Download Self Concept - 2.91mb

This is what we believe WE are
like as a person
and
what we believe that OTHER
people think about us.
Show how these factors affect –
Using a character
from a TV family,
produce a lifeline
and predict physical
changes, changes in
family
circumstances,
economic changes
and environmental
changes which could
occur over the next
15 years.
Self esteem
Physical & mental health
Employment prospects
Level of education
Make sure you cover positive and
negative factors
Don’t forget to cover –
Physical factors
Social & emotional factors
Economic factors
Environmental factors
Objectives
20,8,9,19 - 9,19 - 23,8,1,20 - 23,5 2,5,12,9,5,22,5 - 23,5- 1,18,5 - 12,9,11,5
- 1,19 - 1 - 16,5,18,19,15,14
and
23,8,1,20, -23,5- 2,512,9,5,22,5- 20,8,1,2015,20,8,5,18 - 16,5,15,16,12,5 20,8,9,14,11 -1,2,15,21,20- 21,19
We are going to learn how ‘Self
Concept’ contributes to our
growth and development.
•This is what we believe WE are
like as a person and what we
believe that OTHER people think
about us.
Self
Concept
We all have a picture of ourselves. –
who we are, what we are like inside.
This is the image of ourselves that we
like others to see.
This is called our self-concept.
It is based on two things:
What we believe we are like as a
person
What we believe that other people
think about us.
Self concept
involves:
How clever we are
How physically
attractive we are
How we compare with other
people we know
How popular we are
with other people
Looking at the
statements shown ,
comment on how
you see yourself.
Be honest!
How fit and strong
we are
How good we are
at various work or
sporting activities
How likely we are to be
successful at coping with
problems
What is self concept?
 Self concept means understanding ourselves. To
understand ourselves we must first of all have
developed self-awareness, but how do we do this?
 To develop self-awareness we need to build up a
picture of ourselves, using:
 The knowledge we have about ourselves
 The feedback we receive from other people
 Self-concept is part of our emotional and
social development.
The view we have of ourselves changes as a result of:
the experiences we have
life events
the life stage we are in.
This can affect how we see ourselves.
And whether we have high or low self-concept?
Positive and Negative Self-concept
Positive self-concept
Negative self-concept
You are motivated to do something
because you have often been successful
You lack motivation because, when you
have tried new things before, you often
did not do very well
You are confident in social situations
because you usually get on well with
people
You lack confidence, especially when
meeting new people, new people make
you feel anxious as you fear you will have
nothing to say
You are generally happy with life
You are unhappy a lot of the time
You have enough self-confidence to cope
with new challenges and to view them
positively
You often find life difficult and do not
enjoy new challenges, as you are afraid of
failure
Age makes a big difference to the way children
describe themselves and to the way adults think
about their lives.
Self concept is limited to a few descriptions, for example,
boy or girl, size, some skills
Self-concept can be described in a range of ‘factual
categories’, such as hair colour, name, details or address,
etc.
Self-concept starts to be explained in terms of chosen
beliefs, likes, dislikes, relationships with others
Many adults will be able to explain the quality of their lives
and their personality in greater depth and detail than when
they were adolescents
Some older adults may have more self-knowledge than
during early adult life. Some people may show ‘wisdom’ in
the way they explain their self-concept
Self concept at different ages
Infanc y and c hildhood
 Newborns have no concept of itself as a person.
 As children get older they meet a wider range of
people and this starts to influence the picture
they are forming of themselves.
 Children do not just do the things
they are taught or imitate, they think
about what is happening and decide
what their own values are. This called
internalising or examining within themselves.
Adolescence
 Their sense of self is very
strong. Adolescence want
more independence. They
want to make their own
decisions. They may not
feel very secure about
themselves but they have
an internal picture of
themselves and they want
to project so that others
can see them. A good
awareness helps them to;
make decisions, form social
and sexual relationships,
develop confidence in work
roles or in a chosen college
course.
parents
teachers
friends
relatives
people at work
media
neighbours
Adulthood
Adults are recognised by society as being
fully independent and responsible for their
actions. We are surrounded by images of
young, attractive people in advertisements,
media, newspapers.
The image adults have of themselves is
influenced by life events that have been
experienced. Some can be positive and
some can be negative.
