Self Concept

1、chapter ii self concept & self-esteem i. self-conceptii. self-esteemiii. 3 ways to develop your self-conceptreflected appraisalsocial comparisonscultural expectations iv. self-fulfilling propheciesactivity: “who am i?”1.take out a sheet of paper and # it from 1-7.2.i want you to answer the question

2、“who am i?”3.you will list at least 7 i ams.4.try to include all the characteristics that describe you.1.your moods/feelings. (i am a happy person, depressed, sad)2.your appearance & physical condition. (i am pretty/ ugly, thin/fat)3.your social traits. (outgoing, shy)4. talents you possess or lack.

3、 (not a good baseball player, good tennis player)5.your intellectual capacity. (above avg., slow learner)6.your strong beliefs. (values)7.your social roles. (i am a parent, student, daughter)5.take about 3-5 minutes to do this. then tell them to prioritize the 1st 3 .6.ask students to share their fi

4、rst 3 on the list.7.after let them know they have just given a partial description of their self-concept.ask what is the self-concept?i.self-concept:a.def: self-concept- is a set of relatively stable perceptions that each of us holds about ourselves. the self-concept includes our conception about wh

5、at is unique about us and what makes and what makes us both similar/different from others.1.why would a communication class focus on the self-concept?a.the self-concept affects every aspect of our lives. b. who you are and how you view your self influences the way you communicate with others and inf

6、luences the way others will communicate with you.now there is much more to you then just those items we discussed at the beginning of the class.2.the point is that, the concept of self is perhaps our most fundamental/vital possession. knowing who we are is essential. without a self-concept it would

7、be impossible to relate to the world.b.how does the self-concept develop (are we born with it)?1.most researchers agree that we are not born with a self-concept. example:an infant lying in his/her crib has no notion of who they are. but at about 6-7 mo. the child begins to recognize the “self” as di

8、stinct form surroundings/others. they look at their hands and somehow the connection is made that that hand is mine. at this early stage the self-concept is mostly physical.2.the self-concept is extremely subjective being almost totally a product of interacting with others. so your self-concept is s

9、haped by those around you.ii. self-esteem a. def: our evaluations of our self-worth.b. it is shaped by how he/she felt about their qualities (tall). c.how does this effect the way we communicate (defend ones self).iii. our self-concept is developed in 3 ways:1. (def.) reflected appraisals: it metaph

10、orically describes the fact that we develop an image of ourselves from the way we think others view us. (h. s. sullivan)* the looking glass: (cooley) we put ourselves in the position of other people and then, in our minds eye, view ourselves as we imagine they see us.a.we are a reflection of how oth

11、ers have revealed to us, who we are. by the way they treat us, react to you, talk to you, look at us, etc.b.in other words we are likely to feel less lovable, valuable, & capable to the degree that others have communicated a negative message about ourselves. c.in contrast, we will probably feel good

12、 about ourselves to the extent that others have communicated positive messages about ourselves. your list may reflect some positive/negative messages that you have received throughout your life.these messages come from significant others such as your parents, siblings and teachers. and come early in

13、 our lives. these messages are delivered through both verbal/nonverbal messages. * nonverbally: do they look at us if they are glad to see us or hug us when they see us. ignore us, how they look at us, facial expressions.* verbally:positive: your so cute, i love you, what a good girl/boy you are. ne

14、gative: cant you do anything right, what is the matter with you now? your a bad boy/girl, leave me alone, go away, you drive me crazy.*it takes 7 positive messages to erase 1 negative(keep in mind when communicating with others/children)movie-the second process regarding how our self-concepts are sh

15、aped is called:2.social comparisons; that is, the conclusions (positive, negative, neutral) we reach when we compare ourselves to other people. evaluating ourselves in terms of how we compare with others.a.we decide if we are superior or inferior by comparing ourselves to others.-are we attractive o

16、r ugly-a success or failure-intelligent or dumbb.social comparison depends on whom we compare ourselves with-we may never look like cindy crawford, or play basketball like michael jordan.-many of us judge ourselves against unreasonable standards and suffer accordingly.*so it is important to recogniz

17、e that the reference groups against which we compare ourselves play an important role in shaping our self-concept.3.cultural expectations: our whole notion of the self is shaped by the culture in which we have been reared. examples:language/out-group and collectivistic vs. individualistic cultures (

18、pg. 51)iii.self-fulfilling propheciesa.def: occurs when a persons expectation of an outcome makes the outcome more likely to occur than would otherwise have been true. b.two types of self-fulfilling prophecies: self-created or other-imposed1.self created prophecies: are those predictions you make ab

19、out yourself. we often talk ourselves into success or failure. examples: a. going to a party. you expect to have a good/bad time and you do.b. failing a test and then you do.in each case there was a good chance that the event occurred because it was predicted to occur - you set yourself up for the end results.2.other-imposed prophecies: occurs when the expectations of one person govern anothers action. example:if a teacher tells john, “i can see that you have a terrific ability to remember details; i know that you will be an outstanding mem