Perceiving and Presenting Self
self-concept
The overall idea of who a person thinks he or she is. For example, our abilities, personality, and other distinguishing features
Our self-concept is also formed through our interactions with others and their reactions to us. (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.)
We also develop our self-concept through comparisons to other people. (we describe and evaluate ourselves in terms of how we compare to other people.)
superiority/inferiority: we evaluate characteristics like attractiveness, intelligence, athletic ability, and so on.
similarity/difference:Factors like age and personality may influence whether or not we want to fit in or stand out.
Self-Esteem
It refers to the judgments and evaluations we make about our self-concept. While self-concept is a broad description of the self, self-esteem is a more specifically an evaluation of the self.
How we judge ourselves affects our communication and our behaviors, but not every negative or positive judgment carries the same weight. This doesn’t mean that we can’t be evaluated on something we find important.
Self-esteem isn’t the only factor that contributes to our self-concept; perceptions about our competence also play a role in developing our sense of self.
Self-Efficacy
It refers to the judgments people make about their ability to perform a task within a specific context.
The verbal and nonverbal feedback we get from people affect our feelings of self-efficacy and our self-esteem.
For example. While I appreciate drawing as an art form, I don’t consider drawing ability to be a very big part of my self-concept. If someone critiqued my drawing ability, my self-esteem wouldn’t take a big hit. I do consider myself a good teacher, however, and I have spent and continue to spend considerable time and effort on improving my knowledge of teaching and my teaching skills. If someone critiqued my teaching knowledge and/or abilities, my self-esteem would definitely be hurt.
People who being given positive feedback can increase our self-efficacy, which may make us more likely to engage in a similar task in the future. Positive feedback tends to make people raise their expectations for themselves and negative feedback does the opposite, which ultimately affects behaviors and creates the cycle.
negative feedback can lead to decreased self-efficacy and a declining interest in engaging with the activity again
Self-discrepancy theory
states that people have beliefs about and expectations for their actual and potential selves that do not always match up with what they actually experience.
ideal self
ought self
actual self
It consists of the attributes that you or someone else believes you actually possess.
It consists of the attributes that you or someone else would like you to possess.
It consists of the attributes you or someone else believes you should possess.
These different selves can conflict with each other in various combinations. Discrepancies between the actual and ideal/ought selves can be motivating in some ways and prompt people to act for self-improvement. they also lead to emotional, behavioral, and communicative changes.
When we compare the actual self to the expectations of ourselves and others, we can see particular patterns of emotional and behavioral effects.
When our actual self doesn’t match up with what we think other people think we should obtain, we are not living up to the ought self that we think others have constructed for us, which can lead to feelings of agitation, feeling threatened, and fearing potential punishment.
when our actual self doesn’t match up with what we think we should obtain, we are not meeting what we see as our duties or obligations, which can lead to feelings of agitation including guilt, weakness, and a feeling that we have fallen short of our moral standard.
Actual vs. own ideals. We have an overall feeling that we are not obtaining our desires and hopes, which leads to feelings of disappointment, dissatisfaction, and frustration.
Actual vs. others’ ideals. We have an overall feeling that we are not obtaining significant others’ desires and hopes for us, which leads to feelings of shame and embarrassment.
Actual vs. others’ ought. We have an overall feeling that we are not meeting what others see as our duties and obligations, which leads to feelings of agitation including fear of potential punishment.
Actual vs. own ought. We have an overall feeling that we are not meeting our duties and obligations, which can lead to a feeling that we have fallen short of our own moral standards.
Influences on Self-Perception
Social and family influences, culture, and the media all play a role in shaping who we think we are and how we feel about ourselves.
Culture
Media
Social and Family Influences
Parents and peers shape our self-perceptions in positive and negative ways. Feedback that we get from significant others, which includes close family, can lead to positive views of self.
Motivation is the underlying force that drives us to do things.
Intrinsic motivation is more substantial and long-lasting than extrinsic motivation and can lead to the development of a work ethic and sense of pride in one’s abilities.
self-enhancement bias which means we tend to emphasize our desirable qualities relative to other people.
“Economic Inequality Is Linked to Biased Self-Perception,”
A sense of being marginalized from both ethnic groups and interfere in the development of positive self-esteem and a stable self-concept.
The vast majority of media images include idealized representations of attractiveness
Aside from overall attractiveness, the media also offers narrow representations of acceptable body weight.
Self-Presentation
the process of strategically concealing or revealing personal information in order to influence others’ perceptions.
Consciously and competently engaging in self-presentation can have benefits because we can provide others with a more positive and accurate picture of who we are. P
Self-serving self-presentation
Prosocial self-presentation
Prosocial self-presentation entails behaviors that present a person as a role model and make a person more likable and attractive.
Self-serving self-presentation entails behaviors that present a person as highly skilled, willing to challenge others, and someone not to be messed with.
Personal Connections :
When I was elementary school, I got my mother's positive praise, I would feel very happy, and studied harder next time. This is kind of social and family influence on self-perception. For another example, I attended an English speech competition when I was eleven, I got the first place. And after I got this honor, my classmates praised at me, teachers felt proud of me. By that time, I got confidence of my English speech, and I had a self-concept that I was a good English speaker. Also, it increased my self-efficacy, which made me more likely to engage in a similar competition in the future.