What Is Self-Concept in Psychology? Free Essay Example

During the essay, I will be discussing the different psychological approaches to help try and get a better understanding of self-concept throughout this essay we will also be looking at cognitive psychology along with psychodynamic physiology.

The term Self-concept refers to an idea or mental image that one makes of them self for example beliefs such as ” I’m a kind person” or “I’m a hard worker” is our overall self-concept. self-concept is easier to mold or shape when we are younger and still trying to find out who we are this isn’t always a good thing as the wrong person can have a grave effect on our Self-concept that can lead to many psychological problems.

The dictionary defines self-concept as “an idea of the self-constructed from the beliefs one holds about oneself and the responses of others”.

The two main factors I will be concentrating on are the 5 factors that makeup self-concept, Factors affecting the development of self-concept.

One of the 5 main factors that make up self-concept is Self-image, this is the mental picture we make up of ourself this is the ideas we take into consideration when we are describing our selves and what we believe we look like.

it is also based on the relationships that have a major impact on your outlook on life and how you are emotionally affected.

• How do I look?
• How important am I to other people?
• I’m shy so I’m unable to talk out in class.

These are all questions we ask to gather a self-image and evaluate our self worth these types of questions decide whether you have a healthy self-image or an unhealthy self-image, your self-image is not based on reality it is based on the perception of yourself you have and how you believe society views you, it changes over time as your life experiences change it is important you have a positive and realistic self-image having an unrealistic self-image can cause a lot of emotional and physical trauma whether it is a positive or unrealistic self-image.

some times if you have a negative thought it can cause a positive change.

Another factor of this is self-esteem.

This is a sense of personal worth and respect that you have towards yourself, self-esteem can be an important part of success, too little self-esteem can cause people to fail into bad habits such as abusive and destructive relationships or it may leed to self-harm. If someone has too much self-esteem they can become narcissist this then causes people to be off-putting and may cause damage to personal relationships a narcissist it over confidant and believe they are better than everyone else and cause other peoples self-esteem to be lowered.

Ideal Self

According to Carl Rogers, your personality is made up of two things the real and the ideal self, the ideal self is an idealized version you create out of what you learn from life experiences and the norms of society and the people you idolize, for example, if one of your parents is a lawyer and they are highly respected in the community and then you feel like you have to get a high-end job with a good-paying job your ideal self would be someone who loves to study law and wants to go a mainstream university wear as your real self might hate your life and believe that you have failed.

Self Efficiency

Self-efficacy is usually defined as the belief in your capability to achieve your goals or attain a certain outcome. success can be affected by self-efficiency some psychologists place self-efficiency above talent and believe it is what helps make a person successful and achieve all they can there are different forms of self-efficiency, for example, painting. It can also help overcome certain phobias.