Self-Concept, Self-Esteem and Emotional Intelligence, Essay Example

to form the self. Self-esteem refers to the evaluation or comparison of one's self-concept and self-schemas to form one's overall self-worth. * One's self-concept is made up of self-schemas, their past, present and future selves. * The self-concept includes past, present and future selves. Future or possible selves represent individuals' ideas of what they might become, what they would like to become, or what they are afraid of becoming.

These different selves correspond to one's hopes, fears, standards, goals, and threats for their present elves. Possible selves may function as incentives for future behavior and also provide an evaluative and Interpretive context for the current view of self that Is used when one self-evaluates, contributing to one's self-esteem. Self-esteem and self- opinionated aspect to one's self (e. G. , I feel good about the fact that I am a fast runner), whereas self-concept is more of a cognitive or descriptive component to one's self (e. G. , I am a fast runner).

This distinction is important to note, as self- concept and self-esteem closely interact to form an overall view of the self. The perception which people have about their past or future selves is related to the perception of their current self. The temporal self-appraisal theory argues that people have a tendency to maintain a positive evaluation of the current self by distancing their self-concepts from their negative selves and paying more attention to their positive selves. In addition, people have a tendency to perceive the past self less favorably (e. . , I'm better than I used to be) and the future self more positively (e. G. , I will be better than

I am now). Components of Self-concept Like many topics within psychology, a number of theorists have proposed different ways of thinking about self-concept. According to a theory known as social identity theory, self-concept is composed of two key parts: personal identity and social identity. Our personal identity includes such things as personality traits and other characteristics that make each person unique.

Social identity includes the groups we belong to including our community, religion, college, and other groups. Bracken (1992) suggested that there are six specific domains related to self-concept: * Social - the ability to interact with others Competence - ability to meet basic needs * Affect - awareness of emotional states * Physical - feelings about looks, health, physical condition, and overall appearance * Academic - success or failure in school * Family - how well one functions within the family unit Humanist psychologist Carl Rogers believed that there were three different parts of self-concept: 1 .

Self-image, or how you see yourself. It is important to realize that self-image does not necessarily coincide with reality. People might have an inflated self-image and believe that they are better at things than they really are. Conversely, people are also prone to having negative self-images and perceive or exaggerate flaws or weaknesses. For example, a teenage boy might believe that he is clumsy and socially awkward when he is really quite charming and likeable. A teenage girl might believe that she is overweight, when she is really quite thin.

Each individual's self-image is probably a mix of different aspects including your physical characteristics, personality traits, and social roles. 2. Self-Esteem, or how much you value yourself.

A number of different factors can impact self-esteem, including how we compare ourselves to others and how others respond to us. When people respond positively to our behavior, we are more likely to develop positive self-esteem. When we compare ourselves to others and find ourselves lacking, it can have a negative impact on our self-esteem. And how we would like to see ourselves do not quite match up.

Congruence and Incongruence As mentioned earlier, our self-concepts are not always perfectly aligned with reality. Some students might believe that they are great at academics, but their school transcripts might tell a different story. According to Carl Rogers, the degree to which a person's self-concept matches up to reality is known as congruence and incongruence. While we all tend to distort reality to a certain degree, congruence occurs when self-concept is fairly well aligned to reality. Incongruence happens when reality does not match up to our self-concept.

Rogers believed that incongruence has its earliest roots in childhood. When parents place conditions on their affection for their children (only expressing love if children "earn it" through certain behaviors and living up to the parents' expectations), children begin to distort the memories of experiences that leave them feeling unworthy of their parents' love. Unconditional love, on the other hand, helps to foster congruence. Children who experience such love feel no need to continually distort their memories in order to believe that other people will love and accept them as they are.

Dimension Of self concept- The term self-concept is a general term used to refer to how someone thinks about or perceives themselves. The self concept is how we

think about and evaluate ourselves. To be aware of oneself is to have a concept of oneself. Bandmaster (1999) provides the following self concept definition: "the individual's belief about himself or herself, including the person's attributes and who and what the self is". Self Concept is an important term for both social psychology inhumanity.

Lewis (1990) suggests that development of a concept of self has two aspects: - (1) The Existential Self This is the most basic part of the self-scheme or self-concept; the sense of being separate and distinct from others and the awareness of the constancy of the self" (Bee 1992). The child realizes that they exist as a separate entity from others and that they continue to exist over time and space. According to Lewis awareness of the existential self begins as young as two to three months old and arises in part due to the relation the child has with the world.

