PSYCHOLOGY Concepts and Theories: Self-Concept and Self-Identity

Who Am I?

SELF-CONCEPT

The concept, self-concept, has been used by psychologists to refer to a mental construct known as the self. The self or self-concept is our view of who we are, which is based upon the content of our memories about ourselves. The self-concept is not a total perspective on ourselves but rather a view that depends on information in our awareness. Some of the information about ourselves consists of private knowledge and other views are based on feedback from others in numerous social contexts throughout the time of our life. Thus, self-concept is both a personal mental construct and a social construct.

Self-concept is both a personal and a social construct.

Self-concept begins to develop before children have speech as evident from studies of children responding to themselves in mirrors. They retain an image of themselves. Our self-image is part of our self-concept.

As in the SCOPES model where the first S represents the self, the self, or self-concept, is a mental construct that organizes information about ourselves and draws on information from the remaining four personal dimensions represented as COPE (Cognitions, Observable behavior patterns, Physiology, Emotions) all within a social context, the final S.

Self-concept, Sutton, G. W. 2023

SELF-IDENTITY

Self-identity is like a role we enact as part of a social group. Self-identity is who we are (self-concept) in a social context. Our roles include such common identity-creating experiences as student, worker, lover, parent, child, and so forth. The social context where we live out these roles demands we act in certain ways. By way of these demands or expectations, social groups shape our identity within the group and thereby influence our self-concept. Thus, schools, religious and social organizations, businesses, political groups, friendship groups, couple dyads, and families influence our multiple identities. Note that some writers appear to use the terms self-concept and self-identity interchangeably. I take the view that self-identities are components of one's self-concept.

Self-identity, Sutton, G. W. 2023

Self-identities exist in a network and vary in degree of saliency in response to a social context. A psychologist providing psychotherapy may get word that their child has been taken to a hospital. The startling event makes the parent role salient and temporarily sets aside the career identity.

Most people are religious or spiritual. For many, their spirituality is a highly important aspect of who they are. Thus, we see people clarifying their religious or spiritual identity on social media sites. They proclaim the beliefs and values of their religious group and sometimes challenge the beliefs and values of those who would discredit their faith. In the process, we learn the importance of their spiritual identity.

Race and ethnic identities are also very important to functioning in many cultures. Skin color, clothing, physical appearance, language and accent are some of the ways society identifies people as part of a particular group labeled as a race or ethnicity. In some contexts, laws, policies, and finances are tied to being a member of an identified racial or ethnic group, which draws attention to those who are in one group and those who are not.

Gender Identity is a recent topic with an expanding literature. The terminology has changed rapidly as scientists and clinicians listened to people's experiences about ways to understand gender identity and how people with different gender identities interact with others, which includes sexual orientation.

Identity theory considers how groups and people interact in a dynamic way shaping the self and the group. An example of this interaction can be seen in the interaction of political and religious identities influencing morality (e.g., see Sutton et al., 2019).

SELF-EFFICACY

Self-efficacy is the perception that a person can act in a way to achieve a desired goal. In 1977, Albert Bandura of Stanford University wrote an extensive article on the theory of self-efficacy. He proposed that our perceptions of self-efficacy come from four sources: “performance accomplishments, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and physiological states (191).” Click to read more on Self-Efficacy.

BOOKS BY ALBERT BANDURA ON SELF-EFFICACY & RELATED CONCEPTS

SELF-ESTEEM

Self-esteem is the value people place on themselves. We learn our value in various social contexts. We are better at somethings and not other things. Self-esteem appears to influence performance in various life tasks. There are several measures of self-esteem--see links below.

SELF-AWARENESS

Our awareness of various dimensions of ourselves. The focus of our awareness varies throughout a day. When focused on some activity, we ignore other aspects of our functioning. For example, some of us can ignore pain when we are busily engaged in the pursuit of some goal.

Notes

Note that psychological scientists have not been consistent in the way they use terms like self and self-concept. This lack of consistency is why I recommend thinking of the self and self-concept as equivalent. In addition, the terms self and self-concept have been criticized for being vague or as philosophers say, they are “fuzzy concepts.” Moreover, some clinicians see people as having multiple self-concepts, which may be akin to experiences of people presenting as if they have multiple personalities or, functioning in dissociative states. Regardless of the disagreements, there is a large body of research about self-concepts and related terms and some evidence indicates that aspects of our self-concepts influence behavior.

To learn more about self-concept and self-identity, see the review by Oyserman et al. (2012). Also, see many of the books and articles by Roy F. Baumeister and his colleagues.

References

Oyserman, D. & Elmore, K. & Smith, G. (2012) Self, self-concept, and

identity. J. Tangney and M. Leary (Eds). The Handbook of Self and Identity, 2nd

Edition, pp 69-104, New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Sutton, G. W., Kelly, H. L., & Huver, M. (2019). Political identities, religious identity, and the pattern of moral foundations among conservative Christians. Journal of Psychology and Theology, 48, pp. 169-187. Online October 16, 2019. Issue published September 1, 2020. ResearchGate Link Academia Link

Related Concept Posts

Self-concept, Identity, and Politics

Self-Efficacy

SCOPES model

Related Scales and Questionnaires

Personal Self-Concept Questionnaire

Academic Self-Efficacy Scale for Students

Academic Self-Efficacy Scale

New General Self-Efficacy Scale

Gender-Identity-Dysphoria Questionnaire

Racism Scale

Ambivalent Sexism Inventory