Sense of Self - AP Psychology

We develop a concept of ourselves through a process of considering how others perceive us and responding to how we view ourselves. This concept can change over time, but is titled a self-concept. Although there is a social component involved in that we rely on others, in part, to show us who we are, it is not termed a social-concept. Further, it is not necessarily ideal or real. As such, self-concept is the correct response.

The concept of the ideal self is as straightforward as it seems: the version of yourself that you would most like to be is your ideal self. The concept of self-image captures how you view and conceive of yourself. Your social and private selves, respectively, describe how you act in front of others versus how you tend to behave when unobserved.

Humanistic psychology serves as a counterpoint to determinism, which views people's personality and behavior as largely determined by their past experiences. Humanistic psychology takes the emphasis off of what people cannot change and what they can. Instead of focusing on what is inhibiting the person, they focus on free will, the ability to exercise agency in one's life. A person may suffer severely from a trauma, but choose how to act in light of it.

Carl Rogers identifies the following as the five characteristics of a fully functioning person: openness to experience, existential living, trust feelings, creativity, and a fulfilled life. For the fully functioning person, personal insecurities are worked through as they appear. Stability is not as important as being a person who can handle inevitable problems and a functioning person is open to new things in life, as opposed to being closed off and judgmental.

Existential living is when one lives in the present and is not constantly looking at the past or towards the future. That is, they are focused how they are experiencing life in the here and now, as opposed to how they did or think they will experience it.

Current views in the psychology of self claim that the self plays an integral role in social identity, cognition, affect, and human motivation. That is, one's own perceptions and definitions of who they are will influence us in a variety of important ways. How we define ourselves can influence where we position ourselves socially, how we reason about the world and our environment, our feelings, and what we are motivated to do in life. If we perceive ourselves to be intelligent, for instance, we may identify with a more intelligent group of people, and this would be our social identity.

Social psychology emphasizes how people are affected by social interaction on both micro and macro scales. These interactions have a deep impact on how we as people feel about ourselves. What happens in our interactions with others will become apart of how we view ourselves. For instance, if a lot of people do not view you as being very smart and convey this in their interactions, you may tend to think of yourself as not being smart.

Although there are many advantages to having high self-esteem and is arguably the key to success and overall contentment in life, there are some potential pitfalls. One of which is a sort of "rose-tinted glasses" effect on your beliefs about your good qualities and capabilities. This is not narcissistic in nature, where narcissism is actually deeply rooted in low self-worth.

These beliefs stem in the belief that one is a capable human being worthy in many aspects, though sometimes on an "objective scale" these beliefs may not be true. For instance, a person who gets bad grades but high self-esteem may still believe they are smart and this leads them to work harder and get better grades.

Our interpersonal self is composed of the rules of behavior—norms—that guide us to act in certain ways in particular social situations. For instance, the norms for how we behave will guide us to act one way as a student in school and another as a friend to someone. These norms constantly change but no matter what people are expected to adapt in order to get along in society. People who defy norms are referred to as "deviant," though this is not at all a negative term. Some social norms can be harmful (e.g. racist attitudes) and deviant actions against them can drive social change.

Our interpersonal self is the self that is composed of norms for how we should behave in certain social scenarios. For instance, how we behave as a daughter is different for how we behave as a friend. These behaviors that we exercise in certain social situations are indications of our "interpersonal selves".

Our interpersonal self is composed of the rules of behavior, or "norms," that guide us to act in certain ways in particular social situations. For instance, the norms for how we behave will guide us to act one way as a student in school and another as a friend to someone. These norms constantly change but no matter what it is expected to adapt in order to get along in society. People who defy norms are referred to as "deviant," though this is not at all a negative term. Some social norms can be harmful, such as racist attitudes, and acted deviant towards them can drive social change.

The process of introspection is an essential process is the development of one's sense of self. Usually, introspection involves reasoning about why we do things, why we make certain decisions, and general self-questioning. Introspection is not always accurate, however, and we may have a more accurate view of ourselves from other people.

One of the surprising but very positive outcomes of having a strong sense of self is potentially becoming more intrinsically motivated. For instance, a person who identifies themselves as a "good artist" will devote hours practicing their craft to reinforce this sense they have of themselves. Not only is it a source of pleasure, but it also reinforces who that person thinks they are, IE their sense of self. If a person doesn't think of themselves as a good artist, they most likely will need some reward to feel motivated to do art. This would be extrinsic motivation.

Children gradually start to become of aware of themselves as an object in the world. Objects are experienced and evaluated (tall, short, tiny, huge) children become aware of how they, as objects in this world, are experienced and evaluated. These words are "categories", and as a child knows further what categories they belong to they are becoming more aware of their categorical self. These categories would be age, gender, height, and more. So the girl who says "I am a girl" has discovered this dimension of her categorical self.

Young people have a strong tendency to identify more with their personality traits than with their proscribed social roles. That is, they'll identify themselves with various adjectives--"I'm smart, funny, attractive, impulsive, excitable." As people age, they think more about their social roles and what they perform for others. Roles are much more active, in the sense that person does things to perform them. For instance, a father provides resources for his children.

According to Argyle's conception of self-actualization, people aspire to minimize the incongruity between who they are (their "actual self") and who they want to be (their "ideal self"). The more a person is different from their "ideal self," the self they aspire to be, the more incongruity one feels. This incongruity is usually experienced negatively. For instance, if a person who identifies as being a good student finds out they're failing their classes they will have the discrepancy between their ideal and actual self highlighted.

According to Mary K. Rothbart's three dimensions of temperament, children with lower levels of surgency/extraversion may develop internalizing problems. Internalizing problems are characterized by self-infliction and introversion, such as low self-esteem, social anxiety, and shyness. These problems can also give way to depression or other mood disorders. People with high surgency/extraversion will more likely be sensation-seeking, active, and happy.

According to Rothbart, the negative emotion that is associated with internalizing is fear. Fear will predict low levels of aggression but problems associated with self-esteem and shyness. The negative emotion that is associated with externalizing is anger. Anger is directed outwards as opposed to oneself.

Effortful control is the third dimension of Mary K. Rothbart's model of temperament. According to Rothbart, effortful control is the highest indicator of what will predict long-term happiness. It includes a low threshold for pleasure and ability to be in control of one's desires. People who have a high effortful control will often make committed decisions and work hard.

Alfred Adler was the one to coin the term inferiority complex. The beginnings of an inferiority complex begin very young, when a child naturally feels inferior to the competent adults that surround it. Those who have successfully met challenges before them will grow up with high self-esteem and self-worth. Those who have routinely failed or not gotten the recognition for the achievements they did make will often grow up with low self-esteem or an inferiority complex. This means they are prone to devalue themselves and may seek to overcompensate through asocial behavior or trying to obtain the recognition they did not receive as a child.