Concept of Self

1. SELF CONCEPT

2. POINTS GOING TO DISCUSS
Introduction
Definition
Components of self concept
Factors affecting self concept

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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."

6. contd…
• Self-concept is a relatively enduring set of attitudes and
beliefs about both the physical self and the
psychological self. It is 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.

7. COMPONENETS OF SELF-CONCEPT
1. Self-esteem 2. Body Image
4. Role
performance
3. Personal
Identity
Self-concept

8. SELF ESTEEM

9. 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.

10. 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)

11. 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.

12. Contd…..
Men’s Self- Esteem Women’s Self-Esteem
more likely to base their self-
esteem on their personal
achievements in life.
more likely to base their self-
esteem on the adequacy of their
social support system.
Often greatly affected by having a
sense of well-being, a positive
outlook on life, and an ability to
perform activities of daily living.
Often affected by whether they are
content with their lives and have a
feeling that they are needed.

13. PERSONAL IDENTITY

14. 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.

15. ROLE PERFOMANCE

16. 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.

17. BODY IMAGE

18. 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.

19. Factors Affecting Self-Concept
Self
Concept
Factors
across the
life span
Physiological
Factors
Cultural
and life
style
Factors
Psychological
Factors

20. Factors Across the Life Span
• Infants to Preschoolers
• School-Age Children
• Adolescents
• Young Adults
• Middle Adults
• Older Adults

21. Physiological Factors
• Fatigue
• Trauma
• Chronic illness
• Surgery
• Disability
• Obesity

22. Psychological Factors
• Depression
• Stress
• Loss
• Abusive relationships

23. Cultural and Lifestyle Factors
• Culture
• Socioeconomic status
• Living conditions

24. THANK YOU