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Self-Concept

• Refers to how someone thinks about, evaluates, or perceives themselves

• Awareness of oneself necessitates having a self-concept

• Definition by Baumeister (1999): An individual's beliefs about themself, including their attributes and who/what they are

• Carl Rogers (1959) believes that the self-concept has three components:

• Self-image: Your view of yourself

• Self-esteem or self-worth: How much you value yourself

• Ideal self: What you wish you were really like

Self-Image

• How you see yourself
• Might not reflect reality
• Influenced by parental influences, friends, the media, etc.

Self-Esteem

• Extent to which you value yourself, also known as self-worth
• Extent to which we like, accept, or approve of ourselves or how much we value ourselves
• Involves a degree of evaluation that can be positive or negative

High Self-Esteem

• Having a positive view of ourselves
• Leads to confidence in abilities, self-acceptance, not worrying about what others think, and optimism

Low Self-Esteem

• Having a negative view of ourselves
• Leads to lack of confidence, wanting to be/look like someone else, worrying about what others might think, and pessimism

Factors Influencing Self-Esteem (Argyle, 2008)

The Reaction of Others

• Developing a positive self-image occurs when people admire, flatter, seek out our company, listen attentively, and agree with us
• Developing a negative self-image occurs when people avoid, neglect, and tell us things about ourselves that we don't want to hear

Comparison with Others

• Comparing ourselves with a reference group that appears more successful leads to a negative self-image
• Comparing ourselves with a reference group that is less successful leads to a positive self-image

Social Roles

• Prestige can come from some social roles (doctor, airline pilot, TV presenter, premiership footballer) which promotes self-esteem
• Stigma can come from other roles (prisoner, mental hospital patient, refuse collector, unemployed person)

Identification

• Roles become part of our personality
• We identify with positions, roles, and groups

Ideal Self

• What you'd like to be
• A mismatch between self-image and ideal self affects how much you value yourself
• An intimate relationship exists between self-image, ego-ideal, and self-esteem

Congruence

• Occurs when self-image is similar to the ideal self
• Results in more overlap and the person can self-actualize

Incongruence

• Occurs when the self-image is different from the ideal self
• Results in only a little overlap and difficult self-actualization

Self-Awareness

• The ability to accurately recognize one's own emotions, thoughts, and values and understanding their impact on behavior
• Encompasses the ability to assess strengths and limitations, with a well-grounded sense of confidence, optimism, and a growth mindset

History of the Big Five Personality Theory

• Trait theories have attempted to pinpoint the number of personality traits
• Gordon Allport listed 4,000 personality traits
• Raymond Cattell pinpointed 16 personality factors
• Hans Eysenck offered a three-factor theory.

The Big 5 Personality Traits

• Emerged because Cattell's theory was too complicated and Eysenck's was too limited in scope
• Used to describe the broad traits that serve as building blocks of personality

Openness

• Emphasizes imagination and insight
• High openness: Tend to have a broad range of interests, are curious, and are eager to learn
• Low openness: Tend to be more traditional and may struggle with abstract thinking

Conscientiousness

• Defined by high levels of thoughtfulness, good impulse control, and goal-directed behaviors
• High conscientiousness: Tend to be more organized and mindful of details, plan, consider how their behavior affects others, and are mindful of deadlines
• Low conscientiousness: Less structured and less organized, may procrastinate, and sometimes miss deadlines

Extraversion

• Characterized by excitability, sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and high emotional expressiveness
• High extraversion: Tend to gain energy in social situations and are outgoing
• Low extraversion/Introverted: Tend to be more reserved, have less energy in social settings, and require solitude to "recharge"

Agreeableness

• Includes trust, altruism, kindness, affection, and other prosocial behaviors
• High agreeableness: Tend to be more cooperative
• Low agreeableness: Tend to be more competitive and sometimes even manipulative

Neuroticism

• Characterized by sadness, moodiness, and emotional instability
• High neuroticism: Tend to experience mood swings, anxiety, irritability, and sadness
• Low neuroticism: Tend to be more stable and emotionally resilient

Wellness Dimensions

• True wellness encompasses various dimensions of our lives

Physical

• Ability to maintain a healthy life that allows us to get through our daily activities without undue fatigue or physical stress
• Achieved by adopting healthy habits (routine check-ups, balanced diet, exercise, etc.) and avoiding destructive ones (tobacco, drugs, alcohol, etc.)

