Elements linked to self-esteem
According
to the author Mauro Rodriguez, the components of self-esteem are diverse.
Therefore, he breaks them down into three stages which are:
- Self
concept
- Self respect
- Self knowledge
Knowing
each of the self-esteem components allows us, without a doubt, to
understand their development and recognize the importance of them
in our everyday life.
Given that
self-esteem affects our human behaviour and receives determined influences
from childhood until the last moment of our life: it is essential
to identify their components so we can elaborate strategies which
make us strengthen and maintain them in a high state.
Doing this
we are looking to approach the nucleus of self-esteem and its transcending
influence in our personal development; from the identification of
its components, with the main aim to start understanding it - which
up until today has been unknown
Self-concept
Self-concept
is the opinion or impression that the people have of themselves. It
is their “identity” which develops throughout the years.
Self-concept is a mixture of cognitive perceptions and attitudes that
people have about themselves.
The self-concept
is multidimensional and every one of its dimensions explains different
roles. A person can be classified as a husband or wife, as a professional,
as a leader, as a parent and friend, etc; these different aspects
describe the total personality.
The individuals
can have different self-concepts, that change from time to time, which
can or can’t be precise portraits of themselves. The self-concepts
are constantly elaborated, depending on the circumstance and of the
confronted relationships by the individual.
Findings
have revealed that the differentiation in oneself increases with age.
The contradictions and internal conflicts are less at the start of
adolescence, then they reach a maximum point during the middle of
adolescence and then they begin to decline. During the middle of adolescence,
youths develop the capacity to compare, but not to resolve contradictory
attributes.
At the
end of adolescence, the youth gains the capacity to co-ordinate, resolve
and stabilize contradictory attributes and the youth reduces the experience
of conflict over the type of person that he really wants to be.
A few years
ago (1950), it was claimed that a person’s personality has certain
stability, but that it never remains exactly the same, it is always
in a process of change, being constantly revised. Allport, used the
term “propium” which is defined as: all the aspects of
the personality that compose the internal unity. This refers to a
person’s identity which develops with the passing of time.
Ruth Strang
(1957) identified four basic dimensions
First
– A general self-concept, which consists of the global perception
that a teenager has of his capacity and status and of the roles
in the external world.
Second
– Temporary and changing self-concepts, influenced by current
experiences; for example, the critical commentary from a teacher,
can produce a temporary feeling of handicap.
Third
– Adolescents are social beings in their relationships with
others. As a teenager would say, “I like the way in which
people respond to me, it makes me feel good”. Some teenagers
think about themselves only in a negative light because they believe
that pleases others. An important influence on self-concept, is
the way teenagers feel in social groups.
Fourth
– teenagers would like to be their idealized image. These
projected images can be realistic or not; they can imagine being
what they will never be able to achieve, and this can drive them
to frustration and disappointment. On other occasions teenagers
project an idealized image and then they try to convert into this
person. Those that enjoy a better emotional health, are usually
those who will achieve their idealized image or are those that can
accept themselves for who they are.
The self-concept
is formed onvarious levels:
Cognitive
level – intellectual:
it constitutes the ideas, opinions, beliefs, perceptions and the
processing of exterior information. We base our self-concept on
past experiences and beliefs.
Emotional
level: this
is the judge of our values (our personal qualities). This implies
a pleasant or unpleasant feeling that we see in ourselves.
Behavioural
level: this
is the decision to act, to practice a consistent behaviour.
The factors
that determine the self-concept are the following:
Attitude
or motivation: is the tendency to react strongly to a situation
after positively or negatively evaluating it. It is the cause that
encourages us to act, therefore, it is important to consider the
reasons of our actions, so that we don’t get simply carried
away with inertia or anxiety.
The body
scheme: it supposes the idea that we have feelings and stimulus’s.
This image is related and influenced by our social relationships,
fashion, complexes or feelings towards our selves.
The aptitudes:
they are the capacities that a person has to carry out something
adequately (intelligence, reasoning, skills, etc).
External
valuation: this is the consideration or appreciation that other
people have on us. They are the social reinforcements, flattery,
physical contact, gestures, social acknowledgement, etc.
