Self Concept

1028 Words3 Pages

Self concept has a different meaning for each individual but can be categorized into two different dimensions, the actual self and the ideal self. Both of these dimensions can be broken down into private self and social self. In the actual self dimension a person explains how they actually see themselves and how others see them. In the ideal dimension a person explains how they would like to see themselves as well as how they would like for others to see them. They do this with the private and social self within both the actual and ideal dimensions. Self-esteem, self-worth, and body image are just a few categories that can fall within these dimensions. Each one of these play off the other and go hand and hand with self concecpt iteself but may be inturpreted differently for each person. Self-esteem and self-worth have really similar traits and definitions. Per the article Self Concept, “Self-esteem refers to the extent to which we like, accept or approve of ourselves and self-worth is actually how much we value ourselves” (McLeod, 2014). People can have high self-esteem or low self-esteem as well as high or low levels of self-worth. Normally, if they high self-esteem they will also have a higher self-worth and if they have low self-esteem they will have a much lower self-worth. Today, one of our societies self concept ideas deals with our body image, especially for women. The Taylor and Francis group published in an article that body image defines “how you see yourself when you look in the mirror or how you feel about your body, including your height, shape, and weight” (Wiederman and Hurst, 1998). A persons self-worth is normally based upon their self-esteem and can actually change throughout their life span. The changes... ... middle of paper ... ... who is proud of her body image regardless of what others think or what society tells her it should be. Unfortunately, in the end we are unrealisticly represented to society, that tells people it is not okay to be your true self anymore. Our culture is now more than ever focused on the outer beauty but parents have the ability to change that. They can give their child the proper motivation to encourage higher self-esteem and to promote self-worth by whats on the inside of each individual verses the outward appearance or by what material items that can be purchased from a business. They can do this through sports and other team activities and by not only praising them but also giving them helpful self critisim. This would teach our children to love themselves and would hopefully go with them into adulthood, making for a more well rounded person.

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