Perspectives on People's Personal Interpretations of Themselves

1152 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Strengths and weaknesses of cognitive development

The way that people perceive themselves and the environment around them is a key factor regarding their development and has incredible control over their personality and behaviors. Every individual develops different ways of interpreting their environment and social-cognitive theory calls these interpretations schemas, which can help understand the environment and form self-perceptions. Once self-perceptions are formed self-verification theory states that people will work to keep their self-perceptions consistent and predictable. Self-perception is a key factor in personality because it can affect people’s beliefs about themselves, their ability to set proper goals, and having a healthy evaluative standard. A study was done that shows how the brain of depressed individuals functions differently wen thinking about oneself than that of non-depressed individuals. Research has proven that individuals who have very negative self-schemas, often individuals who are depressed, will actively seek information that confirms their negative self-perception. Although it is unhealthy to receive negative feedback, it can also be unhealthy to receive information that contradicts someone’s current self-perception. The information that individuals interpret about themselves is what forms self-perception and that perception will influence both their personality and behaviors. Self-referent beliefs are central to personality functioning. The human mind contains schemas, which are knowledge structures that are used to make sense of the world around us (Cervone, 2013). According to self-verification, people are motivated to be known and understood according to their firm and consistent self-perception. “Once we have developed ways of thinking about ours... ... middle of paper ... ...es in an attempt to change their negative self-perception and in turn allowing them to begin seeking positive feedback and living a happier life. The observations that people make about the environment and society around them have an enormous impact on the way humans both think and behave. Works Cited Cassidy, J. C. (2003). Feedback seeking in children and adolescents: Associations with self-perceptions, attachment representations, and depression. Child Development, 72(2), 612-628. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3696334 Cervone, D. (2013). Personality theory and research. (12 ed., Vol. 1, pp. 427-467). New Aster: Wiley. DOI: Class Book Kinderman, P. K. (2013, November 6). Personal reflection triggers increased brain activity during depressive episodes. Science Daily. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131106101620.htm

Show More
Related

  • Internal Conflicts In Dick Gregory's 'Shame' By Dick Gregory

    1247 Words  | 3 Pages

    What does sense of self-mean? It means what that person sees when they look in a mirror. Whether it is a decent, awful or an indifferent image. Everyone’s self-image is different, and that’s acceptable; normal even. No one person is exactly the same. The authors explain how a sense of self is like internal conflicts and the decision to lie in order to gain approval.

    Read More

  • The Two General Categories of Mood Disorders

    589 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...e says that people who are depressed have a negative view of themselves, their experiences, and their future. People have negative self-schemas from negative experiences in early childhood.

    Read More

  • The Self in Social Psychology and Implications for Counseling Practice

    3160 Words  | 7 Pages

    Various concepts of the self are present in many social psychological topics. Research studies related to self-identity, self-concept, self-esteem and other core social constructs regarding self are abundant, and there is plenty of evidence suggesting the self can be described and compared to a plethora of social motives that are researched and reviewed throughout social psychology. However, for counseling psychologists, how do we make sense and make use of the phenomena learned through social psychological research to help our work in the practice of counseling? It is important to take what the field of psychology has learned from science and apply it to psychological practice in order to make full use of the quality of information that has been gathered over the years. The following is a discussion of the self in social psychology, and the implications of this core psychological construct on the practice of counseling.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of How You See Yourself By Nicholas Mirzoeff

    1054 Words  | 3 Pages

    The essay How You See Yourself by Nicholas Mirzoeff discusses the evolution of art. The author discusses the use of art to represent changing identities over the years including cultural practices and societal expectations. The selfie, according to Nicholas Mirzoeff’s essay, is the equivalent of a self-portrait in the previous centuries preceding the technological development required for the present day selfie. The essay explores the different periods and the significance of art, particularly self-portraits, the selfies of the time, and their development over time. The author focuses on different themes including heroism, gender definition, and the focus of an image. Mirzoeff effectively provides examples illustrating and reinforcing the themes he highlights in his essay.

    Read More

  • Personal Identity And Personality

    1019 Words  | 3 Pages

    In “A Dialogue on Personal Identity and Immortality” John Perry conveys conversations between a philosopher and her two friends a few nights before she dies. We then come to how the dying philosopher is trying to have everyone convince her that she will survive even after her body dies. In this John Perry claims that there are three ways of deliberating personal identity: bodily identity, psychological continuity and immaterial soul. The essay then describes the different types of identity and how they can use them to prove to the perishing philosopher that she can still remain alive. I will argue that the only way we can distinguish personal identity is through psychological continuity and how we can determine a person based on their memories and experiences. From this we can go into discussion about some terms that will be used throughout this paper.

    Read More

  • Cognitive Behavioral Therapy as a Cure For Depression

    1070 Words  | 3 Pages

    The classic model of depression, according to Beck (1979), centres on the ‘depressive cognitive triad’. These patterns of negative thoughts are about: First, the world, the past or current situation, for example, no one likes me. Second, oneself (self-criticism, guilt, blame), for example, I’m worthless. And third, the future (hopelessness, pessimisms), for example, I will never be successful.

