Self Concept and Self esteem Relationship and Differences

 

                                   Self-Concept and Self Esteem

Introduction

Self-concept and self-esteem are key ingredients to understanding who you are and how you feel about yourself. Many factors go into shaping your personality, from the way you were raised to your experiences in life. However, it’s up to you whether or not you let those things define the way that you see yourself. Let’s take a look at some of the main contributing factors that contribute to both our self-concept and self-esteem and how they work together to define our own personal narratives.

What Is Self Concept?

The concept of self-concept is a generalization that we make about ourselves. It's the way you think about yourself, and it includes your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Your self-concept may be positive or negative, but either way, it will affect your behavior and how you view yourself in relation to others.

Self-esteem refers to how we feel about ourselves as individuals; our sense of worth or value is based on our thoughts about our abilities, personality traits, and accomplishments (or lack thereof). If someone has high self-esteem they believe themselves to be worthy individuals with many positive qualities that should be appreciated by others. Conversely, if someone has low self-esteem they will tend to think less highly of themselves than others do which can lead them to feel worthless at times

Self-Concept Definition and Examples

• The self-concept is how we see ourselves. It's a collection of beliefs about what it means to be, act and look like a person.

• Self-esteem is how we feel about ourselves, our abilities, our competencies, and our worth as an individual.

• People with high self-esteem believe they are competent, able to succeed at tasks they set out to do, and worthy of love from others.

• High self-esteem means feeling good about yourself even when you make mistakes or fail at something (which happens to all of us).

What influences our self-concept?

The people you surround yourself with can have a huge impact on your self-concept. They can either help you to feel good about yourself or make you feel bad about yourself.

Have you ever been in a situation where someone was rude or mean to you? How did that make you feel? Did it make you want to change the way they acted towards others, or did it just make them seem like a bad person overall?

Did they influence your view of people in general? Were their attitudes and actions an accurate reflection of what most people are like, or were they an exception to the rule?

What is a positive self-concept and why is it important?

A positive self-concept is a belief that you are worthy, competent, and capable of being successful.

This can lead to:

• Better relationships with others as we see ourselves as worthy of love, friendship, and respect.

• Better health as we are more likely to understand the importance of healthy living and engage in healthy habits (like exercising or eating right).

• Career success because we believe that we deserve success at work. For example, if you feel like your boss doesn’t appreciate you then this could affect your performance at work because you don’t believe that your work is valuable or worth doing well. On the other hand, if someone has a positive self-concept they will be motivated by their desire for personal growth rather than fear of failure which may cause them not to take on challenging projects even though those projects could make them stronger over time by giving them more experience working under pressure (e.g., “I would love too! I am up for it anytime! Let me know when…” instead of “I don't think so because…).

Stages of Self-Concept Development

As you grow, your self-concept develops in stages. The first stage is the formation of a crude self-representation. It begins with infants’ awareness that they exist as separate entities from their mothers and other people during the first year of life. During this time, children learn about themselves by watching how others interact with them and responding to those interactions. These interchanges become internalized as expectations for future interactions, which may or may not be realistic or accurate reflections of reality based on past experiences.

During the second stage of development (ages 2–4 years), children begin to understand that others have beliefs about them — ideas about who they are as people — and recognize that these beliefs may differ from their own views of themselves. At this point in childhood development, children also start developing more sophisticated mental representations of themselves as individuals: what they like doing best; who they like being around most; how they want others to perceive them; etcetera...

What Is Self-Esteem?

Self-esteem is the way you feel about yourself. It's based on your beliefs about yourself, and it plays a big part in how you think and act. Self-esteem affects your:

• self-confidence

• motivation to do things

• ability to handle challenges and stress, such as rejection or failure

Self-esteem is an important part of your identity. How much you like and respect yourself affects how close you feel to other people, how much influence you have over them, and even whether or not they like or respect you back! But there are steps we can take to improve our self-image that will make us happier with who we are as individuals; these are called "self esteem building exercises."

How Do You Measure Self-Esteem?

Self-esteem can be measured using a variety of scales. These are often surveys that ask respondents to rate their feelings about themselves. For example, one common measure of self-esteem is the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSE). In this test, you might answer questions like "I feel I have a number of good qualities" or "I am able to do things as well as most other people." Other scales include the Coppersmiths Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI), the Sociometer Scale for Implicit Self-Esteem and Esteem Regulation (SSISEER), and the Multidimensional Self-Worth Scale (MSWS).

The relationship between self-concept and self-esteem is complex; they are two distinct concepts with overlapping aspects but also crucial differences in how they're defined. Both terms relate directly to your sense of self--but while your level of self-concept reflects what you believe about yourself overall, your level of self-esteem relates specifically to how much value or worth you place on those beliefs.

Ways to Develop Self Esteem

You can use these steps to develop and work on your self-esteem.

1. Positive self-talk, or positive self-image, is two ways to build and maintain your self-esteem. To do this, you must think of yourself as a good person who has qualities that make you special and unique. By believing in yourself more, you will feel better about who you are and what you have accomplished in life. You should also avoid saying negative things such as "I'm stupid." Instead, say things like "I'm smart" or "My brain works well."

2. Self-acceptance means accepting yourself completely for who you are right now with no changes needed at all; this is one way that we should try our best not only at improving but also to like ourselves first before anyone else does so because if we don't then there might be some people who refuse themselves from getting close with us just because they don't want anything bad happening between us due to our unwillingness towards doing so which would lead them thinking twice about their decision-making process when it comes down choosing whether or not being friends with someone new who shows promise potentials of becoming successful later on down future years ahead along life path journeys ahead...etcetera...etcetera...et cetera!

3. Another way to build up self-worth is by having confidence within oneself whenever dealing with other people's opinions - especially ones who seem threatening towards one's image (such as someone threatening yours). Since nobody knows everything about life yet still trying to learn more every day anyway so why not start now by sharing knowledge too?

Having a good self-concept and esteem leads to learning and development

Having a good self-concept and esteem leads to learning and development. If you don't have a good self-concept, then you won't believe that you can do anything to improve your life. You may think that things are impossible for you, but they aren't!

If we look at the example of an adult who doesn’t have good self-esteem, we can see how this could affect someone’s life. In this case, it may be difficult for them to learn new information because they don't think that they can do it or that it's even possible for them. This is why it's important for children (and adults) to have a good sense of themselves so that they can learn new skills and understand what their strengths are as well as their weaknesses.

Conclusion

Self-esteem is a fundamental component of our psychological well-being. It can have a major impact on how we think, feel, and behave. Individuals who are able to develop high self-esteem usually tend to feel more confident about themselves and their abilities. They are better able to cope with stressors and challenges, perform better academically and professionally, form healthy relationships with others, maintain good health and well-being - overall live happier lives!