The Self as a

Cognitive
Construct
 “You” Through
Other’s Eyes
List 5 (min) – 10 (max) qualities of things that you
think define who you are.
 “You” Through
Other’s Eyes
“I am ______. Who do you think I am based on
you see me do or hear me say?”
William James

● ”I” – thinking, acting, and feeling self

● ”I” – thinking, acting, and feeling self

● "Me” – physical characteristics as well
as psychological capabilities that makes
who you are
IDENTITY and
SELF-CONCEPT
Identity is composed of
● Personal characteristics

● Social Roles

● Responsibilities

Self-Concept

● What basically comes to your mind

when you are asked about who you are

● total picture of our abilities and traits

Carl Rogers

SELF-SCHEMA

● Organized system or collection of

knowledge about who we are.
G.H. Mead
He argued that the self is created and developed
through human interaction. Three reasons why
the self and identity are social products :

● We do not create ourselves out of nothing.

● Whether we like to admit it or not, we actually

need others to affirm and reinforce who we
think we are.
● What we think is important to us may also be
influences by what is important in our social or
historical context.
Social Interaction and
Group Affiliation

● Vital factors in creating our self-concept

● It is also inevitable that we can have several

social identities, that those can overlap, and
that we automatically play the roles as we
interact with groups.
SELF-AWARENESS
● The ability to recognize an emotion as it
“happens”

Carver and Scheier (1981) identified Two

Types of the self that we can be aware of:

● Private self or your internal standards

and private thoughts and feelings

● Public self or your public image

commonly geared toward having a good
representation of yourself to others
SOCIAL
COMPARISON
● We can feel threatened when someone out-
performs us, esp. when that person is close to
us.
We then react usually in 3 ways:
● We distance ourselves
● We may reconsider the importance of the
aspect or skill in which you were
outperformed
● We may strengthen our resolve to improve
that certain aspect of ourselves
NARCISSISM
● Trait characterized by overly high self-
esteem, self-admiration, and self-
centeredness.
● Often charismatic because of how they take
care of their image.
● There is a thin line between high self-esteem
and narcissism.
● People with high self-esteem are commonly
described as outgoing, adventurous, and
adaptable in a lot of situations.
Assignment

Do a research and list ten (10) things/ tips that could help you boost your self-
esteem. Cite your sources. (No AI generated answer.)

Analyze which of those tips are more likely to backfire and make someone
conceited or narcissistic and revise them to make the statements both helpful to
the individual and to the society in general.

short bond paper