Self

• Self-concept


  The view you have of yourself, a non-judgmental description of yourself that can change over time but is relatively stable. It can refer to physical attributes, social roles, personal traits, and existential views.
• Self-concept is an enduring sense of who we are
• Self-esteem


  An evaluation or judgment of how much we like, accept, or approve of ourselves. It conveys how we feel about the things that make up our self-concept.
• Self-concept (according to Carl Rogers)


  • Self-image (personal view of who we are), Ideal self (who we wish we really were), Self-esteem (how much value we place on ourselves)
• Congruence (according to Carl Rogers)


  The overlap between our self-image and our ideal self. The greater the congruence, the greater our sense of self-esteem.
• Low self-esteem can negatively affect your health, personal relationships, and work relationships
• Self-concept


  The overall idea of who a person thinks he or she is
• Self-concept


  • Influenced by context - we think differently about ourselves depending on the situation
  • Formed through interactions with others and their reactions to us (looking glass self)
  • Developed through comparisons to other people (social comparison theory)
• Looking glass self


  We see ourselves reflected in other people's reactions to us and then form our self-concept based on how we believe other people see us
• Social comparison theory


  We describe and evaluate ourselves in terms of how we compare to other people, based on superiority/inferiority and similarity/difference
• Social comparison can have positive and negative consequences for self-concept
• The education system promotes social comparison through grades and rewards
• Negative social comparison can lead to negative thoughts and behaviors as we try to maintain internal consistency
• The education system promotes social comparison through grades and rewards such as honor rolls and dean's lists
• Reporting aggregate grades allows students to see where they fell in the distribution, which can be used as motivation
• A student who got a D on an exam when most of the class performed better

  May think "If they can do it, I can do it"
• Social comparison that isn't reasoned


  Can have negative effects and result in negative thoughts like "Look at how bad I did. Man, I'm stupid!"
• Negative thoughts can lead to negative behaviors, because we try to maintain internal consistency and act in ways that match our self-concept
• A student might be comforted to learn they aren't the only one who got a D and then not feel the need to improve
• Self-esteem


  The judgments and evaluations we make about our self-concept
• Self-concept


  A broad description of the self
• Self-esteem has general and specific elements - some people are more likely to evaluate themselves positively while others are more likely to evaluate themselves negatively
• Self-esteem varies across our life span and across contexts
• The negative evaluation of a trait that isn't very important for our self-concept will likely not result in a loss of self-esteem
• Feedback in the form of praise and constructive criticism, when taken in the spirit of self-improvement, can enhance our self-concept and self-esteem
• Self-efficacy


  The judgments people make about their ability to perform a task within a specific context
• Judgments about self-efficacy


  Influence self-esteem, which influences self-concept
• Positive feedback can increase self-efficacy, making someone more likely to engage in a similar task in the future
• Negative feedback can lead to decreased self-efficacy and a declining interest in engaging with the activity again
• People adjust their expectations about their abilities based on feedback they get from others
• Positive feedback tends to make people raise their expectations for themselves and negative feedback does the opposite, which ultimately affects behaviors and creates a cycle
• When feedback from others is different from how we view ourselves, additional cycles may develop that impact self-esteem and self-concept