Self-Concept essays

Self-Concept essays One of the most important concepts in psychology today is the concept of "self." The definition for self-concept is the idea or mental image you have of yourself and your strengths, weaknesses, status, etc. If you have ever been told to "just be yourself," that is referring to your very own self-concept. In general there are three different stages of "self." These three are self-image, ideal self, and the social self. Self-image is the idea, conception, or mental image you have of yourself. If you have a poor self-image, then most likely your self esteem will be poor. This is highly affected by the norms of society. Most people don't really want to stick out, so they try to blend in with the crowd by observation of others. Ideal self is our image of ourselves, as we blieve we should be. It can really be related to Freud's concept of super ego. It is everything you want to be and want to accomplish. Some people's vision of their ideal self is set to high and they fail. They then should decide to double their efforts or they should modify it to be more practical. The social self is the way we see ourselves in social situations. Different roles and situations have different affects on the way we act. If we are placed in a new experience some people may be nervous, while others may feel excited. Our sense of social self is changed over time by various factors such as upbringing, relationships, culture, etc. ...