Self Concept

Self Concept

Human Relations can be defined as relations with or between people.

The study of human relations is particularly interested in how people relate

with others in workplace settings. Throughout this text, we will explore

various topics that will help us understand ourselves and how to relate with

others in personal and professional contexts.

To understand and develop strong human relations skills, you will begin

by learning more about how you view yourself. In this chapter you will explore

is. If I said, “Tell me who you are,” your answers would be clues as to how you

see yourself, your self-concept. Each person has an overall self-concept

that might be encapsulated in a short list of overarching characteristics that

he or she finds important. But each person’s selfconcept is also influenced

by context, meaning we think differently about ourselves depending on the

situation we are in. In some situations, personal characteristics, such as our

abilities, personality, and other distinguishing features, will best describe

who we are. You might consider yourself laid back, traditional, funny, open

minded, or driven, or you might label yourself a leader or a thrill seeker. In

other situations, our self-concept may be tied to group or cultural

1902). This reflective process of building our self-concept is based on what

other people have actually said, such as “You’re a good listener,” and other

people’s actions, such as coming to you for advice. These thoughts evoke

emotional responses that feed into our self-concept. For example, you may

think, “I’m glad that people can count on me to listen to their problems.”

We also develop our self-concept through comparisons to other

people. Social comparison theory states that we describe and evaluate

ourselves in terms of how we compare to other people. Social comparisons

are based on two dimensions: superiority/inferiority and

similarity/difference (Hargie, 2011). In terms of superiority and inferiority, we

the groups we use for social comparison, and they typically change based

on what we are evaluating. In terms of athletic ability, many people choose

unreasonable reference groups with which to engage in social comparison.

If a man wants to get into better shape and starts an exercise routine, he may

his selfconcept. Using as a reference group people who have only recently

started a fitness program but have shown progress could help maintain a

more accurate and hopefully positive self-concept.

difference. Since self-concept is context specific, similarity may be

desirable in some situations and difference more desirable in others.

Factors like age and personality may influence whether or not we want to fit

in or stand out. Although we compare ourselves to others throughout our

lives, adolescent and teen years usually bring new pressure to be similar to

or different from particular reference groups. Think of all the cliques in high

school and how people voluntarily and involuntarily broke off into groups

based on popularity, interest, culture, or grade level. Some kids in your high

patterns don’t always hold true. Even though students involved in athletics

and students involved in arts may seem very different, a dancer or singer

may also be very athletic, perhaps even more so than a member of the

football team. As with other aspects of perception, there are positive and

negative consequences of social comparison.

information and how it affects self-concept varies. Not all people feel they

need to be at the top of the list, but some won’t stop until they get the high

score on the video game or set a new school record in a track-and-field

event. Some people strive to be first chair in the clarinet section of the

orchestra, while another person may be content to be second chair. The

education system promotes social comparison through grades and rewards

such as honor rolls and dean’s lists. Although education and privacy laws

prevent me from displaying each student’s grade on a test or paper for the

think, “If they can do it, I can do it.” But social comparison that isn’t reasoned

can have negative effects and result in negative thoughts like “Look at how

bad I did. Man, I’m stupid!” These negative thoughts can lead to negative

behaviors, because we try to maintain internal consistency, meaning we act

in ways that match up with our self-concept. So, if the student begins to

question her academic abilities and then incorporates an assessment of

herself as a “bad student” into her self-concept, she may then behave in

ways consistent with that, which is only going to worsen her academic

performance. Additionally, a student might be comforted to learn that he

isn’t the only person who got a D and then not feel the need to try to improve,

self-concept.

you listed about yourself, I would get clues about your self-esteem. Like self-

concept, self-esteem has general and specific elements. Generally, some

people are more likely to evaluate themselves positively while others are

more likely to evaluate themselves negatively (Brockner, 1988). More

specifically, our selfesteem varies across our life span and across contexts.

