It is common knowledge to assume that what one thinks of oneself is reflected in one's interactions with others, but what many do not understand is how the development of such thinking comes to be. In a study by Marloes P. A. Van Dijk, Susan Branje, Loes Keijsers, Skyler T. Hawk, William W. Hale III, and Wim Meeus titled, Self-Concept Clarity Across Adolescence: Longitudinal Associations With Open Communication With Parents and Internalizing Symptoms, researches test the idea that open communication can promote higher self-concept clarity and that problems with self-concept clarity development could enhance internalizing problems in adolescence and vice versa. In this paper, I will present their research by first discussing their experiment, …show more content…
Self-concept is a very broad phrase that refers to how a person generally perceives themselves. A person who thinks highly of themselves is likely to be more confident, and confidence is a key element in effective communication as it allows for clarity, boldness in speech, and overall likeability. In a study conducted by Dr. Ferullo of Boston University, the self-concept and personality traits of a group of students and its relation to their varying degrees of communication was investigated, and it was concluded that better communicators tend to reveal a significantly higher degree of self-satisfaction, self-acceptance, and emotional control than did the poorer communicators. These are findings that support the hypothesis that self-concept plays a crucial role in how we …show more content…
Many different factors contribute to shaping the self-concept. One of its most important factors is socialization with significant others. Our peers and others around us play a large role in shaping our self-concept because as discussed in Ronald B. Adler's, Looking In Looking Out, despite what we think of ourselves, we would not be able to evaluate our appearance without appraisals from others. Significant others are people whose opinions we especially value, and one of the most influential significant others in the lives of most people are parents, as many people themselves are a reflection of the people that raised them. Because the opinion of parents and how we are perceived by them is so important, it has the power to raise and lower our self esteem and how we feel accordingly. As our emotions play a big role in the development of our self-concept as previously discussed, if feelings of depression and anxiety during adolescence cannot be openly discussed with parents and are forced to be suppressed, self-concept can diminish and in turn, so will skills needed for effective
Biological influences combined with societal and social expectations contribute to how well people learn to adapt to their environments (2013). According to Erikson, there are eight stages of development. Within these states, there are different psychological, emotional and cognitive tasks. In order to adjust, individuals must learn to develop these tasks. During adolescence, Erikson states that each person needs to navigate through the development task of ‘‘Identity vs. Identity confusion ’’ (2013). He defined this task by stating that adolescent children must learn to develop a sense of self and establish independence. Prior to this stage of development, a person’s parents largely influence their identity. In this stage the adolescent children begin to explore and develop their identity outside of their parents’ influence (Hill, Bromell, Tyson, & Flint, 2007). Adolescents are generally more egocentric at this stage and have an increased sense of self-consciousness. They also have a strong desire to conform to peer influence and develop concerns regarding their appearance. They develop concern about their level of competence in relation to their peer group as well. As peer influence increases, during this stage, parental influence decreases (Ashford & LeCroy, 2013; Hill et. al, 2007). Conflict generally increases between parent and child at this stage of development (2007).
An individuals sense of self-importance or self-esteem can go a long distance in determining their perspective of themselves and their world around them. Erik Erikson, a developmental psychologist, highlights the importance of how the role of society and culture can affect an individual's ego. Erikson’s theory on the development of human beings discusses how a person’s level of confidence influences their ability to solve problems in society. Erikson believed that a persons potential in trusting others, or how a person views themselves personally is affected by how their confidence levels developed throughout certain stages of their life (McLeod, Saul). In order to expand on Erikson's ideas of the development of the human ego, he created a model that represents eight stages of development that occurs in a person's lifespan. In this model, the first five stages take place up to adulthood and the other three stages take place into and after adulthood. The progression and development of these stages is dependent on the previous stage (Davis & Clifton, 1995).
Self-concept is who you think you are and the relatively stable set of perceptions you hold of your self, not only the physical features but also including emotional states, talents, likes, values, roles.
Self-esteem is a powerful force within each one of us. It is a person’s overall assessment
Self-concept is an individual’s compilation of feelings, self-perception, and an idea of the basis of human personality. Self-esteem, usually identified in a positive approach, is the concept of one’s confidence in abilities and self worth, and the idea of self-respect. Self-evaluative standards evidently have a vital role in shaping future emotions and subsequent behaviors (Kuiper & McHale, 2009; 143.4: 359-76). According to Abraham Maslow’s Theory of Self-Actualization, self-esteem, notably confidence in oneself, respect for and by others, is achieved after physiological needs, safety needs, and love and belonging needs. Self-esteem, then, is combination of several characteristics, which result in a physiological
Myers, D. G., (2009). Self-Concept: Who Am I?. In M. Ryan(Ed.), Exploring social psychology (pp. 23-33). New York, NY: The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc.
