SELF CONCEPT, SELF AWARENESS AND APPRECIATION

The meaning of self – concept

Self - concept means what you know and understand about yourself. It is how an individual
thinks about and sees himself or herself.

Knowing and understanding yourself is important because it affects your self - confidence
and how you value yourself. Self – concept makes you aware of your personal characteristics
such as your personality or character, abilities, physical appearances, attitude, beliefs and
values.

Personal characteristics
Characteristics are the qualities or features that are unique or special to an individual. They
can identify and describe the kind of person the individual is. We all have positive and
negative characteristics. Knowing and understanding our personal characteristics is the first
step towards self - awareness and self - appreciation.

Some characteristics that you should know and understand about yourself are:

Characteristics Examples
Physical attributes
Personality or character
Abilities
Interests
· Male or female
· tall or shortness
· skin colour
· colour hair and eyes
· Do you get angry easily or not?
· Do you have a positive or negative attitude towards others
· Are you polite, rude, courteous or respectful?
· Are you friendly, shy, talkative, kind, humble or arrogant?
· What are you able and not able to do?
· What are you good at and not good at?
· What do you find it easy and what you find difficult?
· What are your likes and dislikes?
· What do you enjoy and not enjoy?

Positive characteristics
Positive characteristics are the good things about you. They are your strengths. They are
desirable features or qualities that make you like yourself and that people admire about you.
These are also called VIRTUES.

Positive characteristics include moral actions and behaviour and the admirable qualities of
your personality or character.

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 v Examples of positive characteristics of v Examples of moral actions
personality or character are and behaviour are
· Being friendly · Kindness
· Being organised · Generosity
· Showing self – respect · Honesty
· Cleanliness and neatness · Respecting others
· Standing up for oneself · Being considerate
· Making independent decisions · Being caring

The need to improve our positive characteristics

Some reasons for improving our positive characteristics are:

v Our positive characteristics are the foundation of good or moral behaviour. When we
improve our positive characteristics, we improve our behaviour and earn the respect
of others.

v Improving our positive characteristics leads to higher self –confidence and self –
esteem. We will believe in ourselves and our ability to achieve our goals in life. We
will feel good about ourselves.

v We can become good role models to others. For example, our peers can admire us
and copy our good behaviour.

v Our positive characteristicshelp us get along well with other people.

Negative characteristics
Negative characteristics are the undesirable qualities that you dislike about yourself and that
others may dislike about you. They are the bad things about you. They are your weaknesses.

Immoral actions and behaviour are negative characteristics. Negative characteristics are
sometimes about someone’s personality and character. Our negative characteristics are called
VICES.

Examples of negative characteristics are:

Immoral actions and behaviour are: Negative characteristics of personality and

· Dishonesty character are:
· Being selfish · Aggressiveness
· Being rude · Being unfriendly
· Bullying others · Having a negative attitude
· Being greedy · Laziness

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The need to overcome negative characteristics
Normally people are not proud of their negative characteristics. We need to overcome them
because it will:

v Help us to get along with other people. For example, most people do not like
aggressive people.

v Allow us to do our best. For example, a lazy or disorganised student cannot study
properly.

v Help us have a healthy self – concept. Self - doubt will be replaced by self -
confidence and self - belief.

v Help us behave in moral ways. For example, you will be less likely to break rules
and school rules.

Ways of overcoming negative characteristics

v Be true to yourself. Let your values guide your behaviour.

v Choose someone who has many positive characteristics and is a good role model. Try
to act and behave like your chosen role model.

v Learn and practice the skills that you need to overcome your negative characteristics,
for example, communication skills, anger management skills, decision making skills,
planning and organising skills, study skills and examination writing skills.

v Motivate yourself by talking and thinking positively. Take pride in your

achievements.

v Set yourself realistic goals and try hard to achieve them.

v Gather information from various sources about how you can overcome your negative
characteristics. eg parents, teachers, counsellors, self – help books, magazines
internet etc

v Not blaming others for your failures.

v Being able to accept constructive criticism

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Negative characteristic
Forgetfulness
Examples of ways of overcoming negative characteristics
· Make a list of things to do or remember and put it
where you can see it easily. Tick off each item once
you have done it.
· If you have a cellphone, you can use it to set a
reminder.
· Use a diary to record things you have to do.
· Ask someone to remind you of an activity to be done.

Poor personal hygiene · Brush your teeth in the morning and evening.
· Take a bath or shower soon after you wake up and
before you go to bed.
· Wash your hair regularly
· Wear clean clothes
Short temper · When you start getting angry, take a deep breath and
count to ten.
· Tell yourself you will not get angry and try to calm
down
· Think about why you are feeling angry
· Walk away from the situation or person that is making
you angry.
Giving in to negative peer · Know and understand your personal values.
pressure · Learn to make your own decisions
· Use the decision maki8ng step whenever you need to
make a decision.
· Stop and think before you say or do anything.

The difference between an individual and others

Every person is an individual. No two people are exactly the same. It is important for you to
know and understand how as an individual, you are different from other people. This is an
important part of self – awareness.

Some of the characteristics that can make us different from others are:

v Our beliefs and values, likes, dislikes

v Our self- concept and physical appearance

v Our abilities and interests

v Our ambitions and dreams for the future