For example, the child smiles and someone smiles back, or the child touches a mobile and sees it move. (2) The Categorical Self Having realized that he or she exists as a separate experiencing being, the child next becomes aware that he or she is also an object in the world. Just as other objects including people have properties that can be experienced (big, small, red, smooth and so on) so the child is becoming aware of him or her self as an object which can be experienced and which has properties. The self too can be put into categories such as age, gender, size or skill.

Two of the first categories to be applied are age ("l m

3") and gender ("l am a girl"). In early childhood. The categories children apply to themselves are very concrete (e. G. Hair color, height and favorite things). Later, self- description also begins to include reference to internal psychological traits, comparative evaluations and to how others see them (3) Ideal Self If there is a mismatch between how you see yourself (e. G. Your self image) and what you'd like to be (e. G. Your ideal self ) then this is likely to affect how much you value yourself.

Therefore, there is an intimate relationship between self-image, ego-ideal and self-esteem. Humanistic psychologists study this using the Q-Sort Method. A experiences of the person. Hence, a difference may exist between a person's ideal self and actual experience. This is called incongruence. Where a person's ideal self and actual experience are consistent or very similar, a state of congruence exists. Rarely, if ever does a total state of congruence exist; all people experience a certain amount of incongruence. The development of congruence is dependent on unconditional positive regard.

Rorer's believed that for a person to achieve self-actualization they must be in a state of congruence. Michael Argyle (2008) says there are four major factors which influence its development: * The ways in which others (particularly significant others) react to us. * How we think we compare to others * Our social roles * The extent to which we identify with other people Module-2 Self-Esteem: Sense of Worth Meaning and Nature of Self Esteem Self-esteem refers to the way we see and think about ourselves. Self-esteem is a term used in psychology to reflect a person's overall emotional evaluation

of his or her own worth.

It is a Judgment of oneself as well as an attitude toward the self. Self-esteem encompasses beliefs (for example, "l am competent," "l am worthy") and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame. [l] Smith and Mackey define it by saying "The self-concept is what we think about the self; self-esteem, is the positive or negative evaluations of the self, as in how we feel about Self- esteem is also known as the evaluative dimension of the self that includes feelings of worthiness, prides and discouragement. [3] One's self-esteem is also closely associated with self-consciousness. 4] Self-esteem is a disposition that a person has which represents their Judgments of their own worthiness. [5] In the mid-sass, Morris Rosenberg and social-learning theorists defined self-esteem as a personal worth or worthiness. [6] Nathaniel Branded in 1969 defined self-esteem as "the experience of being competent to cope with the basic challenges of life and being worthy of happiness. " According to Branded, self-esteem is the sum of self- confidence (a feeling of personal capacity) and self-respect (a feeling of personal worth).

It exists as a consequence of the implicit Judgment that every person has of their ability to face life's challenges, to understand and solve problems, and their right to achieve happiness, and be given respect. 7] As a social psychological construct, self-esteem is attractive because researchers have conceptualized it as an influential predictor of relevant outcomes, such as academic achievement (Marsh 1990) or exercise behavior (Hager et al. 1998). In addition, self-esteem has also been treated as an important outcome due to its close relation with psychological well- being (Marsh

1989).

Self-esteem can apply specifically to a particular dimension (for example, "l believe I am a good writer and I feel happy about that") or a global extent (for example, "l believe I am a bad person, and feel bad about myself in general"). Psychologists usually regard self-esteem as an enduring personality characteristic exist. Synonyms or near-synonyms of self-esteem include: self-worth,[8] self-regard, [9] self-respect, and self-integrity. Characteristics of High and Low Self Esteem Refer to the PPTP What is self-esteem?

In simple words, self-esteem refers to your opinion of self. High self-esteem means you hold yourself in high regard, whereas low self-esteem means you do not have a good opinion about yourself and can be the cause of depression and a host of other problems. Therefore, self-esteem refers to how much you value yourself and how important you think you are. It's a measure of how you see yourself and how you feel about your life and your achievements. Self-esteem is not about bragging about yourself, it's actually knowing within, that you are worthy of the best.

It is about loving and accepting yourself Just the way you are - not about thinking you are perfect (nobody is). Why is self-esteem important? Every individual needs to have self-esteem, quite simply because it affects every aspect of one's life. Having a good self-esteem is essential, because: * It helps you feel good about yourself and everything you do. It translates into belief in yourself, giving you the courage to try new things. * It allows you to respect and honor yourself, even when you make mistakes.

