Self Concept

What is self concept? How you think about or evaluate yourself. It includes your feelings and thoughts about your strengths and weaknesses, your abilities and limitations.

Self- concept is influenced by your sense of identity. Two things have powerfull effects on your self concept:

(a) The opinion and judgements other people make of us

According to Charles Horton Cooley's concept of the looking- glass self, you would look at the image of yourself that others reveal to you through the way they treat you and react to you.

You would look espcially to those who are most significant in your life- to your significant others. For example, as a child, you would look to your parents and then to your teachers. If your significant others think highly of your, you will see the positive image of yourself reflected in their behaviours; if they think little of you, you will see a more negative image. These reflections that you see others help you define your self- concept.

(b) Social Comparisons

It is the perceptions of the ways in which you are similar to and different from other people. When you want to gain insight into who you are and how effective or competent you are, you probably look to your peers. For example, after an examination you probably want to know how you performed relative to the other students in your class.

My self concept

I think that I am quite clumsy and don't how to use my brain. This is because when my mother ask me to do something for her and I did wrongly or not according to her wish, then she will scold " Use your brain!". This also make me lack of confidence in doing things. This shows that because of my significant other think little of me, so I have the negative image of myself. In addition, I will also build my self concept by making comparision with my peers. When I was in secondary school, I will compare my result with my classmates. If most of my classmates get low marks than me, then i will have the concept that my result is good and vice versa.