Big 5
Big 5
INTRODUCTION TO SELF
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.
UNDERSTANDING SELF:
o Self-Understanding is the awareness of and ability to understand one’s own thoughts
and actions.
o To attain the insight into your attitudes, motives, defences, reactions, weaknesses and
strengths.
o It is a subjective sense of the self & a complex mixture of unconscious & conscious
thoughts, attitudes & perceptions.
o 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
COMPONENTS OF SELF
1. SELF IDENTITY:
Consider these two points of view – which approach do you find yourself inwhich approach do
you find yourself in most agreement with?most agreement with?
“I am who I am because of the time and place I was born and the culture I was raised in. My family
gave me a set of values and so has my town, my religion, my community and my country. Add
these all up and that’s who I am”
“I have got an identity – at least my friends seem to think so, but I’m not really sure who I am. I
know that I’m more like some people than others, but this changes as I try out new identities. I
don’t really want to take on an identity if it means I can’t be different when I want to be”
Neither is right or wrong. They represent two sides of a debate over the nature of identity.
2. SELF CONCEPT
o The set of beliefs that we hold about who we are is called the self-concept.
o It can also be defined as the sum total of an individual’s beliefs about his or her own
personal attributes.
o 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).
o 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.
Rogers' Three Parts of Self-Concept: Humanist psychologist Carl Rogers believed that self-
concept is made up of three different parts:
• Ideal self: The ideal self is the person you want to be. This person has the attributes or
qualities you are either working toward or want to possess. It's who you envision
yourself to be if you were exactly as you wanted.
• Self-image: Self-image refers to how you see yourself at this moment in time.
Attributes like physical characteristics, personality traits, and social roles all play a role
in your self-image.
• Self-esteem: How much you like, accept, and value yourself all contribute to your
self-concept. Self-esteem can be affected by a number of factors—including how others
see you, how you think you compare to others, and your role in society.
Self-concept is not always aligned with reality. When it is aligned, your self-concept is said to
be congruent. If there is a mismatch between how you see yourself (your self-image) and who
you wish you were (your ideal self), your self-concept is incongruent. This incongruence can
negatively affect self-esteem. Rogers believed that incongruence has its earliest roots in
childhood. When parents place conditions on their affection for their children (only expressing
love if children "earn it" through certain behaviors and living up to the parents' expectations),
children begin to distort the memories of experiences that leave them feeling unworthy of their
parents' love. Unconditional love, on the other hand, helps to foster congruence. Children who
experience such love—also referred to as family love—feel no need to continually distort their
memories in order to believe that other people will love and accept them as they are.
• 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-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.
3. 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. Self- confidence comes from firsthand
knowledge of the task at hand, knowing your strengths and weaknesses, applying your
skills to any situation. Self- confidence is extremely important in almost every aspect of
our lives
iii. Over Confidence: Often we come across people who are overconfident, i.e.
egotistic and stubborn. Generally, these people have the so called “superiority
complex” It is important to be confident but. . . Overconfidence makes you
egoistic and irritating. Bragging about your qualities and achievements will not
make you reach anywhere
Self Test. . !
• Do you fear or fail to make mistakes?
• Do you compare yourself with others?
• Do you doubt your strength and abilities?
• Do you feel bad , guilty ,nervous and angry when you don’t get what you wanted?
• Do you say “I am like that only or if I. .?
• Do you see yourself inferior than others?
If any answer for these questions is “yes”. . . Then I say you are in a state of feeling “low
confidence”!!!
A small boy –the fifth among seven siblings was selling newspapers in a small village to earn
his living. He was not exceptionally smart at school but was fascinated by religion and rockets.
The first rocket he built crashed. The missiles he built crashed multiple times. But his
“Confidence” and get going sprit in him made him script the book “The space odyssey of India
single handedly. He is. . . Dr.A.P.J.Abdul kalam
A school teacher scolded a boy for not paying attention in mathematics. For not solving a
simple problem. And said that he would not become anybody in life. But his mother’s
confidence in him made her coach him mathematics. And the boy went on to become. . . .Albert
Einstein.
When a gentleman invented a communication machine in 1876. It did not ring off the hook
with calls from potential backers. After making a demonstration call the, President Rutherford
Hayes said, it’s an amazing invention but who would ever want to see one of them it in future.?!
These words were said to . . . . Alexander Graham Bell.
Are you the type of person who easily get influenced by negative advices? Follow this short
self-confidence lesson…Henry Ward Beecher, a prominent congregationalist clergyman,
social reformer, abolitionist, and speaker in the mid to late 19th Century.
And each ‘No!’ you hear has the potential to erode your confidence bit by bit until you quit all
together. Though the world says, ‘No!’ to you today, you should be determined to say, ‘Yes!’
and prove it! ”
Confidence does not come when you have all the answers..! But it comes, when you are ready
to face all the questions..!!
And at the end I would like to say. . . . A winner is not the one who never fails but. . .the one
who never quits.!
4. 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. But 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.
5. BIG-5
Many contemporary personality psychologists believe that there are five basic dimensions of
personality, often referred to as the "Big 5" personality traits.
Following Fiske’s research, there were attempts by other researchers including Norman (1967),
Smith (1967), Goldberg (1981), and McCrae & Costa (1987). 51 The Big Five Factors: The
Basic Dimensions of Personality The “big five” are broad categories of personality traits. While
there is a significant body of literature supporting this five-factor model of personality,
researchers do not always agree on the exact labels for each dimension. However, these five
categories are usually described as follows:
Agreeableness: This factor includes traits like sympathetic, kind, and affectionate. It also
includes attributes such as trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and other prosocial behaviours.
Conscientiousness: This includes traits like organised, thorough, and planful tendencies.
Common features of this dimension include high levels of thoughtfulness, with good impulse
control and goal-directed behaviours. Those high in conscientiousness tend to be organised and
mindful of details.
Neuroticism: This is sometimes reversed and called Emotional Stability. This dimension
includes traits like tense, moody, and anxious. Individuals high in this trait tend to experience
emotional instability, anxiety, moodiness, irritability, and sadness.
Some use the acronym OCEAN (openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and
neuroticism) to remember the Big 5 personality traits. CANOE (for conscientiousness,
agreeableness, neuroticism, openness, and extraversion) is another option.