After reviewing both studies it can be concluded that an individual’s self-esteem changes based on their relationship status, ethnicity, personality characteristics and a possible effect on gender. Individuals that have high self-esteem are usually individuals that are outgoing, energetic and easy going. Those individuals have a lot of friends and are sociable. Adolescence self –esteem can be based on how popular they are in school those adolescences that are popular will have a higher self-esteem opposed to the adolescence that are more reserved, and that do not have many friends. Individual’s self- esteem can change during their twenties and sometimes into their thirties and beyond.
Self concept, environment, and multicultural identity can impact a student 's academic performance. My educational experiences contributed to development of my social identities. My education affected my self concept in multiple aspects. My time from kindergarten to senior year as a student in the Downingtown Area School District affected my perception of myself and my beliefs about my ability to succeed.
... communication. Without understanding oneself, it is impossible to have clear communication with anyone else. Self-concept affects one's attitude, perception and behavior, and without having good self-concept it is impossible to communicate clearly. Three aspects discussed that have affect on self-concept are gender, motivational level and psychological types. These all play an essential role in the way one communicate. A large portion of one's self-concept comes from past experience, and the people that surround them. Therefore one's perceptions, behaviors, attitudes gain from experience and people may alter one's self-concept.
Self-esteem can be defined as how children feel about themselves. Children's levels of self-esteem are evident in their behavior and attitudes. If children feel good about themselves, these good feelings will be reflected in how they relate to friends, teachers, siblings, parents, and others. Self-esteem is something that affects individuals throughout life. Therefore, it is very important for parents to help their children develop healthy levels of self-esteem. There are many things parents can do to help their children learn that they are lovable, capable, and competent, beginning when their children are at a very young age. Unfortunately, it is also at a very young age that children can begin to develop low self-esteem. Parents must be very careful not to plant the seeds of low self-esteem in their children unknowingly. Children learn their first lessons about self-esteem from their parents.
10. Adolescents and their Families, Paths of Ego Development, Stuart T. Hauser, Sally I. Powers, Gil G. Noam 1991
Self-concept can be described as how a person views themselves. There is a variety of factors that impact a person’s self-concept but the biggest impact comes from self-esteem. Self-esteem is much like self-concept the only difference is the addition of emotions. For example say an individual likes a brand they are aware that they enjoy the brand so that’s self-concept. Self-esteem on the other hand, if nobody else in the workplace likes the brand programme individual likes that could have a negative effect on a person’s self-esteem and therefore effect a person’s self-concept. In the workplace self-concept is of the uttermost importance when estab...
There are two theories that describe how interactions shape our self-views. One defines perceptions of the judgments of others called Reflected Appraisal. It is the notion of receiving supportive and nonsupportive messages. It states that positive appreciation and a high level of self-value is gain when supportive messages are received. In contrast, receiving nonsupportive messages leads to feeling less valuable, lovable, and capable. Everyone that you and I interact with influences these self-evaluations. Either from your past or from present –all shapes how you view yourself, especially from our significant others. The strength of messages from significant others become stronger and eventually affect the health, when they are nonsupportive; depression, for instance, leads to less physical activities that are necessary for a healthy body. However, the foremost important influences are our parents. Supportive parents raise children with healthy self-concepts. While nonsupportive parents raise an unhappy child who view his/her self in negative ways.
She seemed much more hesitant to describe herself, however, she was more than willing to talk about her peer groups. Juliana’s responses constructed several theories that have been discussed in class, based on peer groups: family, school climate and achievement, and gender. When asked how she would describe herself she said, “I like to think of myself as a gentle and caring person”. This seemly short and simple response is actually quite intuitive to the way that adolescents think. During adolescence many cognitive transitions occur; one of them is an adolescent’s ability to think in multiple dimensions. Children often describe themselves based on physical characteristics while adolescents describe themselves by physical and personality traits. Therefore, although Juliana only used two characteristics to describe herself, they were both related to her personality, thus showing her cognitive developments as an adolescent. In accordance with studies of adolescents’ peer relations, Juliana defines her peer group as people she spends time with based on common interests. She considers the classmates in her honors classes to be her peer group. This group plays an important role in the adolescent’s identity development as it is considered a reference group, or a group against which an individual compares himself or herself. Juliana reflects on her own
A reflection of the self is an important tool to use to figure out whether or not your self-concept provides you with a positive self-esteem. First ask yourself, ‘who am I?’ and once you figure that out, determine if your perception of yourself is a positive one. If it’s not positive, you might want to consider making a change very quickly in order to live a fulfilling life. An even more important tool is to compare your own self-concept to the perception others have of you. I interviewed four people and asked them three questions. Those questions were as follows. “How do you perceive me physically? How do you perceive me socially? How do you perceive me psychologically?” Their overall physical perception of me is, I am beautiful,