UNDERSTANDING SELF FOR EFFECTIVENESS

The self concept is how we think about and evaluate ourselves. To be aware of oneself is
to have a concept of oneself.
The term self-concept is a general term used to refer to how someone thinks about or
perceives themselves. It is an important term for both social psychology and humanism.
Lewis (1990) suggests that development of a concept of self has two aspects: -
(1) The Existential Sel
This is the most basic part of the self-scheme or self-concept; the sense of being separate
and distinct from others and the awareness of the constancy of the self (Bee 1!".
The child realises that they e#ist as a se!a"ate entity from others and that they continue
to e#ist over time and space. $ccording to %ewis awareness of the e#istential self begins
as young as two to three months old and arises in part due to the relation the child has
with the world. &or e#ample' the child smiles and someone smiles back' or the child
touches a mobile and sees it move.
(#) The Cate$%"i&al Sel
(aving realised that he or she e#ists as a separate e#periencing being' the child ne#t
becomes aware that he or she is also an ob)ect in the world. *ust as other ob)ects
including people have properties that can be e#perienced (big' small' red' smooth and so
on" so the child is becoming aware of him or her self as an ob)ect which can be
e#perienced and which has properties. The self too can be put into categories such as age'
gender' si+e or skill. Two of the first categories to be applied are age (,I am -." and
gender (,I am a girl.".
In early childhood the categories children apply to themselves are very concrete (e.g. hair
colour' height and favourite things". %ater' self-description also begins to include
reference to internal psychological traits' comparative evaluations and to how others see
them.
/arl 0ogers Believes that the self concept has three different components:
The view you have of yourself (Sel i'a$e"
(ow much value you place on yourself (Sel estee' or self-worth"
1hat you wish you were really like (I(eal sel"
Sel I'a$e (what you see in yourself"
This does not necessarily have to reflect reality. Indeed a person with anore#ia who is
thin may have a self image in which the person believes they are fat. $ person2s self
image is affected by many factors' such as parental influences' friends' the media etc.
)*hn (19+0) investigated the self-image by using The Twent, State'ents Test.
(e asked people to answer the 3uestion 2-h% a' I.2 in !4 different ways. (e found that
the responses could be divided into two ma)or groups. These were social roles (e#ternal
or ob)ective aspects of oneself such as son' teacher' friend" and personality traits (internal
or affective aspects of oneself such as gregarious' impatient' humorous".
The list of answers to the 3uestion ,1ho $m I5. probably include e#amples of each of
the following four types of responses:
1) /h,si&al Des&"i!ti%n: I6m tall' have blue eyes...etc.
#) S%&ial R%les: 1e are all social beings whose behavior is shaped to some e#tent by the
roles we play. 7uch roles as student' housewife' or member of the football team not only
help others to recogni+e us but also help us to know what is e#pected of us in various
situations.
0) /e"s%nal T"aits: These are a third dimension of our self-descriptions. ,I6m
impulsive...I6m generous...I tend to worry a lot....etc.
1) Existential State'ents (abstract ones": These can range from 8I6m a child of the
universe8 to 8I6m a human being8 to 8I6m a spiritual being8...etc.
Typically young people describe themselves more in terms of such personal traits'
whereas older people feel defined to a greater e#tent by their social roles.
Sel Estee' an( Sel -%"th (the e#tent to which you
value yourself"
7elf esteem refers to the e#tent to which we like accept or approve of ourselves or how
much we value ourselves. 7elf esteem always involves a degree of evaluation and we
may have either a positive or a negative view of ourselves.
2IG2 SELF ESTEE3 i.e. we have a positive view of ourselves. This tends to lead to
/onfidence in our own abilities
7elf acceptance
9ot worrying about what others think
:ptimism
LO- SELF ESTEE3 i.e. we have a negative view of ourselves. This tends to lead to
%ack of confidence
1ant to be;look like someone else
$lways worrying what others might think
<essimism
There are several ways of measuring self-esteem. &or e#ample' (arrill 7elf =steem
Inventory is a 3uestionnaire comprising 1> statements about a range of interest. $nother
e#ample is the The'ati& A!!e"&e!ti%n Test (T$T"' which is a neutral cartoon given to
the participant who then has to devise a story about what2s going on.
