Understanding the Self

Identity and the Self

• What is Identity?
– Your understanding of who you are, and how you stand
out from everyone else.
– Self-Image.
• What is Self?
– The self is you. It is the observer, the thinker, the judge
and the prime mover.
– Your physical and mental being.
– Over time, your concept of self changes as your
experience in life increases.
Activity: Defining the self through others–
Johari’s Window

Aggressive Careless Energetic Hard Religious

Ambitious Caring Efficient Imaginative Responsible

Anxious Clever Funny Modest Rebellious

Authoritative Confident Friendly Negative Sensitive

Bold Disciplined Giving Outgoing Sensible

Calm Demanding Happy Proud Serious

Carefree Dreamy Helpful Quiet Wise

 What is Johari’s Window?
• Johari is taken from the name of two
American Psychologists:
– Joseph Luft & Harrington Ingham
• Open Area- What you know about yourself
and what others know about you.
• Blind Area- What others know about you that
you don’t.
• Hidden Area- What you know about yourself
that others don’t.
• Unknown Area- What you don’t know about
yourself and what others don’t know as well.
• Take your paper and fold it so it has four quadrants like the window.

• Fill in the “Open” and “Hidden” quadrants with adjectives that describe you, both
known and unknown to others, respectively.

• Fold your paper so that the Blind Area is out while the other areas are hidden.

• Pass the paper around your group, asking members to put down at least one or two
words that can describe you.

• Fold the paper again so that the “Unknown” area is out while the other areas are
hidden

• Put down words that you didn’t use in the Unknown area and pass it to your group
members, asking them to do the same.
 Discussion Questions
• Are the impressions positive or negative?
• Do you agree or disagree with what was put
down in the blind area?
• How much of the Blind area intersected with
the Open area?
• How well do you know yourself and your
group mates after the exercise?
 Self-Concept and Self-Esteem
• Self-Concept
– an idea of the self constructed from the beliefs
one holds about oneself and the responses of
others.
• Self-Esteem
–  a person's overall sense of self-worth or personal
value
 The Self Concept
• Existential Self
– Your sense of being separate from the other
person and your environment.
• Categorical Self
– How you begin to categorize yourself based on
your surroundings and the other peoples in it with
you.
– These categories change and build up as you grow
older.
 Why Self-esteem is important
• Self-image
– Your self-image may or may not reflect your actual state of being.
– You can consider your self image being composed of your physical traits,
social roles, personal traits, and abstract ideas you have of yourself.

• Having high self-esteem makes you feel more confident about

yourself and content in understanding what you are and are not
capable of.

• Having low self-esteem can make you feel less confident about
who you are and more dependent on what others may think of
you.
• What influences your self-Esteem?
– Other’s perception/s of you.
– Comparison with others.
– Social roles.
– Identification.
How can you value yourself more?
• What methods do you use to keep a positive
self-image of yourself, and have high self-
esteem?
• Self-Regulation
– Controlling one’s behavior.
• According to the ego depletion model, people have
a limited amount of self-control.
– For example, if you successfully resist temptation
to indulge yourself with sweets today, it is more
difficult to do so tomorrow.
• Self-efficacy – “one’s belief about one’s ability to
perform behaviors that should lead to expected
outcomes” is very important to healthy
adjustment.
– Fortunately, self-efficacy can be learned and
changed.
– This is important to adjustment because
increasing self-efficacy is beneficial to one’s
physical and mental health.
• Self-efficacy can be developed and usually comes
from four sources.
1. Mastery experiences
– Learning new skills increases self-efficacy.
– It is especially important to persist in the
face of mistakes or failure.
2. Vicarious experiences – watching others to
learn a new skill.
3. Persuasion and encouragement
4. Interpretation of emotional arousal
– When we try new things, we may become
nervous.
– It is important to attribute this to normal
arousal needed to do well, rather than fear.
• Self-defeating behaviors, “seemingly intentional
actions that thwart a person’s self-interest”, come
in three categories:
1. Deliberate self-destruction.
2. Trade-offs – engaging in short-term,
potentially harmful behaviors, in order to
pursue healthy long-term goals.
3. Counterproductive strategies – persisting in
ineffective strategies to achieve a goal.
• Seven guidelines for building self-esteem:
1. Recognize that you control your self-image.
– You can change your self-image to a more
positive one.
2. Learn more about yourself.
– People with low self-esteem don’t know as
much about themselves as do those with high
self-esteem.
3. Don’t let others set your goals.
4. Recognize unrealistic goals.
5. Modify negative self-talk.
– Remember to use an optimistic explanatory
style when confronting successes and failures.
6. Emphasize your strengths.
7. Approach others with a positive outlook