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Andrea Salyer

Professor McGrew

COM.2206.1V4

10 February 2021

The Remarkable Race

Self-concept is thought of as how we see ourselves and the individual characteristics that

we would describe ourselves as. In this paper I will be exploring my own self-concept to prove

that I am suited to be on the reality show, The Remarkable Race. I will be describing myself

using the four pathways of culture, gender, reflected appraisal, and social comparison. First, I

will be listing ten characteristics that I think are a part of my self-concept.

Self-concept is a stable set of perceptions each individual holds of oneself (Adler et al.

70). The ten characteristics that I chose to describe myself are independent, hardworking, caring,

smart, honest, trustworthy, creative, funny, laidback, and brave. I would describe myself as

independent and hardworking because I don’t depend on anyone but myself and I always push

myself as hard as I can to reach my goal. I think these characteristics are vital to help me win the

race because you have to depend solely on yourself and push yourself to be the best through all

these challenges around the world. I would describe myself as caring and smart because while

always doing well in school, I also have a lot of street smart to get me through these mental tasks

and activities of the race. Caring is a good characteristic to have for the race because I will still

have that caring attribute and not try to sabotage others so I can win. I would describe myself as

honest and trustworthy because I feel that a lot of my friends confide in me and I’m always

honest with them and would never repeat their business to anyone. These characteristics apply to

the race because I will remain honest and trustworthy and not cheat to make myself win easier. I
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would describe myself as creative and funny because I think I’m innovative with things I’m

interested in and can make others and myself laugh easily. These characteristics will help me win

the race because having creativity could really help me in a difficult task and being funny will

help me keep light of the situation and not take it too seriously. I would describe myself as

laidback and brave because I don’t see myself as the dramatic type and when things happen to

me, I kind of just brush it off and move past it. Laidback and brave are good characteristics to

have for the race because I won’t get myself worked up and frustrated and you have to be brave

to participate in this race and do all these tasks around the world.

Gender is defined as a psychological sex-type (Adler et al. 119). Gender is easiest

described as whether you were born male or female. Gender identity is the gender that one

perceives themselves to be. For me, my gender is female and I identify as being female and

perceive myself with the gender I was born with. I chose independent as the characteristic for

this pathway. Being independent applies to the pathway of gender because historically, women

have depended on men. Women were the ones staying at home with the children and the men

went to work and provided for the family. Even in the present day, women get themselves caught

up with a man who's not good for them. They feel like they can’t leave the relationship because

she depends on him for financial stability or other factors. I think having independence as a

woman is extremely important nowadays because I’d rather be able to stand on my own two feet

if things were to go south in my relationship. This characteristic would help me win the race

because you’re depending on yourself to win this race and you’re doing it individually and not in

groups, so it’s all you.

Culture isn’t always easily defined, although it's best defined as the language, values,

beliefs, traditions, and customs people share and learn (Adler et al. 38). Within one’s culture,
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people have their in-groups, out-groups, a social identity, and some types of co-cultures. The

characteristic I chose for the culture pathway is hardworking. I chose this characteristic because I

would identify my culture as being raised in a traditional American household. I have distant

family members that came from Italy, but I identify as born and raised as an American girl. I

chose hardworking because I was raised by two middle class, hardworking individuals. They set

a great example for me to work hard for the things that I want and need and their parents set the

same example for them. I think hardworking relates to culture because I have no choice but to be

a hard working, middle class individual in America. It comes from my American culture of being

middle class and having to work for everything and nothing is really being handed to me like it

would be in some circumstances with upper class Americans.

Reflected appraisal is defined as the theory that a person’s self-concept matches the way

the person believes others regard him or her (Adler et al. 72). I describe reflected appraisal as

how I perceive myself based on how I think others see me. Another way to understand reflected

appraisal would be defined as, “mirroring of the judgments of those around a person” (Adler et

al. 72). The characteristic that I chose for the reflected appraisal pathway is smart. I chose smart

because a lot of family members and friends have told me that I’m smart and they remind me

how smart I am when I’m about to make a dumb decision. I also think I have a lot of common

sense and street smart which will be beneficial for the race, so I can use that skill with the mental

tasks.

Social comparison is defined as evaluating oneself in terms of or by comparison to others

(Adler et al. 73). I would describe social comparison as looking at how you see yourself and

comparing that with others. The people we compare ourselves to are referred to as reference

groups. Reference groups are defined as, “people against whom we evaluate our own
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characteristics” (Adler et al. 73). The characteristic I chose for social comparison is creative. I

chose creative because I think I’m creative compared to the people I went to high school with

and friends in my life still. I feel that I find creative ways to solve my problems and fix things

that are more difficult to fix. Also, when I walk into my bedroom I would consider myself

creative with how I style my room. When I walk into my boyfriend's room, I don’t see that same

creativity that I have. Creativity will be helpful with winning the race because there’s going to be

tough challenges that will need a creative mindset to get through it quickly and efficiently.

Self-concept is a really complex idea to fully understand and distinguish. Many people

don’t know or they don’t think about what makes them who they are. The pathways that make up

self-concept are gender, culture, reflected appraisal, and social comparison. For gender, I identify

and see myself as an independent female and I will always have myself to fall back on no matter

what. For culture, I identify and see myself as an American, middle class, hardworking

individual. For reflected appraisal, I identify as being a smart person since that’s what I’ve been

told by family members my whole life and I see myself as a smart individual. For social

comparison, I see myself as a creative person when comparing myself to the people around me

based on their creativity. All these aspects of self-concept help to show how I would be a great

candidate to participate in The Remarkable Race and that I’m very equipped with these vital

characteristics to come out on top and win the race.

Works Cited

Adler, Ronald B., et al. Interplay: the Process of Interpersonal Communication. Oxford

University Press, 2018.