    Read More

  • Critical Analysis on Edwidge Danticat’s A Wall of Fire Rising

    1223 Words  | 3 Pages

    Higgins, Tory. “Self-Discrepancy Theory: What Patterns of Self-Beliefs Cause People to Suffer?”(1989). Advances in Experimental Social psychology, Vol.22 (1989):93-136. Academic Press Inc.

    Read More

  • Discussion on the Determination of Self

    768 Words  | 2 Pages

    Man is a meat machine.’ He argues that as a puppet, we have no will of

    Read More

  • Social Cognitive Theory And Trait Theory

    1279 Words  | 3 Pages

    Personality can be defined as an individual’s characteristic pattern of thinking, feeling and acting. Many personality theorists have put forward claims as to where personality is derived from and how it develops throughout an individual’s life. The two main personality theories this essay will be focusing on is the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) (Bandura, 1986) and the Trait Theory – Five Factor Theory (FFT) (McCrae and Costa, 1995). The SCT allocates a central role to cognitive, observational learning and self-regulatory processes (Bandura, 1986). An individual’s personality develops through experiences with their sociocultural environment. Whereas the Trait Theory proposes that all individuals are predisposed with five traits (Extraversion, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness and Neuroticism) which determines our personality. This theory also puts forward that personality is stable and cannot change as it’s biologically determined.

    Read More

  • Self Concept Through Interpersonal Communication

    1272 Words  | 3 Pages

    In order to understand how one perceives situations and how they can determine the way one communicates; we first must understand the value of self-concept. Self is easily defined; it is one's beliefs, attitudes, feelings and values. It is who one is and what one stands for. Self-concept, is a relevantly stable set of perceptions and emotional states. It is the way one sees and understands oneself, and contributes to how one perceives oneself and perceives situations. One's self-concept may alter their perception, and either enhance or impede one's communication effectiveness. The way one sees oneself can influence the way they see their social surroundings. Only after one become aware of oneself can they be aware of their physical and social surroundings, which will allow one to perceive situations and people with a truer idea and create a more positive outcome.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Being My Own Person

    1051 Words  | 3 Pages

    There is a strange transitional period from being bottle fed by your parents or guardians, to being your own independent person and someone who makes their own decisions.The age in which this transformation occurs is different for every individual. When we are growing up, we don 't have a many freedoms as adults do. In turn, we also don 't have as many responsibilities as kids. Some freedoms we gain as we grow up. Growing up you gain liberties and responsibilities, but these opportunities, steps toward brightening your future, largely overweigh the obligations that a young adult incurs. We gain freedom by being able to make our own choices, like voting and controlling our own income and how much we chose to spend on things like necessities and luxuries.

    Read More

  • Profile of the Self

    629 Words  | 2 Pages

    “You are requested to close the eyes.” This urging that Sigmund Freud experienced in a dream helped to unlock repressed feelings, and gave him insight into his personality. Fortunately, there are now tests available to help us to understand ourselves. Our behavior can be determined and understood by analyzing different aspects of ourselves. The four main aspects are: Decision Making, Self-Concept, Interpersonal Relationships, and Affect. Decision Making is very important.

    Read More

  • Self-Concept

    1467 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Self-Concept is a complicated process of gaining self-awareness. It consists of mental images an individual has of oneself: physical appearance, health, accomplishments, skills, social talents, roles, intellectual traits, and emotional states and more –all make up our self-concept.

    Read More

  • Self Reflection and Personality Traits

    1187 Words  | 3 Pages

    Personality is the expression of a person’s traits according to ones feelings, mentality and behavior. It involves understanding individuals’ traits such as withdrawal and willpower and how various parts of an individual link together to form personality. Personality expresses itself from within an individual and is comparatively regular throughout in an individual’s life. Different people have different personalities dependent on factors such as environment and genetic composition. Our personality is dependent on the success or failure of our development in the eight stages of life. This is proposed by Erik Erikson. Success in the development stages lead to virtues while the failure leads to malignancies.

    Read More

  • Compare And Contrast The Two Sides Of The Self

    1306 Words  | 3 Pages

    Is the “self” affected by the outside world? Whitman seems to think so, but Descartes claims that we cannot trust the outside world because we are being deceived by an evil demon. Both philosopher’s obviously differ on what we can and cannot consider to be true. Descartes and Whitman had very different ideas of the self and what could affect the self. While Whitman believed that we could achieve knowledge of the self through the senses, Descartes argued that we should throw the senses to the side and only believe in what we could distinctly perceive and truly understand. However, if we mix both of these philosopher’s thoughts on the “self” we can really grow to understand and experience the world around us in a much meaningful way and therefore, allowing us to know the “self” and helping it grow.

    Read More

More about Perspectives on People's Personal Interpretations of Themselves

Open Document