Emotional

• Ability to understand ourselves with greater self-awareness and better cope with life's challenges
• Achieved by acknowledging and sharing feelings in a productive manner

Social

• Ability to relate meaningfully to and connect deeply with others
• Achieved by establishing and maintaining positive relationships

Intellectual

• Ability to open our minds to new ideas and experiences
• Achieved by the desire to learn new concepts, improve skills, and seek challenges in pursuing lifelong learning

Spiritual

• Ability to establish peace and harmony in our lives
• Achieved by developing greater congruency between our values and actions

Adolescent Transition Period

• A transition from child to adult

• Involves rapid physiological and psychological changes demanding new social rules Adolescence is a stage of stress, strain, and storm that beings ambiguities in life

• Is both biological and social in nature

• Marked by:

• Biological changes (girls and boys)

• Emergence of secondary sexual characteristics

• Social changes

• Adolescents in Western societies behave differently than in Eastern societies due to varying social norms, expectations, and family structure

Gender Roles

• Relate to a given society's beliefs about traits and behaviors of males and females
• Refer to the expectations concerning how males and females should perform and behave

Gender Identity

• Children's recognition that they belong to one sex or the other
• Established early in life by the age of three or four

Cognitive Triangle

• Visually represents the interconnectedness of thoughts, emotions, and behavior
• Illustrates how thoughts influence emotions, leading to actions (behaviors) that, in turn, affect thoughts, creating a continuous cycle that persists unless there is an intervention

The CBT Perspective

• Has three components that make up our emotional experience:
• Thoughts: The ways that we make sense of situations or the running commentary we hear in our minds
• Feelings: The physiological changes due to emotion, or the hard-wired physical manifestation of emotion
• Behaviors: The things we do or don't do

Teen Brain

• Adolescence is an important time for brain development
• The teen years are all about fine-tuning how the brain works

Brain Development

• Brain stops growing in size by early adolescence
• Finishes developing and maturing in the mid-to-late 20s
• Prefrontal cortex (behind the forehead) is one of the last parts of the brain to mature and is the brains planning, prioritizing, and decision making center
• Is related to social experiences during adolescence
• Alters areas of he areas of the brain responsible for social processes which can lead teens to focus more on peer relationships and social experiences

Teen Brain Actions

• The teen brain is ready to learn and adapt
• The teen brain has an amazing ability to adapt and respond to new experiences and situations
• Taking challenging classes, exercising, and engaging in creative activities like art or music can strengthen brain circuits and help the brain mature
• Teen brains may respond differently to stress: Teens may respond to stress differently than adults which could increase teens chances of developing stress-related mental illnesses
• Most teens do not get enough sleep: Melatonin levels stay high later at night and drop later in the morning
• Mental illnesses may begin to appear during adolescence.

Teen Brains

• Resilient despite the stresses and challenges that come with adolescence
• Changes in the brain help support resilience and mental health over the long term

Moral Stages of Development

• A stage theory which means everyone goes through the stages sequentially without skipping any stage and movement is not natural
• Movement occurs when a person notices inadequacies in their present way of coping with a given moral dilemma

Moral Development

• Gradual development of an individual's concept of right or wrong, consciousness, religious values, social attitudes, and certain behaviors

Moral Dilemma

• A conflict in which you have to choose between two or more actions and have moral reasons for choosing each action

Preconventional Morality (Birth - 9 years)

• Moral code is shaped by the standards of adults and the consequences of following/breaking the rules

Stage 1: Obedience and Punishment Orientation

• The child/individual is good enough to avoid being being punished
• If a person is punished they must have done wrong

Stage 2: Individualism and exchange

• Children recognize there is not one right view handed down by authorities
• Different individuals have different viewpoints.

Conventional Morality (Adolescents and Adults)

• Begin to internalize the moral standards of valued adult role models
• Authority is internalized but not questioned
• Reasoning is based on the group's norms to which the person belongs

Stage 3: Good Interpersonal Relationships

• The child/individual is good to be seen as being a good person by others
• Answers relate to the approval of others

Stage 4: Maintaining the Social Order

• The child/individual becomes aware of the wider rules of society and judgements concern obeying the rules in order to uphold the law/ avoid guilt

Post-Conventional Morality

• Individual judgement is based on self-chosen principles
• Moral reasoning is based on individual rights and justice

Stage 5: Social Contract and Individual Rights

• The child/individual becomes aware that rules/laws exist for the good of the greatest number
• There are times they will work against particular individuals interests

Stage 6: Universal Principles

• People at this stage have developed their own set of moral guidelines which may/may not fit the law
• The principles apply to everyone

Havighurst's Developmental Tasks Theory

• Development is continuous through a persons entire life occurring in stages
• A person moves one stage to the next with successful performance tasks
• People typically encounter these tasks in the culture where that person belongs
• Pride and satisfaction is felt when people accomplish developmental tasks at a stage and also learn the approval of their community
• Success provides a sound foundation that allows accomplishments tasks at later stages