Self Concept Case - the Development of Self Concept and Self Efficacy

Running head: SELF CONCEPT

The Development of Self Concept and Self Efficacy

College of Southern Nevada

Culture; How It Affects Personality and Social Identity

The main influence in our lives from birth is our parents and the culture we are born into. We also incorporate a system of our beliefs, ideas, and attitudes that are learned through authority or discovery within our culture. As individuals we form perceptions about our personal identity that outline our characteristics, qualities, and capabilities. These perceptions are known as self-concept. Self-concept is something we learn through our own life experiences or by observing others. This interview with Mrs. Elise Sanchez will not only discuss her culture and ethnicity but also her self-concept and personality traits versus her social identity as well as explain how they blend together.

Mrs. Sanchez was born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico on February 17, 1938 and is of Puerto Rican descent. Her birth name is Elise Maria Gomez, Sanchez is her married name. Mrs. Sanchez was raised in a middle class family who are devout Catholics. Her father and mother are both natives of Puerto Rico and both born in the year 1913. Mrs. Sanchez's father was an educated man who was a school teacher. Her mother was a stay at home mother which was typical of Puerto Rican tradition that a woman's place was in the home. Mrs. Sanchez is the youngest of four children. She has two older brothers and one older sister. Mrs. Sanchez's familiy beliefs of the catholic faith provided a solid foundation for learned values of family, integrity and respect at an early age. As individuals we form perceptions about our personal identity that outline our characteristics, qualities, and capabilities. These perceptions are known as self-concept. Carl Rogers was a significant leader of American psychology and a founder of the Humanistic school of psychology. (Rogers, 1959) stated that "Self Concept was composed of perceptions of the characteristics of 'I' or 'me' and the perceptions of the relationships of the 'I' or 'me' to others and to various aspects of life" (p. 183-184). Rogers' definition describes how one's self-concept influences how one regards both oneself and their environment.

Self-concept is something we learn through our own life experiences or by observing others. The main influence in our lives from birth is our parents and the culture we are born into. We incorporate a system of our beliefs, ideas, and attitudes that are learned through authority or discovery.

The formation of our self perception is a continuous process throughout our lives. The social structure of our lives affects our sense of self in many ways. Consider how we dress, the cars we drive, our education, the style of home we live in, our economic social status, our position within our family. All these things are elements that produce feelings, ideas, beliefs, and traits within ourselves weather they are through observations or self discovery. These elements all have an effect on how we view ourselves and how we think others perceive us.

There is much information regarding the importance that our parents play in shaping one's self-concept. Parents that create a positive bond with their children through warm and caring interactions are molding their child's sense of self acceptance and self-concept. It has been said "Parents have a unique opportunity to reinforce selectively a child's learning, and in so doing, to influence his general perceptions of himself" (Wylie, 1979, p. 332). Learning how to think of ourselves as a good person and how to integrate into social groups stems from the relationship between us and our parents.

As children mature they begin to get a sense of the looking glass self. The looking glass self was termed by Charles Cooley (1902). It is a term for which a person's sense of self is derived from the perception of others. This would be when we get feedback from other people in our lives regarding our appearances, our behaviors and our social abilities. This feedback is a direct influence on what we think of ourselves or how we perceive our self-concept.

Having a healthy sense of our self-concept is important to how we view situations and react to them. Carl Rogers conducted a significant amount of research regarding self-concept. His views were that a child's family and environment in which they were raised were crucial to the formation of a child's perception of him/herself. A child with a healthy self-concept typically will develop a healthy personality. An example of a child with a healthy sense of self would be the child who is more accepting if a peer said he did not want to play blocks with him. They might just move on and ask another friend to play with them. However, if a child has an unhealthy sense of self they feel rejected and think that the other child dislikes them. Children who are given room for their own freedom but yet have consistent understanding and acceptance from their parents; tend to have a healthy self-concept.

Lee (2005) notes "Components of one's self-concept include self-esteem (i.e., one's feeling of self-worth), and self-efficacy" (p. 490). Self esteem is the values we attach to ourselves weather it be positive or negative traits. Self-efficacy is defined by Bandura (1997) as "people's beliefs in their capabilities to produce desired effects by their own actions" (p. vii). A more basic description would be that people whose positive self-concept leads them to believe they will succeed at a task, they are more likely to behave in ways that eventually lead to success,