3%"se an( Ge"$en (1940) showed that in uncertain or an#iety arousing situations our
self-esteem may change rapidly. <articipants were waiting for a )ob interview in a waiting
room. They were sat with another candidate (a confederate of the e#perimenter" in one of
two conditions:
$" ?r. /lean - dressed in smart suit' carrying a briefcase opened to reveal a slide rule and
books.
B" ?r. @irty - dressed in an old T-shirt and )eans' slouched over a cheap se# novel.
7elf-esteem of participants with ?r. @irty increased whilst those with ?r. /lean
decreasedA 9o mention made of how this affected sub)ects6 performance in interview.
%evel of self-esteem affects performance at numerous tasks though (/oopersmith 1BC"
so could e#pect ?r. @irty sub)ects to perform better than ?r. /lean.
=ven though self-esteem might fluctuate' there are times when we continue to believe
good things about ourselves even when evidence to the contrary e#ists. This is known as
the perseverance effect. R%ss et al (1945) showed that people who believed they had
socially desirable characteristics continued in this belief even when the e#perimenters
tried to get them to believe the opposite. @oes the same thing happen with bad things if
we have low self-esteem5 ?aybe not' perhaps with very low self-esteem all we believe
about ourselves might be bad.
A"$,le 6elie7es the"e a"e 1 'a8%" a&t%"s that inl*en&e sel estee'.
1" T2E REACTION OF OT2ERS. If people admire us' flatter us' seek out our
company' listen attentively and agree with us we tend to develop a positive self-image. If
they avoid us' neglect us' tell us things about ourselves that we don6t want to hear we
develop a negative self-image.
!" CO3/ARISON -IT2 OT2ERS. If the people we compare ourselves with (our
reference group" appear to be more successful' happier' richer' better looking than
ourselves we tend to develop a negative self image BDT if they are less successful than
us our image will be positive.
-" SOCIAL ROLES. 7ome social roles carry prestige e.g. doctor' airline pilot' TE.
presenter' premiership footballer and this promotes self-esteem. :ther roles carry stigma.
=.g. prisoner' mental hospital patient' refuse collector or unemployed person.
F" IDENTIFICATION. 0oles aren6t )ust ,out there.. They also become part of our
personality i.e. we identity with the positions we occupy' the roles we play and the groups
we belong to.
But )ust as important as all these factors' are the influence of our parentsA (7ee
/oopersmith6s research."
I(eal Sel (what you2d like to be"
If there is a mismatch between how you see yourself (e.g. your self image" and what
you6d like to be (e.g. your ideal self " then this is likely to affect how much you value
yourself. Therefore' there is an intimate relationship between self-image' ego-ideal and
self-esteem. (umanistic psychologists study this using the G-7ort ?ethod.
$ person6s ideal self may not be consistent with what actually happens in life and
e#periences of the person. (ence' a difference may e#ist between a person6s ideal self
and actual e#perience. This is called in&%n$"*en&e.
1here a person6s ideal self and actual e#perience are consistent or very similar' a state of
congruence e#ists. 0arely' if ever does a total state of congruence e#istH all people
e#perience a certain amount of incongruence. The development of congruence is
dependent on unconditional !%siti7e "e$a"(. 0oger6s believed that for a person to
achieve self-actualisation they must be in a state of &%n$"*en&e.
3i&hael A"$,le sa,s the"e a"e %*" 'a8%" a&t%"s whi&h inl*en&e its (e7el%!'ent9
The ways in which others (particularly significant others" react to us.
(ow we think we compare to others
:ur social roles
The e#tent to which we identify with other people