Personal Reflection on the Self
Personal Reflection on The Self
PSY 400
January 21, 2013
Personal Reflection on The Self
In the area of social psychology the self is the focus of study. Psychologist have pondered on questions such as what is the self?, what causes a person to develop a self?, does oneself vary from one person to the next person’s self?, and what causes a person to worry about the self? (Myers, 2010). Social psychology has revealed that self is not the same from person to person, if a person is asked to identify self his or her response will change from one person to the next. However, the multiple responses does not make one answer wrong over the next person’s answer, it is just a matter of each individual determining what is self in their own mind. Because of this it is often wondered how many self’s there are. If a person were to be asked this, one might be inclined to answer that more than exists, this response would be correct usually viewed is the body self, interpersonal self, inner self, and the social self. The self-recognized self identifies what is considered yourself; however, this does not mean that other peoples see you the same. There are a few theories that express this such as the spotlight effect and the illusion of transparency. The spotlight effect the belief of a person that all eyes are on them and everyone is focusing all their attention on how one’s appearance or behavior, when in reality they really are not (Myers, 2010). The illusion of transparency is the idea of a person being aware of their own emotions in turn it is believed that others can read their emotions as they seem to be obvious (Myers, 2010). These theories utilize the social world to impact a person’s concept of self as well as their thought.
The Social World and “The Self” The self is a compilation of one’s self-concept, self-esteem, self-knowledge, social-self. Self concept is simply a person’s answer to the question, “who am I?” (Myers, 2010). This three word question
PSY 400
January 21, 2013
Personal Reflection on The Self
In the area of social psychology the self is the focus of study. Psychologist have pondered on questions such as what is the self?, what causes a person to develop a self?, does oneself vary from one person to the next person’s self?, and what causes a person to worry about the self? (Myers, 2010). Social psychology has revealed that self is not the same from person to person, if a person is asked to identify self his or her response will change from one person to the next. However, the multiple responses does not make one answer wrong over the next person’s answer, it is just a matter of each individual determining what is self in their own mind. Because of this it is often wondered how many self’s there are. If a person were to be asked this, one might be inclined to answer that more than exists, this response would be correct usually viewed is the body self, interpersonal self, inner self, and the social self. The self-recognized self identifies what is considered yourself; however, this does not mean that other peoples see you the same. There are a few theories that express this such as the spotlight effect and the illusion of transparency. The spotlight effect the belief of a person that all eyes are on them and everyone is focusing all their attention on how one’s appearance or behavior, when in reality they really are not (Myers, 2010). The illusion of transparency is the idea of a person being aware of their own emotions in turn it is believed that others can read their emotions as they seem to be obvious (Myers, 2010). These theories utilize the social world to impact a person’s concept of self as well as their thought.
The Social World and “The Self” The self is a compilation of one’s self-concept, self-esteem, self-knowledge, social-self. Self concept is simply a person’s answer to the question, “who am I?” (Myers, 2010). This three word question