Self-Understanding: Components and Development

Self-Understanding: Components and Development

• Self-Concept: A person's view of themselves, encompassing appearance, personality, strengths, weaknesses, family background, and more. It can be unitary (focused on one aspect) or diverse (considering multiple factors). Self-concept isn't fixed; it evolves with experience and knowledge.

• Self-Esteem: A subjective measure of liking oneself. It's personal and varies despite similar objective conditions. Related to self-concept, but not causally linked.

• Self-Confidence: A positive evaluation of one's abilities. Confident individuals readily face challenges, while those lacking confidence hesitate and are more pessimistic.

• Developing a Positive Self-Concept: Self-observation, reflection, and interaction with others build a strong self-concept. Discovering interests, abilities, and potential through activities and relationships are key.

Evolution of Self-Concept

• Dynamic Nature: Self-concept isn't static. Even if observable characteristics remain similar, underlying views of oneself can change drastically with new knowledge and experiences. Factors like appearance, personality, and beliefs adapt to environmental influences.

• Example: Martin: Martin's evolving self-concept exemplifies this. His primary school self-concept was simple, focused on grades. Junior secondary brought diversity as he discovered talents and social anxieties. Senior secondary demonstrated successful integration of weaknesses, extracurricular activities, and social support, resulting in a robust and adaptable self-concept.

Self-Esteem and Its Dimensions

• Definition: Self-esteem is the degree of self-liking and self-appraisal. Subjective worth. Two people facing the same objective reality can have different self-esteem depending on their values.

• Example: A shared height of 180cm doesn't guarantee identical self-esteem. Different valuations of height (e.g., basketball potential) lead to different self-esteem levels.

• Five Dimensions of Self-Esteem: Security (trust), Selfhood (understanding one's value), Affiliation (belonging), Competence (ability), and Mission (direction and responsibility) impact a person's self-esteem.

Self-Confidence: Characteristics

• Definition: Self-confidence is a positive self-evaluation demonstrating belief in one's abilities and goal attainment.

• Impact on Behavior: Confident people readily face challenges, while those lacking confidence shy away.

• Attitudes Associated: Confident people demonstrate optimism and positivity, whereas individuals lacking self-confidence exhibit negativity and pessimism.