CONCEPT OF SELF

Prepared by
Anupama Tamrakar (Lecturer)
Pokhara University
 Introduction
• The term self-concept is a general term used to refer to
how someone thinks about or perceives themselves.

• The self-concept is the accumulation of knowledge about

the self. The self-concept is composed of relatively
permanent self-assessments such as beliefs regarding
personality traits, physical characteristics, abilities, values,
goals, and roles.
 Contd….

• Beginning in infancy, children acquire and organize

information about themselves as a way to enable
them to understand the relation between the self and
their social world.
• The self-concept is not restricted to the present. It
includes past selves and future selves. Future selves
or "possible selves" represent individuals' ideas of
what they might become, what they would like to
become, and what they are afraid of becoming.
 Definition
• Self-concept is a multi-dimensional construct that refers to
an individual's perception of "self" in relation to any
number of characteristics, such as academics, gender roles
and sexuality, racial identity, and many others.
• Bums (1980) defines it as, 'the set of attitudes a person
holds towards himself."
• Gross: 1992:607: “Me self-concept is basically each
person's own subjective -view or image of him- or herself as
a person. "
 contd…
• Self-concept is a relatively enduring set of attitudes and
beliefs about both the physical self and the
psychological self. It sis the totality of ideas that a
person holds about the self.
• Self-concept is not a static state but one that develops
and changes over time with life experiences and
relationships that influence beliefs about the self.
• It includes the person’s self-knowledge, self
expectations and self evaluation.
• Self concept guides our actions, motivations,
expectations and goals for future.
COMPONENETS OF SELF-CONCEPT

1. Self-
esteem
2. Body Image

Self-concept

Personal
Identity

3.
4. Role performance
 Self-Esteem
• The term “Self-esteem” means to regard favorably, with
admiration or respect.
• Self-esteem can be defined as the degree to which one
has a positive evaluation of one’s self, based on one’s
perceptions of how one is viewed by others as well as
one’s views about self.
• Self esteem refers to the extent to which we like accept
or approve of ourselves or how much we value
ourselves. Self esteem always involves a degree of
evaluation and we may have either a positive or a
negative view of ourselves.
 Development of Self-esteem
• Two schools of thoughts of development of Self-esteem:

1. First: self-esteem forms early in life, is based primarily on

relationships with early caregivers, and is relatively fixed
throughout life.
2. Second: self-esteem fluctuates whenever life transitions,
crises, or illnesses challenge the self-concept or alter the
person’s status or role. - (Arnold & Boggs, 2006)
 Important facts

• Having a high self-esteem leads to a high level of

satisfaction with oneself.
• People who possess high self-esteem tend to be more
content, in control, confident, accountable, and capable.
• Lack of self-esteem can result in lack of confidence, and
inability to act in own interest, feeling of being over-
whelmed, having decreased activity or energy,
powerlessness, and reduced ability to function.
 Contd…..
Men’s Self- Esteem Women’s Self-Esteem

more likely to base their self- more likely to base their self-
esteem on their personal esteem on the adequacy of their
achievements in life. social support system.

Often greatly affected by having a Often affected by whether they are

sense of well-being, a positive content with their lives and have a
outlook on life, and an ability to feeling that they are needed.
perform activities of daily living.
 Theories of Development of Self-Esteem

1. Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs

2. Erik Erikson’s Eight stages of Man

 Maslow’s Hierarch of Needs (1954)
• Maslow described self-esteem as a requirement for reaching
full personal development.
• Maslow has suggested that the people have “hierarchy of
needs” of which physiological need form the foundation on
which safety and security, love and belongings and others
come respectively in the hierarchy. Unless the foundation
needs are met, higher level needs receive less attention.
• Self-esteem develops after the need for belonging and being
loved by others is met.
• A positive relationship with others leads to the development
of a self-esteem.
 Erikson’s Eight Stages of Man (1950)
• Described the development of self-esteem in eight stages,
ranging from infancy through old age.
• A/C Erikson, in infancy the child develops trust through the
concern of caregivers.
• 1-3 yrs the child develops autonomy by learning control of
the body. After that through initiative and industry, the child
develops broader control over the environment. By 12 yrs,
child developed the ability to derive self-esteem from
internal locus control (self).
• During Adolescent they develop identity.
 Coopersmith’s 4 components of self-esteem
• Coopersmith in 1981 identified four important
components in the development of positive self-
esteem. They are:
a. Acceptance/worthiness
b. Power/Control
c. Moral worth/Virtue
d. Competence/Mastery
 Acceptance/Worthiness

• It relates to the perception, attention and

affection of others.

• It is the amount of concern and care that a

person receives from significant others.
 Power/Control

• It is the ability to influence and control others.

• This make child’s first appearance in
toddlerhood and continues to develop in school-
age.
• Toddler learns the concept of power/control by
exploring their environment and manipulating
objects within the environment.
 Moral worth/Virtue
• It is the adherence to moral and ethical standards.

• The values and morals of significant others are internalized by the

preschool-age and the school-age child.

• In early childhood the child adopts behaviors through

identification with the same-sex parent and a desire to please that
parent.

• As they are learning to adopt the behaviors of their same-sex

parent, they learn both good or bad moral.
 Competence/Mastery

• It refers to successful performance or achievement.

• It is marked by high levels of performance, with the

level and the tasks varying depending on developmental
stage. When abilities are sufficient to complete a task,
competence/mastery is present.
• The development of initiative and industry leads to
feeling of competence.
 2. Personal Identity
• Personal identity is the organizing principle of the
personality that accounts for the unity, continuity,
consistency and uniqueness of a person. (Carpenito, 2005)
• The composition of personal identity are emotional
images, cognitive images and perceptual images.
• Emotional images are those feelings about oneself that
one experiences as being consistent with the self and that
feel familiar and normal.
• Cognitive images involves intelligence, past experiences,
educational experiences and the process of thinking.
• Perceptual images are derived from the external sensory
data and are translated into mental pictures of reality.
 3. Role Performance
• It refers to a person’s fulfillment of the roles &
current responsibilities in that person’s life, and it
includes the actions, thoughts, and feelings.
• A role is a homogenous set of behaviors, attitudes,
beliefs, principles and values that are normally
defined and expected in a given social position in a
group. Role is defined in terms of relationship to
others & prescribed by age, sex or position in the
family and society. The ability to fulfill prescribed
role behaviors can affect the self-concept.
 4. Body Image
• Body image is the perception of one’s own body.
• It is the physical dimension of self-concept, or how
one perceives and evaluates one’s appearance and
function. It is closely related to personal identity,
role performance and self-esteem.
• People can perceive their bodies as fat or thin, ugly
or beautiful, etc.
• Body images changes with the conditions like
physical growth, illness, aging, accidents and
social/cultural influences.
Factors Affecting
Factors acrossSelf-Concept
the life span

Psychological Self Physiologi- cal

Factors Concept Factors

Cultural and
life style
Factors
 Factors Across the Life Span

• Infants to Preschoolers
• School-Age Children
• Adolescents
• Young Adults
• Middle Adults
• Older Adults
 Physiological Factors

• Fatigue
• Trauma
• Chronic illness
• Surgery
• Disability
• Obesity
 Psychological Factors

• Depression
• Stress
• Loss
• Abusive relationships
 Cultural and Lifestyle Factors

• Culture
• Socioeconomic status
• Living conditions