And when you respect yourself, others will respect you too.

* When you have a good self-esteem, you will know that you're smart enough to make your own decisions. * When you honor yourself, you will make choices that nourish your mind and body. * You will value your safety, your feelings and health. Therefore, you will choose to make healthier eating choices, exercising, or taking time off to do something you like (without feeling guilty about not ongoing something for somebody else).

All this does not mean that a person with good self-esteem discounts others, but that -? a person with a good self-esteem values oneself and ensures that his/her feelings or needs are not discounted. What affects self-esteem? When you were a baby, you did not worry about how you looked in your diapers, or feel embarrassed when you burped after your meal. A baby Just does not care. It values itself - it howls and cries if it needs something and smiles with its eyes when it is happy. We were all born this way, with a good self-esteem.

So in the initial years, it's the people around the child - who help him/her develop self-esteem. If they encourage the child, as he/she begins to learn new things - the child feels appreciated and valued. As time progresses, children have a bigger role in developing self-esteem. Achievements such as getting good grades, or getting a place in the school cricket team - gives the child a sense of pride - helping him/her feel loved and valued. In addition, other people in the child's life continue to play a role.

How parents, siblings, peers, teachers, grandparents speak of the child also influences the

kid's opinion of him/herself. Sometimes, one may have a good self- esteem to begin with, but some event in life may put a dent in it along the way. If you do not have a good self-esteem, then it's time you worked on having a better image of yourself - thereby improving the overall quality of your life. Self-Esteem at the Workplace It is safe enough to observe that self-esteem makes the path to achievement easier good deal if they are highly intelligence, achievement-orientated and tenacious.

What will be missing in this person's life is the ability to enjoy what has been achieved. Nothing ever feels like enough. Often this is the key to understanding a organic. The role self-esteem plays in one's ability to cope with difficulties and rebound from failure. The more solid our self-esteem, the more likely we are to persevere in the face of obstacles. An extraordinarily high number of successful entrepreneurs have two or more bankruptcies in their past. Self-esteem (and the attributes that come with it) is endemic to professional success.

Let us remember the primary meaning of self-esteem. It is confidence in the efficacy of our mind, in our ability to think. By extension, it is confidence in our ability to learn, manage change, and make appropriate choices and decisions. The survival value of such confidence is obvious; so is the danger when that trust is missing. Studies of business failure tell us that a common cause is executive fear of making decisions. But it is not Just executives who need trust in their Judgment; everyone needs it, and never more so than now.

A modern business can

no longer be run by a few people who think and a horde of autonomous drones. Today, organizations need their employees to have an unprecedented level of independence, self-reliance, self-trust and the capacity to exercise initiative- in brief, the employees must have ample self-esteem. Steps to enhance Self Esteem Refer to the PPTP Module Ill: Emotional Intelligence: Brain Power Introduction to El Salvoes and Mayor's conception of El strives to define El within the confines of the standard criteria for a new intelligence. 12] Following their continuing research, their initial definition of El was revised to "The ability to perceive emotion, integrate emotion to facilitate thought, understand emotions and to regulate emotions to promote personal growth. " The ability-based model views emotions as useful sources of information that help one to make sense of and navigate the social environment. The model proposes that individuals vary in their ability to process information of an emotional nature and in their ability to relate emotional processing to a wider cognition.

This ability is seen to manifest itself in certain adaptive behaviors. The model claims that El includes four types of abilities: 1. Perceiving emotions - the ability to detect and decipher emotions in faces, pictures, voices, and cultural artifacts-?including the ability to identify one's own emotions. Perceiving emotions represents a basic aspect of emotional intelligence, as it makes all other processing of emotional information possible. . Using emotions - the ability to harness emotions to facilitate various cognitive activities, such as thinking and problem solving.

The emotionally intelligent person can capitalize fully upon his or her changing moods in order to best fit the task at hand. 3.

Understanding emotions - the ability to comprehend emotion language and to appreciate complicated relationships among emotions. For example, understanding emotions encompasses the ability to be sensitive to slight variations between emotions, and the ability to recognize and describe how emotions evolve over time. 4. Managing Therefore, the emotionally intelligent person can harness emotions, even negative ones, and manage them to achieve intended goals.

The ability El model has been criticized in the research for lacking face and predictive validity in the workplace Our Three Main Intelligences- Difference between 'Q, CEQ and SQ Spiritual Intelligence (SQ) is defined as, "The intelligence with which we address and solve problems of meaning and value, the intelligence with which we can place our actions and our lives in a wider, richer, meaning-giving context, the intelligence with which we can sees that one course of action or one life-path that is more meaningful than any other. " SQ essentially integrates IQ (the traditional Intelligence Quotient) and CEQ (Emotional Intelligence).