How we judge ourselves affects our communication and our behaviors,

but not every negative or positive judgment carries the same weight. The

negative evaluation of a trait that isn’t very important for our selfconcept will

likely not result in a loss of self-esteem. For example, I am not very good at

drawing. While I appreciate drawing as an art form, I don’t consider drawing

ability to be a very big part of my self-concept. If someone critiqued my

drawing ability, my self-esteem wouldn’t take a big hit. I do consider myself

a good teacher, however, and I have spent and continue to spend

department chair, and colleagues. Most of that feedback is in the form of

constructive criticism, which can still be difficult to receive, but when taken

in the spirit of self-improvement, it is valuable and may even enhance our

self-concept and self-esteem. In fact, in professional contexts, people with

higher self-esteem are more likely to work harder based on negative

feedback, are less negatively affected by work stress, are able to handle

workplace conflict better, and are better able to work independently and

solve problems (Brockner, 1988). Self-esteem isn’t the only factor that

Self-Efficacy

Self-Efficacy refers to the judgments people make about their ability to

perform a task within a specific context (Bandura, 1997). Judgments about

our self-efficacy influence our self-esteem, which influences our self-

Pedro did a good job on his first college speech. During a meeting with

his professor, Pedro indicates that he is confident going into the next speech

and thinks he will do well. This skill-based assessment is an indication that

Pedro has a high level of self-efficacy related to public speaking. If he does

well on the speech, the praise from his classmates and professor will

of self-efficacy may give him more confidence in his delivery, which will likely

result in positive feedback that reinforces his self-perception. He may start

to perceive his professor more positively since they share an interest in

public speaking, and he may begin to notice other people’s speaking skills

more during class presentations and public lectures. Over time, he may even

start to think about changing his major to communication or pursuing career

options that incorporate public speaking, which would further integrate

being “a good public speaker” into his self-concept. You can hopefully see

The verbal and nonverbal feedback we get from people affect our

from others. Positive feedback tends to make people raise their expectations

for themselves and negative feedback does the opposite, which ultimately

affects behaviors and creates the cycle. When feedback from others is

different from how we view ourselves, additional cycles may develop that

impact self-esteem and selfconcept.

up with what they actually experience (Higgins, 1987). To understand this

theory, we have to understand the different “selves” that make up our self-

concept, which are the actual, ideal, and ought selves. The actual self

consists of the attributes that you or someone else believes you actually

possess. The ideal self consists of the attributes that you or someone else

would like you to possess. The ought self consists of the attributes you or

someone else believes you should possess.

These different selves can conflict with each other in various

combinations. Discrepancies between the actual and ideal/ought selves

can be motivating in some ways and prompt people to act for self-

improvement. For example, if your ought self should volunteer more for the

local animal shelter, then your actual self may be more inclined to do so.

These discrepancies do not just create cognitive unease—they also lead to

emotional, behavioral, and communicative changes. When we compare the

actual self to the expectations of ourselves and others, we can see particular

patterns of emotional and behavioral effects. When our actual self doesn’t

match up with our own ideals of self, we are not obtaining our own desires

and pay off your credit card bills.

for losing the affection or approval of others. For example, if a significant

other sees you as an “A” student and you get a 2.8 GPA your first year of

college, then you may be embarrassed to share your grades with that person.

When our actual self doesn’t match up with what we think other people

think we should obtain, we are not living up to the ought self that we think

others have constructed for us, which can lead to feelings of agitation,

feeling threatened, and fearing potential punishment. For example, if your

parents think you should follow in their footsteps and take over the family

business, but your actual self wants to go into the military, then you may be

unsure of what to do and fear being isolated from the family.

Finally, when our actual self doesn’t match up with what we think we

should obtain, we are not meeting what we see as our duties or obligations,

which can lead to feelings of agitation including guilt, weakness, and a

feeling that we have fallen short of our moral standard (Higgins, 1987). For

example, if your ought self should volunteer more for the local animal

shelter, then your actual self may be more inclined to do so due to the guilt

Influence on Self-Perception

characters were often the targets of negative comments and jokes that

audience members responded to with laughter. Conversely, positive

comments about women’s bodies were related to their thinness. In short,

the heavier the character, the more negative the comments, and the thinner

the character, the more positive the comments. The same researchers

analyzed sitcoms for content regarding male characters’ weight and found

that although comments regarding their weight were made, they were fewer

in number and not as negative, ultimately supporting the notion that

dominant groups to find positive representations of their identities in media.

As a critical thinker, it is important to question media messages and to

examine who is included and who is excluded.

Advertising in particular encourages people to engage in social

comparison, regularly communicating to us that we are inferior because we

lack a certain product or that we need to change some aspect of our life to

selling them products that promised to keep their house clean, make their

family happy, and impress their friends and neighbors. Now messages tell us

to fear becoming old or unattractive, selling products to keep our skin tight

and clear, which will in turn make us happy and popular.