Any person is considered to be an individual, and this individual will look at everything around them. For instance nature and nurture that is use to develop a concept of themselves, which comes from an individual’s past and future. Concept of self also comes from just who the individuals were in the past and who they plan to be in the future. The study of personality shows that an individual believes in fears, hope, and understanding of what to look from certain elements in the world, how to behave, and who the individual thinks they should be. A person social environment plays a huge role in how an individual will behave, certain influences the person will look at when it comes to her behavior. A person consists of three concepts when it comes to self: self-esteem, self-concept, and self-efficacy. When we take these concepts we are able to see how to look at them in the social world. In this paper we will define self and take a closer look at the concepts that are used to make me a better person.
Self
Self-shows how an individual pictures themselves in the world. Self-concept explains the organization of attributes and the roles that a person sees when looking at them. The general definition of self begins with social interaction, the social interaction helps to guide or influence a person’s behavior. Myers (2010) states that self-concept has three sources: self-perception theory, self-presentation, and cognitive dissonance theory (p.140). The self-presentation theory shows how an individual can try to stay consistent; an individual usually does not want to look inconsistent or foolish. Certain individuals take consistency so far that it can cause hypocrisy or insincerity; these actions will assist in making great first impression and showing how they look at themselves.
The theory of Cognitive of dissonance shows how an individual motivates so that their cognitions will stay consistent. The Cognitive of dissonance theory explains how an individual can lack of harmony or sense tension or the lack of harmony, when their beliefs and thoughts are not consistent (Myers, 2010). An individual who believes their actions are true will not be open to self-correction. When showing an individual’s view of self, behavior and actions will automatically be consistent no matter what are they past beliefs. The theory also explains the explanation of self-persuasion, even though self-perception shows why a person will compare themselves to other humans.
Self-perception is defined as how the actions of a person can be judged by the actions of other things such as attitude, environmental forces, and traits. Self-perception states that when an individual’s own attitude is lacking the individual will look at themselves as the person who is judging them, by looking at their own behavior and the situation that may have caused the attitude. An individual watches their own attitudes and actions like another person would, and concludes in a certain way by just how the individual reacts to that specific situation. The three theories of self is the reason a person believes who they are.
Self is more explained by an individual’s beliefs in their capabilities to perform even over certain influences in their lives. Self-efficacy helps to determine how an individual will motivate, feel, and think when it comes to self-behavior. If an individual doubts their own capabilities they will get away from difficult task but if that individual has a strong outlook on self they will make sure to complete the task achieving success.
The Self of Kenneth
When it comes to self I am seen in three concepts. The three concepts helps to determine my actions of how I see my physical characteristics, personality traits, goals and self-values, and my role in today’s society. Self-concept is the first of three concepts.
Self-Concept
Self-concept is how an individual concept of self goes along with the social world. The opposite of despair and the true self is the connection of self-concept in current studies and how experiencing of the meaning of life connect to the person (Schlegel, Hicks, Arndt, & King, 2009). Exactly how the individual sees themselves in the social world is how the will go through life in the social world, a person true self serves as an meaning in life (Schlegel, Hicks, Arndt, & King, 2009). How an individual sees themselves is how the individual will experience life in the social world. So I make sure to look at myself as a father, brother, friend, and individual. I make sure to set high standards for myself so that my children will want to follow in my footsteps. I make sure to act with understanding with every situation I may go through in life, this way my children understands that certain things happen in life. I make sure to look at my family and friends for more understanding on how to act in certain situation, this way I am learning from others and still bringing my own self to help work through certain problems and just life. I truly believe that a person is a product of the type of environment that they are in, so I am making sure that in my environment I love myself and remain true to myself. Self-esteem also is a huge help when you are trying to maintain self-concept.
Self Esteem
When a person is trying to keep a self-concept they individual’s self-confidence plays a major role. Having high self-esteem is more than just thinking highly of them, but is the individual’s beliefs and feelings of capability and values. Self-esteem is defined as a state of mind that an individual should have (Buhrmester, Blanton, & Swann, 2011). When it comes to self-esteem I think of certain requirements, I want to hold my head up even when making certain choices in my life. Making sure not to accept negative comments from other people when it comes to me, I do not believe a human to be perfect. Though I may have faults I am happy with the person that I have become over time. I believe self-esteem to be accepting myself in today’s society even though some people can be unaccepting to certain people. To maintain high self-esteem I must make sure to have self-efficacy.
Self-Efficacy
Self-efficacy comes from things like completed a task successfully and faster than others may be capable of doing so that you can get positive feedback. For instance if you can finish a task at work accurately and completely before any of your co-workers on a daily basis your employer may reward you. Self-efficacy shows an individual’s concept of judgment in completing a goal successfully and accomplishing a task. Self-efficacy to me is how capable I can be when trying to meet my goals based on what goals I have already completed. Self-efficacy can also be taking on new tasks and achieving the goals even if they include higher rewards. This could be my ability to receive a higher degree which can help to raise my self-concept and self-esteem.
Social Experiences or Events of Personal Development
When I look at my life there are many social experiences and events that help to describe me. When I was 17 I entered into a world that I had to rely on myself to help me with self-concept, self-esteem, and self-efficacy this situation was I moved from my hometown of Pine Bluff, Arkansas to Forrest City, Arkansas with my father. So since I did not know anyone I had to use these three things to help me adjust to the new environment and to gain friends. Then at the age of 37 I meant my wife which had me to relearn who I was and wanted to be. Starting a new life with my wife was a little hard because she wanted to mold me to be the person she wanted me to be. Now before I meant my wife I had no goals and a lot of negative influences in my life that was going to lead me down the wrong road. When I meant her I understand what society thought of me did not matter and I realized who I wanted to be without the negative influences. At this point I started to obtain goals I got enough self-confidence to obtain my associates degree in psychology and my self-esteem raised enough for me to open my own business. I think this was the time in my life where I put my goals to work. I think at this point my self-development is still happening because my family is depending on me for income and to be the man of the family. So I plan to achieve my bachelor’s degree and gain new experiences. I want to make sure to use the concept of self to help me determine exactly what my attributes of where I am in my life and exactly where I want to be. I have a better understanding at this point of the importance of self-concept, self-esteem, and efficacy to help me be successful with my personal development. Each experience that I have had in my life has made me the person I am today and going forward in my everyday life. I have become stronger in my environment and with my personal skills, and I have learned to achieve goals that I am setting daily.
Conclusion
The self is how an individual views themselves in a social and personal way. A person environment has a lot to do with who they are and who they will be. Like baking a cake has a mixture so does self, self has a mixture of mental concept, personality, and identity. Self is viewing the concepts of self-efficacy, self-concept, and self-esteem. The person needs all the attributes in order to develop from the past to the future when it comes to who they want to be. As a person I look at my past strengths help me accomplish personal goals and to help me be successful in the social world around me.

References

Buhrmester, M. D., Blanton, H., & Swann, W. r. (2011). Implicit self-esteem: Nature, measurement, and a new way forward. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 100(2),

Myers, D. G. (2010). Social psychology (10th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw Hill.