It is our ultimate intelligence. * IQ is associated with the serial processing activity of the brain (rational thought). It is associated with erroneous tracts. Neural tracts learn (are wired) according to a fixed program, the rules of which are laid down in formal logic. The learning involved is step-by-step. And rule bound. When we teach children their times table by rote, we are encouraging them to wire their brains for serial processing. It produces the kind of thinking that is useful for solving rational problems or achieving definite tasks. Much instinctual behavior is also accounted for by serial processing.

An instinct can be thought of as a fixed program, as

in the imprinting instinct in ducks and other birds - where the newly hatched bird identifies as its mother the first caring object or person it meets, and remains stuck on that identification. Some over rational human beings can get stuck in a programmed mode of thinking in the same way, finding it difficult to bend rules or to learn new ones. * CEQ. Associative thinking underlies most of our rely emotional intelligence (CEQ) - the link between one emotion and another, between emotions and bodily feelings, emotions and the environment.

It is also able to recognize patterns like faces or smells, and to learn bodily skills like riding a bicycle or driving a car. It is 'thinking' with the heart and the body and so is thought of as our 'emotional intelligence' or the 'body's intelligence'. The structures within the brain with which we do our associative thinking are known sensual networks. Each of these networks contains bundles of up to 100,000 neurons, and each neurons in a bundle may be connected to as many as 1,000 others. Unlike the precise wiring of neural tracts, neural networks each neurons acts upon or is acted upon by, many others simultaneously.

Unlike serial neural tracts which are rule bound or program- bound and thus unable to learn, neural networks have the ability to rewire themselves in dialogue with experience. All associative learning is done by trial and error. This kind of learning is experience-based: the more times I perform a skill successfully, the more inclined I will be to do it that way next time. Associative learning is also tacit learning - I learn the skill,

but I can't articulate any rules by which I learned it and usually can't even describe how I did so.

Neural networks are not connected with our language faculty, nor with our ability to articulate concepts. They are simply embedded in experience. We feel our skills, we do our skills, but we don't think or talk about them. We develop our skills because they give us a sense of satisfaction or a feeling of reward, or because they help us avoid pain. Thus most emotions are developed by trial-and-error, a slow associative build-up of response to certain stimuli. And they are quite habit-bound. Once I have learned to feel anger at psychotherapy exists to help people break the habit of long-standing but inappropriate emotional association.

Like other aspects of associative intelligence, emotions are not immediately verbal. We often have trouble talking about them, at least with any accuracy, and they are certainly not always 'rational' in the sense of obeying rules or predictions. They often respond to incomplete data in unpredictable ways. Associative intelligence is able to deal with ambiguous situations, but it is also 'approximate'. It is more flexible but less accurate that serial thinking. The sedateness of this type of thinking are that it is slowly learned, inaccurate and tends to be habit-bound or tradition bound.

We can relearn a skill or an emotional response, but it takes time and much effort. And because associative thinking is tacit, we often have difficulty sharing it with others. We can't Just write out a formula and tell someone else to get on with the Job. All of us must learn a skill in our own

way, for ourselves. No two brains have the same set of neural connections. Similarly, no two people have the same emotional life. I can recognize your emotion, I can empathic with it, but I don't have it. * SQ. Spiritual intelligence (SQ) could also be called the 'intelligence of meaning'.

It is what makes us essentially human: the ability to plan, to make sense of our emotions, to control our impulses, to make choices, and endow our world with meaning. The frontal lobes of the brain are where our ideas are created; plans constructed; thoughts Joined with their associations to form new memories; and fleeting perceptions held in mind until they are dispatched to long- term memory or oblivion. This brain region is the home of consciousness - the high lit land where the products of the brain's subterranean assembly lines emerge for scrutiny.

Self-awareness arises here, and emotions are transformed in this place from physical survival systems to subjective feelings. If we were to draw a 'you are here' sign on our map of the mind, it is to the frontal lobes that the arrow would point. In this our new view of the brain echoes an ancient knowledge - for it is here, too, that mystics have traditionally placed the Third Eye - the gateway to the highest point of awareness. (Carter 1998, p. 180) IQ is associated with serial processing in the brain via hard-wired neural tracts and CEQ emerges from associative processing via the brain forming, by trial-and-error, neural networks.