Understanding the Self: Personal and Developmental Perspectives

Vocabulary terms covering perspectives on self and identity, including psychological theories of James, Rogers, Freud, and Mead, as well as concepts of self-awareness and self-esteem.

Self

The sense of personal identity and who we are as individuals.

"I" (William James, 1890)

The aspect of the self that is thinking, acting, and feeling.

"me" (William James, 1890)

The physical characteristics and psychological capabilities that make you who you are.

"I" (Carl Rogers, 1959)

The aspect of the personality that acts and decides.

"me" (Carl Rogers, 1959)

What you think or feel about yourself as an object.

Identity

Composed of personal characteristics, social roles, and affiliations that define an individual.

Self-concept

What comes to your mind when you are asked who you are.

Mental Construct

The self and identity as conceptualized and recreated in memory.

Frontal Lobe

The specific area in the brain associated with the processes concerning the self.

Sigmund Freud

He saw the self, its mental processes, and behavior as resulting from the interaction between the Id, the Ego, and the Superego.

Theory of Symbolic Interactionism

A theory argued by Mead stating that the self is created and developed through human interaction.

The Self (Oyserman, Elmore, and Sr, 2012)

Stated that the self is developed through human interactions because we do not create ourselves from nothing, we need others to affirm who we are, and our values are influenced by social contexts.

Self-awareness

The state of being aware of our self-concepts, including the private self and the public self.

Private Self

One's internal standards and private thoughts and feelings.

Public Self

Your public image geared toward having a good presentation of yourself to others.

Actual Self

The self-schema representing who you are at the moment.

Ideal Self

The self-schema representing who you would like to be.

Ought Self

The self-schema representing who you think you should be.

Self-esteem

Our own positive and negative perceptions or evaluation of ourselves.

Social Comparison Theory

A theory stating that we learn about ourselves and the appropriateness of our behaviors by comparing aspects of ourselves with other people.

Downward Social Comparison

Comparing ourselves with those who are worse off than us to raise self-esteem and create a positive self-concept.

Upward Social Comparison

Comparing oneself with those who are better off; it can serve as motivation or result in lower self-esteem by highlighting weaknesses.

Signs of Low Self-Esteem

Includes lacking self-trust, constant comparison to others, people-pleasing behavior, feeling little control over life, and not reinforcing boundaries.