
sexual urges. Adaptations are required to cope with the new roles of the person. Career
choices may need to be made. Generally they may feel under the influence of their parents and
agree with them, but may later feel it was not their own choice. Some people may struggle in
their careers and manage somehow, but it can trigger anxiety and depression in some.
Body image perception
In a survey, a majority of teens reported that they needed to maintain a certain body shape and
size, being influenced by magazines. Media influences the image perception of self. An
individual may develop a fear of gaining weight and appear obese, may become preoccupied
by intrusive impulses, urges or thoughts, which take precedence over any other activity for
them for weeks and months. These conditions are Anorexia nervosa and Bulimia nervosa, one
concerning eating disorders that is commonly seen in a small percentage of girls. Again these
may be due to the fear of being rejected by peers, or may even have been a result of bullying
for being obese in the past. Missing meals and significant reduction in quantity of food intake
in order to lose weight are common. Sometimes, immediately after a round of binge-eating, to
avoid the guilt, they induce vomiting to avoid gaining weight. These behaviours need early
attention, so the deterioration to the extent of harm to physical health can be prevented. Even
though they may be significantly and morbidly low in weight or in body mass index, they still
can get intrusive thoughts of feeling obese, or there is a part of their body seen in the mirror as
fat. This condition needs attention, and assessment by psychiatrists and suitable treatment
must begin at the earliest.
Suicides and mental illness
Mental Illness and suicides are prevalent, and rising in this age group. As per Census in 2011,
30% of the population of India was between 10 and 24 years of age. The mental health care
needs of the segment is increasing. Public health education and engaging teens are ways of
early identification and prevention of breakdown, anxiety and depressive illness. Even if there
is illness, with appropriate engagement and consultations with psychiatrists this can be treated.
Self-esteem and identity
At this age, individuals are searching their own identity — who they are and how they fit into
the society. For some, they will not know what’s really going on with so many changes
happening. They should try avoiding comparisons with their peers. They can start to set small
achievable goals that they can achieve. With every small achievement, their self-esteem
increases. Self-appreciation is something that needs to be emphasised in colleges. Because of
low esteem they try seek attention, and they cannot cope with rejection by peers. They may
slowly indulge in risk-taking behaviour, try drugs or alcohol or smoking. They need to be
aware of the influence that their peers can have on them. They need to be able to weigh the
pros and cons and learn to be assertive, and say “no” at times.
Coping mechanisms
Everyone tries to cope with stressful situations when face them and develop certain coping
mechanisms. Mal-adaptive coping mechanisms include use of substances, self-harm, shouting,
screaming, abusing or use of foul language. It is the time they need to learn adaptive coping
mechanisms, which include sports, hobbies, ignoring, self-distraction, meditation, exercise,
yoga and reading, and focus on higher achievement or charity work.
Cognitive behaviour therapy
Principles of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) involves examining one’s own thoughts,
challenging own thoughts and slowly changing them to adaptive thoughts, by understanding
their influence on emotions and their own behaviour. A negative thought brings about anger or
sadness, which leads to a person becoming less sociable, whereas a positive thought would
cheer up, leading to more socialising. Understanding their own thought patterns and working
on them by keeping a diary of their own thoughts, might help.
Mindfulness
Lots of countries are reportedly trying to help adolescents learn to practise mindfulness, which
is learning to experience only the present moment. This may generally work well if it is
combined with a suitable meditation technique. Practising meditation regularly will give the
individual good control over thoughts.
Tackling peer pressure
Remain aware of the extent of the influence. Set your own goals and focus on your disciplined
routine, including with regard to sleep hygiene. Learn to be assertive. Examine your own self-
esteem level and work on them. Take time to make decisions as you may have mood swings
that have interfered with your decision-making. Discuss with mentors or even with your
sibling or mother. You should believe in your abilities. Fear of rejection or even rejection
would not be the end of the world in reality. It is just an anxiety of becoming lonely as people
do fear loneliness.
There are lots of reasons for lots of things happening around adolescence. Society should
focus on them. They are able to start learning as it is considered the best time to learn what can
sustain for life. Educating teens regularly about their behaviours can be made a part of their
curriculum. Positive changes brought about can bring them on the right track that can make
their future bright, thus creating great advantage to society.
(The author is a consultant psychiatrist practising in Bengaluru. Email: [email protected]