Events that can be an influence include:
oMarriage
oStarting a family
oExperiencing divorce
From the age of 50 adults may experience
discrimination in the workplace and this
can have a negative effect on someone’s
self concept. They may feel hurt, not
valued, feel rejected, or become resentful
and angry
Older Adults
 In late adulthood some people feel they are not valued,
 particularly as they have lost their work role. They may have become withdrawn
and depressed. They may feel they have nothing to contribute.
Ian is 63. He has worked as a salesman in a furniture store for 30 years. Ian loves
his work. He lives on his own so he enjoys meeting the customers and chatting
to his colleagues. This is his main social life.
He is called in to see the manager when he arrives at work one day. The manager
tells Ian that the firm would like him to take early retirement. This is because
they are going to introduce a number of changes and fell that Ian would
benefit financially if he were to leave at the end of the month.
The manager makes it clear that he expects Ian to accept the package being
offered.
1.
2.
How will Ian’s social development be affected by taking early retirement?
How do you think Ian’s self-concept might be affected by taking early
retirement?
Appearance
• Somewhere between 10 and 12 years of age,
children start to analyse the ways in which they
are like or not like others. All of the following
influence how we think of ourselves and others:
• Shape of our body
• Hair
Many people think there is an
• Height
‘ideal’ look that they should
• Weight
resemble. If we think we look
good then we have a positive self• Eyes
image. If we think we do not look
good we may have a negative self• Skin colour
image. A negative self-image may
• Facial features
contribute to a low self-concept.
Clothes, hairstyle, make up and body shape are seen differently by different people.
No one look s attractive to everyone.
What you see as attractive may be so because of your own age, culture and lifestyle.
The important issue is to feel positive about the way you look.
We can easily develop a negative self image if we do not understand the way other
cultures or personal beliefs influence other people’s opinions of our appearance.
A poor self-image may cause us to lack confidence or to feel depressed about our
relationships with other people.
Gender
• Gender is not the same as sex.
Someone's sex is determined by
their genes. Gender is about the
way society expects individuals to
behave. Gender affects selfconcept because individuals have
to learn how other people expect
someone of their sex to behave.
This is called gender role.
Women tend to choose different
types of jobs. They are more
likely to interrupt their career to
look after children. They appear
still to put the needs of family
before their career so that their
progress in the workplace is held
back.
Culture
Different people have different
customs and ways of thinking.
Your family or the community
where you grew up may have
different beliefs and expectations
from other families and
communities. These differences
influence the way we think. We
call this range of influences
‘cultural influences’ . This is
called ‘norms’ by sociologists.
Culture is shared beliefs, customs
and values. It includes things such
as language, religion and other
faiths, diet, sport and music. It
also includes ideas about things
like personal modesty, morality
and gender roles. Culture binds
society together. It gives people a
shared identity and a sense of
belonging. This is why it is
important for someone’s selfconcept.
Emotional Maturity
•
A person’s understanding of his or her own self-concept is
dependent on his or her own emotional and intellectual maturity.
A person needs complex language to describe his/her self-concept
accurately so language development must come first. For this
reason alone small children alone cannot describe their selfconcept.
At the age of 2 a child will be able to say if they are a boy or a girl
and they may know their age. But they will not be able to describe
themselves.
By 10 years a child can describe their appearance, his/her likes and
dislikes and aspects of his/her life i.e. home & school. But they will
not be emotionally mature enough to compare themselves with
another person.
By late adolescence people are emotionally mare enough to draw
comparisons with their peer group. The peer group is particularly
important at this age. They help them form a view of their selfconcept, their environment, personal needs and abstract ideas.
They will have clear opinions on many issues.
By the time a person is an adult they will have enough emotional
maturity to have personal insight. They will also have the
necessary language to describe his/her self-concept in detail.
•
You are now old enough and
mature enough to be able to
describe your self-concept.
Try to describe yourself
beginning with your physical
appearance. Then try to
describe your personality,
including what you see to be
your strengths and
weaknesses.
Now swap your description
with your partner and discuss
whether they think you have
described yourself accurately.
You may find a difference
between your view and theirs.
The expectations of teachers influence
your chances of future success or failure.
