Lesson 1 Getting to Know One’s Self

• Factors influencing self-concept and self-esteem:

  • The way individuals compare themselves to others
  • The extent to which they identify with other people
  • The way others react to them
• Self-concept: perception of oneself as a multidimensional human being (physical, spiritual, emotional, social, and moral)
• Self-esteem: positive or negative self-evaluation of self-concept
• Self-worth: how much one values oneself
• Self-efficacy: belief and confidence in accomplishing tasks and controlling the environment
• Self-complexity: varying ways in which one can think about oneself, can be high or low according to researchers
• Self-awareness is the ability to extensively know oneself, including traits, characteristics, inner state, and thought processes
• Internal self-awareness: clearly seeing one's personality, values, desires, reactions, and impact on others
• External self-awareness: understanding how others perceive you
• Steps to become more self-aware:

  • Ask yourself why
  • Delay gratification
  • Take feedback constructively
  • Let go of biases
  • Reflect often
  • Use tools to know yourself
• Research by Elizabeth Seto from Texas A&M University: experiencing a sense of agency and feeling in control over one's actions and outcomes defines being who you are
• Self-awareness theory:

  According to psychologists Shelley Duval and Robert Wicklund, when you focus on yourself, you tend to compare what you currently observe to the standards you set for yourself.
• Self-discrepancy theory:

  When there is a mismatch between your ideal self and your actual self, this becomes a source of distress for you and is likely to affect your self-esteem. In the same way, if the ideal self is consistent with the actual self, you react positively. In effect, highly self-aware people feel more pressure to live up to their ideals than those who do not know themselves well enough.
• Self-concept clarity:

  This helps you and your desire to become self-aware by providing a more stable view of your positive traits. This creates higher self-esteem and less vulnerability to the stress caused by inconsistencies between the actual self and the ideal self.