Students who are expected to do well
often perform better than those who are
expected to fail. This is called a selffulfilling prophecy.
Education
Our ideas are strongly
influenced by our
experiences at school.
Young people spend more
than half their time they
are awake at school, doing
homework or meeting
friends from school. Later
experiences at college or
university can also confirm
our change what we think
about ourselves.
Lasting friendships
made at school
boosts self-esteem
because it shows
that people
continue to wan to
be your friend
You mix with other
people and
compare yourself
to them
Education can
influence our selfconcept
You learn theories and
ideas that help you to
understand your life
and that of others
Success or failure at
school has an affect
on your self-esteem
Relationships with Others
•An important part of a person’s
self-concept is what they believe
others think about them.
Communication is an important
part of all relationships. Good
communication skills can help us
to form positive relationships. It
is in relationships that people
find out what others think about
them. If a person has a trusting
and honest relationship with
another person, such as a friend,
they may learn from them that
others have a higher opinion of
them than they thought. This
will improve their self esteem.
•
If, on the other
hand, a person
has poor
relationships,
particularly
within their
family, they may
lack confidence
and probably
feel that they are
not loved or
valued. This
could result in
them being
unable to form
lasting
relationships in
adolescence and
adulthood.
Sexual Orientation
Sexual orientation refers to our sexual behaviour
and choice of partner.
A person’s sexual orientation is certain to form
part of his or her self-concept. It will be
particularly significant to those who are
homosexual. This is because to admit to being
homosexual can still be a very traumatic thing to
do. A young person who is homosexual may
encounter the following problems:
oParents may express sadness or disappointment
oAcquaintances may express homophobic
attitudes
oThey may suffer prejudice at work or school
oSome people believe that homosexuals should
not be allowed to work with children e.g. teachers
or social workers
oPensions and housing laws do not allow the
same privileges as for heterosexual couples
oThere is considerable opposition to homosexual
couples being allowed to foster or adopt children.
Heterosexual –
sexually
attracted to the
opposite sex
Homosexual –
sexually
attracted to the
same sex
Bisexual –
sexually
attracted to
both sexes
L i f e E x p e r i e n c e s - these are the
everyday things that happen to us. A single life
experience is not likely to affect our self-concept,
but life events considered all together can.
Infants & Children
Infants life experiences are very limited. Carers
are responsible for the life experiences of a
baby. This will affect their self-concept.
Children begin to make relationships with other
people and their life experiences widen. Their
self-concept is affected by other relationships
with teachers, friends, etc.
Adults
Adults life experiences are wider still as they become
completely independent. They become workers
and set up home themselves. If their
experiences are satisfying and they have a
satisfactory relationship with their partner then
these are positive factors contributing to their
self-concept.
Sometimes these experiences are not positive. They
may experience bullying in the workplace or
within a relationship. They may experience
discrimination in their lives, because of their sex,
sexuality, race or disability. All of these can
negatively affect their self-concept
Adolescents
Adolescents become increasingly independent
and their experiences widen. Most teenagers
go through a period of rebellion. Usually
parents can put up with this, and the rows and
arguments pass. They are left with a good
relationship and in turn have a positive selfconcept.
If adolescents have a bad relationship with
their parents, they are more likely to get in to
crime, drugs, or alcohol abuse. They may
become promiscuous. This can lead to
unwanted pregnancy and it can lead to the
chances of sexually transmitted diseases. All
these limit their opportunities and have a
negative effect on their self-concept.
Older Adults
Many older adults have very
positive life experiences. They
have good relationships with
their families, and enjoy busy,
active lives. However, older
people can feel devalued by
others, which has a negative
effect on their self-concept.
Factors influencing self concept
Make a list of everyone you have seen or spoken to in the last
two days.
Next to the name, write down the nature of their relationship
with you, e.g. friend, brother, parent, teacher
Draw a circle with you in the middle, and the words
‘Who am I’.
Add lines between you and the individuals, identifying the
relationship
Is anyone close/important to you missing from this list? If so add
them now.
What are the key features of these relationships, e.g. dependency,
mutual support, physical attraction, power, protection, sharing
Can you identify any barriers to good relationships
What does this tell you about yourself?
Individual
student
analysis
of
‘Who am I?’
and
‘Why am I like
this?’